Lost Fishing Boat Found 50 Feet From a Block Island Wind Turbine

0:00 Speaker 1 Sunday morning. Well, there’s all kinds of things going on. With us today is Mike Lombardi, president of Green Oceans. And in 2019, there was a horrendous storm off between Rhode Island and Block Island. And, well, a ship went down, the ship Mistress. And two of the three crewmates passed away.

0:25 They finally found the shipwreck. And with us today is Mike Lombardi. Mike Lombardi, tell us what the heck is going on.

0:34 Speaker 2 Yeah, well, first, thank you for having me. So the story of the shipwreck is actually quite compelling. It’s a fascinating issue. So according to the Coast Guard accident report, the vessel was inbound to Point Judith. It was a commercial fishing vessel, so it had been working for several days.

0:57 It was inbound, and shortly after midnight, it was taking on water, so clearly in distress. The vessel sent a very upsetting mayday call for assistance, which stated, you know, we’re in distress, we’re taking on water, we’re directly under the Block Island wind farm. So that provided some location reference for rescuers. So that was picked up by the

1:26 Coast Guard. in Cape Cod. Coast Guard dispatches a Jayhawk helicopter, which arrives on scene, remained on scene for roughly 30 minutes, and then was forced to abandon its search and rescue operation, citing the poor weather conditions and the proximity to a turbine.

1:54 Shortly thereafter, a good Samaritan fishing vessel in the area responded, and by the time they arrived on scene, the vessel was underwater, lost, and the one survivor was picked up in a life raft.

2:07 Speaker 1 Well, I guess God was with him that day.

2:11 Speaker 2 With that individual, yes. I mean, you know, and it’s... Absolutely horrific for the two lost to have to go through that.

2:20 Speaker 1 Let me tell you, a lot of people don’t know. There’s a lot of storms in the Northeast, and a lot of people don’t know. How often is a boat lost? I mean, those are expert fishermen, expert boatsters, people that run boats.

2:36 Speaker 2 Yeah, I mean— Does it happen.

2:40 Speaker 1 Once every five years, every year? Tell us the truth.

2:43 Speaker 2 Yeah, I mean, somewhere in between that frequency. I mean, you know, these are expert mariners, but they very much risk their lives working off the coast in very difficult conditions. And, you know, I work out on the water. Things change fast.

3:02 You can’t, you know, you don’t always have a forecast that predicts how the weather will be out there. And it’s just a very challenging set of circumstances. But, you know, normally speaking, and this is the source of contention in this accident and others, is that, you know, up until the last handful of years, off of the New England

3:28 coast has essentially been wide open space. And it’s no longer wide open space with these massive turbine arrays.

3:37 Speaker 1 Understood. And now you found the boat. Is there any mystery in the boat that you guys found? How far down in the ocean was it?

3:50 Speaker 2 Yeah, so the Coast Guard had declared that the vessel was lost. That was their conclusion in 2019. So there had been an extensive search. that covered the immediate vicinity of the Block Island Wind Farm, and then a wider search that covered some 300 square miles. And at that point, they were unable to locate wreckage and declared it lost. We,

4:17 through the study that we commissioned, learned that the wreckage is actually only 50 feet away from one of the Block Island turbines. It’s in about 95 feet of water. And, um, a lot, a lot was gained from that investigation. So there’s, you know, numerous, uh, numerous photographs of the wreckage and how it’s oriented on the bottom.

4:43 Speaker 1 Um, you know, any mystery or any revelations?

4:50 Speaker 2 Uh, my, my assessment as, As a mariner, I do work on marine safety-related issues. My assessment is that the orientation of the shipwreck relative to the turbine needs to be carefully studied. And the reason being is that it appears that there could have been an avoidance maneuver to prevent a collision. That could well be significant.

5:24 Speaker 1 What do you think it had a collision with?

5:29 Speaker 2 It was close enough to that turbine that there could have been a collision, or very likely they turned attempting to avoid a collision. Because the vessel was in distress, it had a lot of water in it, it was heavy, that turn could have rolled the vessel, resulting in it ultimately sinking.

5:48 Speaker 1 And you feel that way because it was so close together? the wreckage was so close to the turbine.

5:54 Speaker 2 So close, coupled with the orientation of the wreckage relative to the turbine and how it rests on the seafloor, yep.

6:02 Speaker 1 Understood. Well, Mike Lombardi, as you continue the investigation, please keep us informed, and WABC is interested in finding out the truth. God bless you, and God bless America. Thank you so much.

6:14 Speaker 2 Thanks very much.