January 3, 1963
25,000 Mile Hunt for Lost Vessel
The Coast Guard continued its air search for
the missing 67-foot fishing dragger, Austin W. off New York
today. With five Gloucester men aboard, the 24 year old craft was last heard from at
8 p.m. Sunday, January 31st. At that time, Capt. Nick Parisi,
in the 52-foot Gloucester dragger Golden Dawn, fishing in the
same area about 80 miles south-southeast of Ambrose Lightship. talked by radio telephone
with Capt. Albino M. Pereira, Jr., of the Austin W.
Capt. Pereira was reported to have said his
radio antenna was broken. Capt. Parisi reportedly said it was difficult to carry on
the conversation. Yesterday, six Coast Guard planes covered 25,000 square miles in
an unsuccessful search for the dragger. A Coast Guard spokesman said that four Coast
Guard planes took off at dawn today to continue the search during the daylight
hours. The planes will expand the search area today.
The Coast Guard said that when the dragger was
reported overdue at 11 a. m. Monday, it made a routine check of harbors along the Coast
and checked arrivals at Fulton Fish Market, but there was no word of any boat having
sighted the dragger.
January 5, 1963
Hope Fades For Missing Dragger; Search Ended
Hope faded here this morning as the sixth day
began without a sing of the missing Gloucester Dragger Austin W. The
Coast Guard secured its search for the 67-foot vessel at 5 p. m. Friday. There were
five Gloucester crewmen aboard.
The Austin W.,
fishing out of New York, was last contacted Sunday night, in a bitter winter storm by
the Golden Dawn. Weather-beaten men of the
Gloucester waterfront speculated on what might have happened to the 24 year-old craft
built in 1933 in Kennebunkport, Maine, as a gill netter.
Some thought the vessel might have iced up too
heavily in the sub-zero temperatures to weather the hurricane force winds. Others,
like the families of the five men aboard, prayed that the 90-mile an hour winds may have
carried her far out to sea, and that it would be days before she would again reach port as
has happened to many another Gloucesterman over the years long after hope for them had
been abandoned.
It had been a lonely vigil at home for the 5
wives and their 21 children. The families huddled around flickering vigil lights
and held religious images close through the long week clinging to similar beliefs that
their loved ones would still sail around the point to safety.
Lost on the Austin W.
were:
Albino M. Pereira, Jr., captain,
40, left a widow and five children, ages 19 to 1 year
Joseph Muise, 36, engineer, left a widow and four children, ages 14 to 4
years
Henry B. Pina, 39, left a widow and two children
Eugene M. Naves, 38, left a widow and five children, ages 15 to 4
Ezra "Huck" Hill, 55, left a widow and five adult children
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