| The crew of the Italian Gold
were listed as missing at sea when an emergency homing beacon signal was received by a
Canadian Coast Guard station in Halifax, Nova Scotia on September 5, 1994, around 6 a.m..
The signal activated automatically when the beacon hit the water. The Coast Guard received
no "mayday" distress signal from the Italian Gold. When rescuers - form Canada and the United States Coast Guards -
arrived on the scene at 6:15, they found the trawler capsized with a lot of debris
floating around it.
The Italian Gold was out with
other Gloucester boats. Those boats came back ahead of the storm that swept in on
September 5, and the Italian Gold was expected back the middle of the week. Tony
Verga, director of the Gloucester Fisheries Commission said the crew of the Italian
Gold was "well-experienced." Skipper Nicky Curcuru,
he said, "had been a captain aboard other vessels"
"They all had been through (rough weather while
fishing ) before, " said Verga. "It's not a question of
experience."
The missing crewmembers were:
Nicholas Curcuru, 49, left a
widow and two children
Manual Carraspichosa, 54
Peter Govinco 38 and
Salvatore Curcuru (no relation to Nicky)
Whatever happened to the Italian Gold must have occurred so
quickly that no one had time to respond. All hands were lost. |
