2 fishermen missing, lifeboat recovered in Saugus

GLOUCESTER, Mass. (WHDH) -- The 45-foot Foxy Lady II and the men onboard have been missing for four days and hopes are starting to fade that they are alive.

The Coast Guard continued their search for two missing fishermen out of Gloucester on Wednesday.

“[The weather wasn’t that bad Saturday], but it doesn’t take much…I don’t think [there’s hope], said Sal Benson, a retired fishing boat captain.

The two missing fishermen are from Deer Isle, Maine: 26-year-old captain, Wally Gray, Jr., and his 50-year-old crewman, Wayne Young. They were onboard the Foxy Lady II, a fishing boat based out of Gloucester.

“All of our modeling showed that the boat would find its way to the west, close to the shoreline,” said Commander Sean Carroll of the U.S. Coast Guard.

The Foxy Lady II’s last known location was about 15 miles north of Provincetown. The Foxy Lady II left for a day trip on Saturday morning, with the expectation that it would return that evening.

The Coast Guard said the girlfriend of one of the men on the boat received text messages from the man all morning long, but the series of text messages ended around noon Saturday. Coast Guard crews said the boat's transmitter stopped sending signals around the same time.

The girlfriend alerted the Coast Guard Monday morning. Crews then kicked off a massive search including boats, helicopters and airplanes.

The Coast Guard said the rescue pod belonging to the Foxy Lady II was found in a marshy area of the Saugus River in Saugus Tuesday. Investigators said the discovery of the lifeboat doesn't mean they assume the boat capsized. They said it provides no additional information about what may have happened to the fishing boat.

Benson, who said he has survived five sinkings himself, occasionally saw the captain of the vessel at the Crow’s Nest, the bar made famous by the movie “The Perfect Storm.”

Fishing off the coast of Massachusetts can be a dangerous job. The men who work the boats know that.

“It must have been something quick that happened they didn’t expect,” said Benson.

Fishing gear was located on Nantasket Beach in Hull, but the Coast Guard now said they are unable to connect that gear to the missing vessel.