The U.S. Coast Guard has identified the two fishermen who went missing after the trawler Mistress capsized and sank off Block Island early New Years Day morning as Oscar Diaz and John Ansay. Per policy, the Coast Guard declined to declare the fate of the fishermen, but according to Petty Officer Andrew Barresi, the duration of the search for the fishermen went past the survivability models used to estimate how long a person can endure winter seas in a survival suit.
Station Menemsha participated in a 2,152-square-mile search that lasted some 72 hours. Two successive motor lifeboat crews deployed from the Menemsha boathouse despite the search area being beyond the station’s coverage area, because those crews had heavy weather certifications needed for rough search conditions.
The one fishermen rescued by the good Samaritan vessel Captain Bligh was identified as Tim Diaz, according to Petty Officer Zachary Hupp. Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance president Richard Fuka told The Times Tim Diaz is the son of Oscar Diaz, owner of the Mistress.
“I saw him when he got off the Captain Bligh,” Fuka said. Fuka said he’d intended to do fiberglass work on a boat that morning, but like many mariners at Point Judith, R.I., homeport of the Mistress, he was preoccupied with the news two fishermen were lost at sea, and he wasn’t getting any work done when the Captain Bligh came to port with Diaz.
Fuka said Diaz looked “emotionally and physically spent” after surviving the sinking and subsequently scouring the vicinity of the incident for survivors with the Captain Bligh crew. Fuka noted he did not get a chance to speak with Diaz, but that he declined to be debriefed by the Coast Guard upon disembarking the Captain Bligh and that he also declined transportation to a medical facility for evaluation. Fuka said the Coast Guard was later able to interview Diaz in his home. Barresi said the Coast Guard twice spoke with Diaz via telephone while the Captain Bligh was still at sea. However, that was regarding the search for his missing crewmates, not the cause of the sinking, which he said was a separate line of inquiry that may well have begun once Diaz came back to Point Judith. He confirmed Diaz declined medical evaluation.
Fuka said a Rhode Island State Police scuba team is poised to dive on the wreck of the Mistress once it’s located and a workable weather window opens up. As of Tuesday, Fuka believed this would be Thursday at the earliest.
While the dive team is ready to act, “nothing has been scheduled yet,” Rhode Island State Police spokesperson Laura Meade Kirk said. Kirk referred further inquiries to the Coast Guard.
Barresi said the Coast Guard may deploy a vessel to serve as a platform for dive operations, but nothing was slated as of Tuesday.
Fuka said a friend of the Diaz family with access to a research vessel has offered assistance in locating the Mistress. He also said a number of fishing boats transiting the area where the Mistress is believed to have gone down have taken time to search — some stopping for vigils or prayers.
“It’s been very emotional, as you can well imagine,” he said.
Fuka said the Mistress, a wooden “Maine built” 52-foot trawler, was headed to port with 7,000 to 8,000 pounds of scup aboard ahead of a gale that rose up earlier than predicted. He said the vessel began to succumb to “inflooding” that eventually overtook the engine.
The Coast Guard previously estimated weather conditions to have produced 10-foot waves and 30- to 35-knot winds in the vicinity of the Mistress.
In such weather, Fuka said, “you can keep a boat floating as long as you can keep it moving forward.”
With that in mind, he surmised engine failure doomed the vessel.
Barresi said the crew appears to have had time to insulate themselves from the Atlantic.
“Last he [Tim Diaz] saw, the other two had their survival suits on,” he said.
Diaz was recovered with his survival suit on inside a liferaft by the Captain Bligh, another fishing vessel.
“Those guys on the Captain Bligh did a great job,” Fuka said.
Fuka said the Diaz family is grateful for the effort put forth in the aftermath of the sinking.
“They are extremely appreciative of the U.S. Coast Guard for creating such an extensive search,” he said.