May 15, 1946
The St. Christopher
Two Gloucester fishermen are missing, believed
to have been killed instantly, and eight fishermen were saved when their 95-food auxiliary
fishing dragger St. Christopher, laden with 150,000 pounds fresh
fish, inward bound, was cut in two, some 25 feet from the bow on the starboard side, at
1.25 o'clock yesterday afternoon, 58 miles each by south of Eastern Point, by the 483-foot
oil tanker Alar, a Norwegian, bound for Venezuela, in a thick
fog.
The two missing men Jerome Laiacano,
50 years, married, eight children, 55 Fort square, and Jimmy Currea, 30
years, 2 Garden street, Boston, were caught in the fo'c'stle which took the brunt of the
collision and was heavily smashed. Both men had occupied upper bunks at the time of the
crash and were believed to have been killed outright....The rescued crew members, and
their injuries follow:
Capt. Philip Fileto, 45
Commercial street
Gaspar Quince, engineer, 14 Western avenue
Leo Scola, cook, 46 Fort square, discolored eye, head injury, bruised on
body
Salvatore Scandalito, 12 Beach court
Jerome Laiacano Jr., 55 Fort square, severe cut on arm, son of missing
crew member
Thomas Parisi, 45 Commercial street, bad cut on head, scratches on body
Salvatore Parisi, 45 Commercial street, brother of Tom Parisi
Sebastian Lovasco, North street, Boston, injury to right shoulder.
The irony of Fate showed in the loss of Laiacano
who at one time was skipper of the schooner Josephine and Mary of
this port when the craft was mackerel seining in years past. Laiacano is
a regular crew member of the local dragger Ave Maria, and had
gone aboard the St. Christopher for the first time, this trip,
because his own craft was being overhauled and was not expected to leave the wharf for a
month or so. Laiacano wanted to keep fishing and so accepted a transient
site on the St. Christopher. |
