| The Inca left Gloucester harbor
on December 30, 1943 to spend the winter fishing out of Norfolk, Va. In all the winters
she had gone south, she never took over six days for any trip, always fishing along the
shore. The week of January 11th, a steamer arrived in
Norfolk to report that the craft had rammed and sunk a fishing vessel off Chesapeake Bay
earlier the previous week. When the steamer finally reversed engines and got back to the
locale of the accident, there was nothing to indicate what had been hit and although the
area was scoured, no trace of the ill-fated ship was found.
Naval authorities at Norfolk made an exhaustive search of
the area but could find no trace of the Inca. They checked the
entire district and accounted for every boat but the Inca.
Three days later, the bodies of two of the crew were
recovered snarled in the nets of another fishing vessel, and brought to Phoebus, Va.
The crew of the Inca:
Capt. John Orlando, 36 years, leaves a
widow and two daughters
Vincent Orlando, 57 years, leaves a widow and twelve children
(he was the father of the captain)
Vito Asaro, 37 years, leaves a widow and two sons
(he was brother-in-law to Capt. Orlando)
John R. "Red" Powers, 52 years, single
Harold V. Hudson, 25 years, leaves a widow and two daughters
Thomas W. Best, 62 years, leaves a widow and one daughter
Arthur J. DeCoste, 34 years, leaves a widow and three sons
The widow of Thomas Best had previously
lost her first husband, Hubert Fiander, at sea, as well as losing a son
at sea. |
