July 6, 1953
Crew of 7 Saved As Dragger Sinks
Seven Gloucestermen were rescued Saturday noon
from the foundering 81-foot ocean perch dragger Olivia Brown, 45
miles southeast of Seal Island, near Shelburne, N. S. The Gloucester dragger Edith
L. Boudreau was the rescue ship. The Brown,
a 26-year-old craft, sank at 1 o'clock, within an hour of foundering.
The rescued crew were brought into Gloucester
at 6 o'clock Sunday evening aboard the Boudreau. The Olivia
Brown, built in Essex in 1927 was valued at $100,000 and the loss was
partially covered by insurance.
The rescued were:
Capt. John M. Fragata, 59
years, owner-master
David J. Pino, 59 years, engineer
Marques Vinho, 54 years, cook
John F. Fragata, 24 years, son of the skipper
Edward S. Fragata, 24, skipper's cousin
Joseph E. Santos, 53 years
Antonio O. Dias, 23 years
The Olivia Brown
left Gloucester Friday, June 26 for an ocean perch trip. They had 50,000 pounds
perch aboard Saturday noon and were fishing on what Gloucestermen call "Western
Hole," a favored perch spot off the southwest tip of Nova Scotia, at the position
where the Brown foundered.
Engineer Pino said all was
right when he left the engine room at noon to answer the cook's bell for dinner.
"We had just started to make another set for redfish," he said.
"After dinner I went back to the engine room, and I could just hear a
bubbling. Then I saw water fly back of the engine room. I stopped right short.
Then I realized she was leaking bad. The dragger seemed to have opened up
around the sleeve. I told the skipper and he got the three bilge pumps going and
started the deck pump. But all of them together couldn't keep the Brown afloat.
"It was rough at the time, and a
southwest wind was kicking up around 20 miles an hour. The breeze was sharp.
Capt. Fragata ordered us to launch our two dories and get into
them. She had started to founder at 12 noon. We rowed about a half mile off.
At 1 o'clock Saturday noon, we saw the Olivia Brown roll
sideways and then go down stern first."
The dragger Edith L. Boudreau,
Capt. David J. Riberio in command, was fishing about a half mile away.
Capt. Fragata had tried to raise the Boudreau
by radio telephone but apparently there was reception trouble. However the
Boudreau's gang saw that something was wrong with the Brown
and they hauled back the net and came over to speak their friends. The Boudreau
took Capt. Fragata and his men aboard and though she had but a half trip,
50,000 pounds perch aboard, she turned her prow Gloucester-ward to set the shipwrecked men
back to their waiting families here. They docked at United Fisheries Co. wharf, east
end of Main Street at 6 last evening.
The Olivia Brown was
built back in 1927 for Capt. Brown, now retired from fishing and
operating a restaurant, formerly Cameron's. In the Olivia Brown,
Capt. Frank Brown was high-line redfish producer out of Gloucester in the
early 40's. |
