NEWBURYPORT - The U.S. Coast Guard said it has ruled out the possibility that the fishing vessel the Lady Luck was sunk by ice build-up or by a collision with another ship.
Lt. Ben Crowell, of the Portland, Maine, headquarters, said those factors were initially believed to be the most likely possibilities. However, investigations have ruled them out as the reason the Newburyport-based fishing boat sunk about 12 miles off the coast of Cape Elizabeth, Maine, last week with two men aboard.
Crowell said ice is not suspected because after talking to other boaters in that area at the time, they were not experiencing any similar problems. He said it is therefore reasonable to believe the crew of the Lady Luck also wasn't experiencing those problems. Heavy ice can make a boat unstable and cause it to capsize or sink.
He said the other early possibility, a collision with a large vessel such as a tanker or freighter, was dismissed after investigating vessel traffic in the area.
"Nothing came from that, either," he said.
The area where the Lady Luck was last detected is about two miles from a busy shipping lane that serves Portland, a major port for fuel imports on the East Coast.
The Lady Luck, a 52-foot long, steel-hulled dragger, went missing about 2 a.m. Thursday after its emergency beacon signaled distress. The Coast Guard launched a massive rescue effort but suspended searches late Friday.
Captain Sean Cone, 24, of North Andover and crewman Daniel Miller, 21, of North Hampton, N.H., were the only two aboard the ship and are presumed dead. The men were on the way back from Portland, where they were fishing for shrimp, to the North Shore.
Despite his age, Cone was an experienced fisherman, owning two fishing vessels and working as a crewman for years for several ships.
Crowell says he will now center his investigation on the possibility of a leak or that the boat's fishing net caught on an object and sank the boat. The ship was rigged with dragging nets, which are pulled along the ocean floor to catch bottom fish. There's no evidence so far that the ship was dragging, and the depth - 500 feet - would be an unusually deep drag.
Crowell said the ship may have quickly taken on water, "but it appears the vessel is well-maintained." Also, he said he is not sure if the Cone and Miller were fishing at the time of the sinking.
If they were fishing, it is possible their net could have been caught up and dragged the Lady Luck under. Other vessels have sunk before when their nets were caught on rocks, sunken vessels or other structures, Crowell said.
"It could be anything," he said.
Meanwhile, the Coast Guard will look to gather a full history of the Lady Luck.
Crowell said he plans to talk to past owners and research the Lady Luck from construction to demise. He said he also hopes to gather information about modifications to the boat, the shape the ship was in and other characteristics of the fishing vessel.
"There is a lot of things we still have to look at," he said.
The Coast Guard still cannot confirm where the ship is at, but it is believed to be about 12 miles southeast of Cape Elizabeth. Rescuers found an oil sheen and debris, including buckets, hand tools, pitch forks and shovels at that location.
The water depth at the location is about 500 feet, Crowell said.
