Testimony: Two boats passed near sinking trawler

CAPE MAY - At least two boats passed within close range of the Lady Mary about the time it sank, according to testimony yesterday in the investigation of the March 24 tragedy that claimed the lives of six crewmen 65 miles off Cape May.

Satellite tracking data supplied by the National Marine Fisheries Service - which monitors vessels' positions for fisheries management - was presented to the five-member Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation as it continued its inquiry into the sinking of the 71-foot scallop trawler.

The data shows at least two craft - a trawler roughly the size of the Lady Mary and a larger vessel - passed within about 11/2 miles of the doomed boat about 5 a.m., when the sole survivor of the sinking said the incident occurred.

Neither boat, nor about 20 other vessels the data revealed within a six-mile radius of the Lady Mary, changed course during the predawn emergency to try to help the distressed Lady Mary.

Though the Coast Guard declined to provide details about the two vessels, it acknowledged that the Fisheries Service has identified the boats it called "Vessel A" and "Vessel B" during testimony yesterday by Bill Semrau, a satellite tracking expert for the agency.

Semrau said he noted an odd, zigzag course one of the boats took after it passed close to the Lady Mary. The boats' satellite tracking images are taken every 30 minutes and transmitted to the Fisheries Service.

"I did not see other vessels divert to the Lady Mary's last known position that day," said Semrau, who reviewed the satellite data after the sinking. "I was very surprised."

Why none of the boats came to the aid of the Lady Mary - and none reported hearing mayday calls that the crew may have made via VHS radio or satellite phone, or its EPIRB emergency beacon - remains a mystery. The Coast Guard has said that the first mayday call it received came after 7 a.m.

Semrau testified that the last message transmitted by the Lady Mary was a mandatory electronic report about its catch for the day.

Eerie video of the Lady Mary shot by an underwater remote vehicle 211 feet beneath sea also was released by the Coast Guard yesterday. The video, only a snippet of more than five hours of footage, shows a ghostly view of the stern, which the boat's owner says appears damaged.

Stevenson Weeks, a maritime lawyer hired by Royal Smith Sr., a principal owner of the Lady Mary and the father of two of the dead crewmembers, has maintained that the Lady Mary may have struck an underwater obstacle or had its fishing apparatus become entangled with that of another trawler.

The Coast Guard has declined comment on the theories, and during the first days of testimony seemed lukewarm to the notion that the shipwreck was not caused by crew error, Weeks said yesterday.

Earlier in the hearing, a number of witnesses offered testimony that seemed to discredit the crew members. On Tuesday, a toxicology expert said that autopsies revealed levels of THC, the chemical found in marijuana, in the bloodstreams of Smith's sons, Royal "Bobo" Smith Jr., who was the captain, and Timothy "Timbo" Smith.

A former captain of the Lady Mary, Michael Duvall, testified about anger-management problems that Smith Jr. exhibited when he worked as Duvall's first mate. He also testified about Smith Jr.'s possible inexperience in handling the boat and its fishing dredge.

The Smith brothers drowned, but their bodies were found. The bodies of fellow crew members Bernie "Tarzan" Smith, Frank Credle, Frank Reyes, and Jorge Ramos have not been recovered. Bernie Smith was Royal Smith Sr.'s brother. Only Jose Luis Arias survived.

But Semrau's presentations, one in the morning and another in the afternoon yesterday, shed new light on what may have happened in the minutes before 12-foot seas began flooding over the gunwales of the Lady Mary and Smith Jr. feverishly tried to maneuver the sinking trawler out of a severe listing position.

"I was told by the panel that this isn't a smoking gun or a red herring, but it's something," said a smiling Weeks after the hearing.

"I think they are doing a pretty thorough job to get to the bottom of this," he said. "The board is looking at all this information very seriously."

Coast Guard Cmdr. Kyle McAvoy said the information supplied by the Fisheries Service and video footage were now an "important part" of the investigation.

"We're starting to progress into some analysis as different scenarios develop themselves based on the evidence," McAvoy said.

"We start with fact-finding, progress into analysis, and keep working toward a clearer picture toward the outcome," he said.

The hearing is scheduled to continue today but will likely recess while the panel analyzes the testimony and continues its investigation, McAvoy said.

To see a Coast Guard video of the sunken scallop trawler on the ocean floor, go to www.philly.com

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