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Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey has asked the U.S. Navy to help with the investigation into the sinking of a fishing vessel earlier this year that left seven crew members dead, the Navy and the governor’s office confirmed to Digital.
Healey and State Sen. Bruce Tarr sent a letter to the Secretary of the Navy this week asking for help retrieving a video recorder and a hard drive from the wreck of the Lily Jean in January, which lies more than 300 feet down in the Atlantic about 25 miles off the coast of Massachusetts, that could determine the cause of the sinking.
“Governor Healey is requesting the Navy retrieve a piece of equipment on board that could provide critical information into what caused the ship to sink,” Healey’s office told Digital on Saturday. “She has also requested that the Navy assess the feasibility of recovering the remains of lost crew members, in keeping with the wishes of each family.”
The governor’s office added that Healey had “previously asked the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and U.S. Coast Guard to investigate the equipment on board, but unfortunately, the NTSB informed us that they do not intend to lead an effort to retrieve it.”
COAST GUARD IDENTIFIES 7 VICTIMS ON BOARD GLOUCESTER COMMERCIAL FISHING BOAT THAT SANK OFF MASSACHUSETTS
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey has asked the U.S. Navy to help with the investigation into the sinking of a fishing vessel earlier this year that left seven crew members dead. (Jonathan Wiggs/The Boston Globe via Getty Images; Craig F. Walker/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
A spokesperson from the Office of the Secretary of the Navy told Digital, “The Office of the Secretary of the Navy is in receipt of the correspondence. A response is being prepared and will be transmitted directly to the Governor’s office.”
The body of Lily Jean Captain Accursio “Gus” Sanfilippo is the only one that has been recovered.
The six others who died in the Jan. 30 sinking include crew member Paul Beal Jr.; crew member John Rousanidis; crew member Freeman Short; crew member Sean Therrien; and NOAA fisheries observer Jada Samitt.
“What caused it is not as important as retrieving the crew,” Donna Short, the mother of Freeman Short, a 31-year-old who was planning a wedding, told WFXT.
She said she spoke to him a few days before he went out on the doomed trip.
“He told me, ‘Hey mom, you know I’m going to be going,’ and I told him I loved him,” she said, adding that recovering his body is a “matter of laying him to rest where his legacy began next to both of his grandfathers, who are veterans.”
A placard honoring the crew of the Lily Jean is displayed at the Gloucester Fisherman’s Memorial in Gloucester, Mass., on Jan. 31, 2026. (Craig F. Walker/The Boston Globe)
DESPERATE SEARCH FOR TWO MEN AS FISHING BOAT FOUND EMPTY 70 MILES OFF FLORIDA COAST
The National Transportation Safety Board and the U.S. Coast Guard are involved in an ongoing investigation into the sinking.
The Coast Guard’s search for the missing crew members was suspended on Jan. 31, a day after the sinking, and the NTSB said it doesn’t do recoveries, according to WFXT.
When the Lily Jean sank, Coast Guard watchstanders received an emergency position indicating a radio beacon (EPIRB) alert at about 6:50 a.m. registered to the vessel.
USCG crews attempted to contact the boat, and after getting no response, issued an urgent marine information broadcast (UMIB), according to officials.
Multiple aircraft, cutters and small boats searched 1,047 square miles over 24 hours, finding debris near the location where the EPIRB was activated, along with the captain’s body and an unoccupied life raft that had been deployed.
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey talks with U.S. Coast Guard Captain Jamie Frederick after a press conference in Gloucester on Jan. 31, 2026. The Coast Guard called off the search for the fishing vessel Lily Jean, which had seven crew members. (Craig F. Walker/The Boston Globe/Getty Images)
Search and rescue mission coordinators, on-scene commanders and the Coast Guard determined on Jan. 31 all reasonable search efforts for the missing crew members had been exhausted.
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“The purpose of a Coast Guard investigation is to identify measures that can improve the safety of life and property at sea, not to assign civil or criminal blame,” the Coast Guard wrote in a statement at the time.
‘ Alexandra Koch contributed to this report.
