August 26, 2015 — Investigators found a sunken fishing boat off New Jersey on Wednesday after it was seen taking on water the day before, the authorities said.
The New Jersey State Police located the 40-foot steel trawler, known as El Jefe, after witnesses reported watching the boat sink about two miles offshore in the Sandy Hook Channel on Tuesday afternoon. Its captain was believed to be aboard. Investigators spotted a cooler floating Tuesday near where the boat sank, but the search was later called off for the night, said a spokeswoman for the United States Coast Guard, which was assisting in the effort.
Around 9 a.m. on Wednesday, investigators found a boat using side scan sonar, which scans the sea floor, and divers identified it as El Jefe, the State Police said. However, they did not find the boat’s captain, Tom Anderson.
The department’s marine services bureau suspended the search Wednesday afternoon because of dangerous water currents and planned to return to the site Thursday.
Mr. Anderson was alone when the boat sank and had not been seen since, the Belford Seafood Co-Op said in a post on Facebook. The New Jersey seafood market, on Sandy Hook Bay, said Mr. Anderson, who is from New York, had been docking his boat there.
“Our thoughts and prayers go out to Captain Tom Anderson tonight,” the market said in the post on Tuesday.
Read the full story at the New York Times