August 16, 2016 — POINT PLEASANT BEACH, N.J. — Early Monday, before the sun was up, the Lady Gertrude was about 35 to 40 miles southeast of Sandy Hook in a fishing ground called the Chicken Canyon when she started to take on water.
The canyon is a deep depression on the ocean floor and a ground known for scallops — what the Lady Gertrude, a 78-foot commercial fishing vessel from Point Pleasant Beach, was after when she left Manasquan Inlet on Sunday night.
By 2 a.m. though, something had gone wrong as the boat’s hull started filling with water.
Capt. Jim Lovgren was far away on the boat Shadowfax, towing his nets for fluke two miles off the beach when he heard the Gertrude’s first emergency call over the VHF radio. His heart dropped into his stomach. His 34-year old son Keith Lovgren was on the boat.
“I’m worried, but I do know my son’s been through this before and he knows what to do,” said Lovgren, whose boat Viking sunk in 2012 with both him and his two sons on board.
They all made it home safe that day. Keith, who was back at his Brick home by Monday afternoon, made it home safe this time, too.