Healey asks Navy for help retrieving "key piece of equipment" from sunken fishing vessel Lily Jean
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey is appealing to the U.S. Navy to help retrieve a "key piece of equipment" from the fishing vessel Lily Jean, which sank off the coast of Gloucester earlier this year.
Seven crew members were lost at sea after the 72-foot vessel activated its emergency beacon about 20 miles off Cape Ann on Jan. 30. But the families of those who died still have no answers about what went wrong.
Healey and Gloucester state Sen. Bruce Tarr wrote to Secretary of the Navy Sec. Hung Cao this week, asking for help.
"Officials from the Massachusetts State Police have received information suggesting that a video recorder and hard drive installed on the F/V Lily Jean remains intact, with the potential to provide essential details in the immediate moments before the ship was lost," the letter states. "The company that installed the technology believes the video captured is retrievable."
Healey and Tarr also asked the Navy to "assess the feasibility of recovering the remains of lost crew members." Only one body has been recovered so far.
"While we understand the potential risk to personnel and substantial cost, we believe it is a worthwhile investment to provide closure to the families of those lost, improve safety for future vessels, and prevent further loss of life," they wrote.
The seven people who were on board the Lily Jean were
• Accursio "Gus" Sanfilippo, captain
• Paul Beal Sr., crew
• Paul Beal Jr., crew
• John Rousanidis, crew
• Freeman Short, crew
• Sean Therrien, crew
• Jada Samitt, NOAA fisheries observer
Tiffany Leigh has not lost hope that the remains of her boyfriend, Freeman Short, will be brought back home for a proper goodbye. "I would like some humanity to be shown, because if you know where your loved one was and you couldn't reach them, it's devastating," Leigh said.
For more than 100 days, she has been making a desperate plea to state officials, asking them for help. "They lost their lives at sea, but they're not lost at sea," Leigh said. "We've known from February 4, maybe, where the boat was. We know the exact coordinates. We know it's 320 feet deep."
Sen. Tarr said the U.S. Navy has confirmed receipt of that letter and in the next few days, he's hoping to hear back on whether the request is feasible.
"Some of the families have certainly expressed the desire to have remains recovered from the vessel. Others, I do not believe, hold that same opinion," Sen. Tarr told WBZ News.
While Leigh says she does respect that decision for some families. She says she won't rest until Freeman is brought back home. "I want to know where his body is and I want to sit by his gravesite and for him to have a tombstone," Leigh said.
