Marine Accident Brief: Sinking of U.S. Fishing Vessel Lady Mary, Atlantic Ocean, 65 Miles Southeast of Cape May, New Jersey, March 24, 2009

Between 0510 and 0540 on the morning of March 24, 2009, the fishing vessel Lady Mary sank in 210 feet of water in the Atlantic Ocean 65 miles off the New Jersey coast. Six crewmembers died in the accident, including the two owners, one of whom was the master. One crewmember survived. The sinking of the Lady Mary was investigated jointly by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the U.S. Coast Guard, with the Coast Guard as the lead investigative agency. On March 30, 2009, the commandant of the Coast Guard convened a Marine Board of Investigation, which held a total of 9 days of hearings between April 14 and November 5 in Cape May, New Jersey. The NTSB participated fully in the Coast Guard hearing and investigation. The wreckage was surveyed by divers in May 2009 and extensively photographed. In October 2009, the Coast Guard, with the assistance of the U.S. Navy, retrieved the rudder and other equipment from the sunken vessel, which was sent for analysis to the materials laboratory at NTSB headquarters in Washington, DC. As of the date of this brief, the Coast Guard had not published its report on the Lady Mary accident. On March 11, 2010, the National Transportation Safety Board issued the following safety recommendation to the Federal Communications Commission: M-10-1 - For commercial vessels required to carry 406-MHz emergency position-indicating radio beacons (EPIRBs), mandate that those EPIRBs broadcast vessel position data when activated.

• Record URL:
  http://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/AccidentReports/Reports/MAB1101.pdf
• 
• Corporate Authors:

  National Transportation Safety Board

  490 L'Enfant Plaza, SW
  Washington, DC  United States  20594
• Publication Date: 2011-5-2

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Web
• Features: Figures; Maps; Photos;
• Pagination: 15p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Crash investigation; Fatalities; Fishing vessels; Recommendations; Water transportation crashes
• Identifier Terms: Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB)
• Subject Areas: Marine Transportation; Safety and Human Factors; I80: Accident Studies;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01342391
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: NTSB/MAB-11/01, Accident No.: DCA-09-LM-010
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Jun 22 2011 4:26PM