Fishing boat missing off Barnegat: Coast Guard

BARNEGAT - The U.S. Coast Guard was searching for a fishing boat missing approximately 40 miles off Barnegat Thursday.

Coast Guard watchstanders in Portsmouth, Virginia, "received an emergency position-indicating radio beacon (EPIRB) alert for the Queen Ann's Revenge, a 46-foot fishing boat, at 1:20 a.m." Thursday, according to a prepared statement from a Coast Guard office in Atlantic City.

Fishermen also contacted a Coast Guard installation in the Delaware Bay to relay a distress call they had received over their radio, according to the statement.

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A Coast Guard helicopter found the location of the beacon and another crew of fishermen found debris, according to the statement.

According to Coast Gaurd vessel documentation, the boat was registered to Black Beard Fishing LLC and docked at Point Pleasant.

Records show the company is owned by Paul A. Matos. The Coast Guard did not confirm if Matos was on the boat.

Stephen Bardsley, the assistant general manager at Point Pleasant Fishermen's Dock Cooperative, said a woman who identified herself as Matos' sister showed up at the dock Thursday morning asking for information about her brother.

Bardsley said there may have been one other crew member on the boat. The Coast Guard has not confirmed that.

According to Coast Guard records the Queen Ann's Revenge was built in 1957 and had a wood hull.

Jim Lovgren, a Point Pleasant Fishermen's Dock Cooperative board member, said the boat was probably netting squid and might have got hit by a rogue wave on its way in.

The seas were rough according to data from the Texas Tower sea buoy. Average wave heights between midnight and six a.m. were seven to 10 feet.

The buoy is operated by the National Weather Service and is located about 60 miles east of the Barnegat Inlet, the general area of the Queen Ann's Revenge last reported location.

Coast Guard boat crews from stations at the Manasquan Inlet and Barnegat Light and another helicopter from North Carolina were also involved in the search and the Coast Guard Cutter Lawrence Lawson was on its way as well, according to the announcement.

The Coast Guard asked any mariners who found "items related to the fishing vessel" to call its Sector Delaware Bay installation at 215-271-4940.

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Alex N. Gecan: @GeeksterTweets; 732-643-4043; agecan@gannettnj.com