National Transportation Safety Board 

Washington, D.C. 20594

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MARINE ACCIDENT BRIEF

Sinking of U.S. fishing vessel Miss Penelope

South of Montauk, New York, January 28, 1998 

Accident Number: DCA98MM015 

Vessel: U.S. uninspected fishing vessel Miss Penelope, O.N. 615 480 

 Built of welded steel in 1979 at St. Augustine, Florida 

Owner/ Operator: David R. Greenly, Lincoln, Delaware 

Accident Type: Sinking 

Location: Atlantic Ocean, 74 nm south of Montauk, New York 

 Latitude 39.52o

 North - Longitude 72.06o West 

Date: January 28, 1998 

Time: 1355 (local) 

Property Damage: $500,000 

Complement: 4 

Injuries: 3 

Fatalities 1 

Description of Accident 

About 1530, January 26, 1998, the Miss Penelope departed Newport, Rhode Island, 

for commercial fishing in the Atlantic Ocean, south of Montauk, New York. The crew 

comprised the master, a mate, and two deckhands. At the time of departure, the master had 

received a National Weather Service forecast predicting 30- to 40-knot winds and 10- to 

15-foot seas in the intended fishing area.1

The vessel arrived at the fishing grounds about 2330, and the crew began fishing. 

The work involved towing a fishing net astern and then hauling the netted catch on board, a 

routine that the crew continuously repeated while the vessel was at the fishing grounds. 

The master said that, about 0300 on January 27, the weather deteriorated and he 

decided to suspend fishing, shut down the engine, and let the Miss Penelope ride out the 

heavy weather by drifting with the wind and seas. The crewmembers prepared the vessel 

for heavy weather, which involved securing the deck equipment and clearing the freeing 

 1 The master later told Safety Board investigators that it was not unusual for him to take his vessel 

out to sea in such weather conditions.
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ports on the after deck so that boarding seas could run freely overboard. The crewmembers 

dogged the clamps on the hatch covers to the storage areas and the lazarette and placed 

gravity-secured aluminum hatch covers on the fish-hold hatch. 

While the Miss Penelope drifted, the crewmembers took turns standing watch in the 

wheelhouse; one man served as watch stander while the other crewmembers rested. The 

wheelhouse had a flooding alarm panel that monitored high-level bilge alarms in the engine 

room, fish hold, and lazarette. The watch stander’s duties included going to and checking 

the engine room for flooding or casualties every half hour. According to the master, before 

the accident, no crewmember reported any problems during his watch. 

On January 28, the master relieved the mate on watch in the wheelhouse about 

1300. The two men then checked the engine room and did not note any problems. The 

master stated that the winds were now blowing at 60 knots and the seas were 20 to 25 feet. 

He said that, shortly after he assumed the watch, the vessel took heavy seas on the 

starboard side and heeled over very hard to port. When the after deck did not immediately 

recover from the roll to port, he said, he knew something was seriously wrong with the 

vessel. He said that the Miss Penelope then began to sink by the stern. 

The master warned the mate and the deckhands that the vessel was sinking and then 

started the vessel’s main engine. The master maneuvered the vessel into the wind in an 

attempt to clear water from the after deck. The mate and the two deckhands mustered on 

the port fore deck, donned their survival suits, and launched the Miss Penelope’s inflatable 

life raft. The master donned his survival suit and remained in the wheelhouse. The Miss 

Penelope carried three Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacons (EPIRBs): one 406-

Mhz model that automatically activated and two 121.5-Mhz models that manually 

activated. The mate dropped the automatically activated EPIRB into the sea, put one 

manually activated EPIRB into the life raft, and gave the other manually activated EPIRB 

to one of the deckhands. 

At 1325, the master radioed a report of the vessel’s situation and position to the 

U.S. Coast Guard (Coast Guard) station at Moriches, New York. Twenty minutes later, he 

notified the Coast Guard that the vessel would sink within 10 minutes. The mate and the 

two deckhands then abandoned ship by leaping over the starboard bow into the ocean. At 

1355, the master sent the last radio message from the Miss Penelope, advising the Coast 

Guard of the vessel’s position at that time. He then abandoned ship. Shortly thereafter, the 

Miss Penelope capsized. 

The master, the mate, and the two deckhands swam toward the life raft, which was 

tethered to the sinking vessel by the life raft’s sea painter. The master, mate, and one of the 

deckhands managed to board the life raft. The second deckhand, however, did not make it 

to the life raft and, within a short time, drifted out of sight of the other crewmembers. The 

master stated that the second deckhand did not appear to be making an effort to swim 

toward the life raft. The master stated that the deckhand waved to him and that he appeared 

to be clutching one of the vessel’s EPIRBs. 
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As the Miss Penelope sank, the vessel’s rigging became entangled in the life raft’s 

sea painter and started to pull the raft under water. The mate said that he did not know 

where the life raft’s knife was located. He unzipped his survival suit enough to free his 

hands and then used his teeth and hands to untie the sea painter, releasing the life raft from 

the vessel. 

Heavy seas buffeted the life raft. The crewmembers stated that during the first 5 

minutes that they were in the raft, the sea toppled it over 8 or 9 times. Each time that the 

sea turned the raft over, the crewmembers righted it and boarded it again. The 

crewmembers said that each time the raft was toppled, they were thrown about and collided 

with each other. 

In response to the VHF radio communications from the Miss Penelope’s master, the 

Coast Guard Air Station at Brooklyn, New York, and the Coast Guard Air Station at Cape 

Cod, Massachusetts, dispatched three rescue helicopters, which arrived onscene about 

1435. A rescue swimmer from one of the helicopters entered the water to assist in rescuing 

the fishing vessel’s crew. The master and the deckhand in the life raft were hoisted to and 

put on one helicopter; the mate was hoisted to and put on another. Rescuers located the 

second deckhand, floating face down and unconscious in the water, about 1 mile 

downwind from the life raft. He was hoisted to and put on the third helicopter. 

About 1505, the Coast Guard rescue helicopters departed the accident scene. The 

helicopter carrying the master and the first deckhand landed about 1550 at the Coast Guard 

Air Station in Brooklyn. The master and first deckhand were immediately taken to Coney 

Island Hospital, New York, where the master was treated for hypothermia and released. 

The first deckhand was treated for hypothermia and a minor injury to his shoulder, which 

he suffered while he was thrown about in the raft. The deckhand was then released. The 

helicopters carrying the unconscious second deckhand and the mate landed at Gabreski 

Airport in Suffolk County, New York, about 1555. The mate and the second deckhand 

were immediately taken to Central Suffolk County Hospital in Riverhead, New York. The 

mate was treated for hypothermia and released. The second deckhand was pronounced 

dead at the hospital; the cause of death was drowning. 

Probable Cause 

The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of the 

sinking of the commercial fishing vessel Miss Penelope was flooding resulting from an 

unknown origin while the vessel drifted in heavy seas. 

Adopted August 3, 2001