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“There was nothing atypical or anomalous about their trip. They were doing exactly what we’ve done for 50 years.”
A crucifix, made by a friend of the captain of the fishing boat “Lily Jean”, is displayed on the pier of the homeport of the fishing boat that went missing with seven onboard, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026, in Gloucester, Mass. AP Photo/Charles Krupa
February 2, 2026 | 6:42 PM
3 minutes to read
The nation’s oldest seaport marked a “very difficult benchmark” Monday as the U.S. Coast Guard confirmed the names of the seven people presumed dead in the sinking of the Lily Jean, a Gloucester-based fishing boat.
State Sen. Bruce Tarr struggled to keep his composure as he recited the names of the fallen: Captain Accursio “Gus” Sanfilippo, crew members Paul Beal Sr., Paul Beal Jr., John Rousanidis, Freeman Short, and Sean Therrien, and NOAA fisheries observer Jada Samitt.
In Gloucester, there’s a special term for the people who dedicate their lives to the sea, as the crew of the Lily Jean did, Tarr explained in a press conference Monday.
“We call those people the ‘finest kind,’” he said. “And these seven were the finest kind.”
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Flanked by local officials and members of the fishing industry, Tarr thanked Coast Guard personnel who searched through “very difficult conditions” after receiving an emergency radio signal from the Lily Jean around 6:50 a.m. Friday. Rescue crews found a debris field and an unoccupied life raft from the Lily Jean off the coast of Cape Ann, ultimately pulling one “unresponsive body” from the water, the agency previously said.
“This confirmation is very difficult for all of us,” Tarr said. “It’s painful to read these names and think about what has transpired here.”
Still, he asked community members to refrain from speculating about the Lily Jean’s final moments. The Coast Guard, which suspended its search Saturday, has said it will investigate the incident alongside the National Transportation Safety Board — a process expected to take several months.
“It’s only been, it seems, hours since the tragedy unfolded with the loss of the vessel Lily Jean, but the city of Gloucester remains a community in mourning,” said Jack Clarke, the city’s chief administrative officer. “There were seven souls [on board], but everyone knows each other, is related to each other, and the loss of one person is felt by everyone.”
“We’ve experienced tragedies at sea before; we will again,” he continued. “And it never gets easy.”
Flowers are left at fisherman’s memorial near the homeport of a fishing boat that went missing with seven onboard, Monday, Feb. 2, 2026, in Gloucester, Mass. – AP Photo/Charles Krupa
Now, with the “grim confirmation” of the seven victims’ identities, Tarr said Gloucester will draw on its legacy and its faith to support the community in its time of need.
“We’ll do the very best we can to understand what happened in this unthinkable tragedy,” he vowed, even as he acknowledged that unpredictable forces of nature make it impossible to fully safeguard the sea and prevent a repeat.
“When we go to sleep at night, what we want to be able to say is we did everything in our power to minimize that chance,” Tarr explained.
He also warned that recovering a sunken fishing vessel “is an extraordinary undertaking.”
“I would not want to create an expectation that it will ever be brought to the surface,” Tarr said. “I would not want to give anyone the impression that it is a given that the boat will be recovered. The likelihood is that it will not be brought to the surface.”
‘They left this world doing what they loved’
Al Cottone, executive director of Gloucester’s Fisheries Commission, described the sinking as “the worst nightmare come true.”
“Being an active fisherman, it’s not easy, but we all love it,” he said. “And I truly believe that everyone on the Lily Jean … whatever happened, they did it out of love, and they left this world doing what they loved.”
Both he and Vito Giacalone, a member of the Northeast Seafood Coalition, praised Sanfilippo’s leadership as a captain.
“He’s very risk-averse,” Giacalone said. “A family man. Clean as a whistle. Loved by everyone, including his crew.”
He added: “There was nothing atypical or anomalous about their trip. They were doing exactly what we’ve done for 50 years.”
Cottone said the Lily Jean was “one of the best-kept boats” and Sanfilippo “never took the cheap way out when it came to maintenance, always made sure everything was in tip-top shape.”
Tarr, meanwhile, said he counted Sanfilippo among his personal friends and described the captain as “the very best of what we’ve offered to the nation since Gloucester started as a port 400 years ago.”
“Gus had the most easygoing personality that you’d ever want to see, but deep down inside, he was serious about the business of fishing, and serious about carrying on the family tradition and serious about continuing the tradition of this port,” Tarr added. “And I think if he was here, he’d remind us that he passed doing what he loved, and he’d say, ‘Don’t give up on the industry. Ever. Ever.’”
Abby Patkin is a general assignment news reporter whose work touches on public transit, crime, health, and everything in between.
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