Fifteen Years Ago Lives Were Lost Aboard The Starbound- My Cousin Joe Marcantonio Speaks Out About The Events Which Took Place That Night
The Starbound sank 130 miles off Cape Ann August 5th, 2001. It was six months after that fateful night fifteen years ago today when my cousin Joe Marcantonio sat down at his computer and wrote down exactly what happened the night his herring boat was run down by the oil tanker Virgo and his three crewmembers were lost to the sea. Joe trusted me and our platform GoodMorningGloucester to tell the story that had been locked away and never been told to anyone for years. He wrote this account of the events that led up to the sinking of his boat so that his family and the families of his crewmembers would know exactly what happened. The sinking of Joe’s boat the Starbound happend 23 years after Joe had lost his own father to the sea in the sinking of the Gloucester Dragger the F/V Captain Cosmo. The entire crew including Joe’s father Captain Cosmo Marcantonio were lost at sea in September of 1978. 23 years later- ten years ago Joe would recount the events and what was racing through his mind. Joe writes-,,, Click here to read this great article here 12:47
We were almost run down by a cargo ship in the fog on the F/V Osprey off of New York. If the captain of the boat had not been quick thinking and turned at the last minute we would have been run down. We were lucky but we also had a general alarm that was ringing the whole time. Only 1 man would have died in his bunk and that was his choice to stay there.