On This Day April 8,1950: Eight fishermen drown in sight of Lightship Pollock Rip
On this day in 1950, a fishing boat with eight men aboard sank with no survivors off Chatham after its crew struggled for hours to remain afloat in a howling gale. “The William Landry, a 63-foot scallop dragger out of New Bedford, was smashed to pieces by pounding seas while struggling toward a lightship stationed at Pollock Rip in Nantucket Sound,” the Associated Press reported. The Landry‘s fate became known for certain when wreckage from the boat washed ashore on Nantucket and was identified by LeRoy Anderson, brother-in-law of Capt. Arne Hansen, the Landry‘s 37-year-old skipper. The Coast Guard told the AP that the Landry vanished “all at once” around midnight after Hansen and his crew battled for hours in the fierce conditions to make their way to the lightship. When towering waves knocked the vessel’s pumps out of operation, the crew bailed with buckets and at 7 p.m. was near the lightship, the AP reported. click here to read the story More about F/V William Landry here 09:21
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