Coast Guard locates missing boat's raft

No one on board; crew member ID'd

Michael Stewart
@PensacolaNewsJournal.com

The Coast Guard on Saturday located the empty life raft from the Sara B,
a 37-foot fishing boat feared missing since Monday and overdue since Friday.

A crew member aboard the boat has been identified as Pensacola resident
Ida Fitzgerald, an experienced deckhand who has fished with Capt. Don
Jones off and on for about 20 years, friends said.

Jones and Fitzpatrick were fishing Monday on the Sara B about 40 miles
south of Orange Beach, Ala., when they were caught in a storm.

Coast Guard Petty Officer Chad Saylor said the empty raft first was
spotted by a Coast Guard crew in a Falcon jet Friday night. The Coast
Guard Cutter "Stingray" recovered the raft about 9:15 a.m. Saturday,
about 70 miles south of Orange Beach, Ala.

The Coast Guard contacted Jones by radio Monday when his
emergency-locator beacon activated during a storm that whipped up
18-foot seas. Jones told Coast Guard officials that everything was OK.

Parker Seafood owner Mike Parker, who owns the Sara B, said the raft
would have automatically inflated had the boat capsized. But he said the
raft could have been ripped from the boat and inflated during the storm
that had winds estimated at 80 mph.

"It doesn't necessarily mean the boat sank," he said of the turn of
events. "There is still a full-press search out there, and we're not
giving up here at all."

The Sara B was due back in port at 10 a.m. Friday. Friends had hoped
Jones and Fitzpatrick still were fishing, unaware of the search. With
the boat officially more than 24 hours overdue, concern is mounting.

A woman who answered Fitzpatrick's telephone Friday night and only
identified herself as "Mel" said she has been Fitzpatrick's roommate for
the past 10 years.

"They're not still out there fishing," Mel said. "Something's wrong,
really wrong."

The woman was unavailable for comment Saturday night.

Pensacola resident Patrick Harvey has known Fitzpatrick since 1999.
Fitzpatrick calls Harvey's mother, Alyce Harvey, "momma," he said,
adding that the two women like to fish together for redfish at Fort Pickens.

"The last time I talked to her, I asked her what it was like fishing out
there, and she said it wasn't easy," Patrick Harvey said. "She said you
work real hard and don't get much sleep."

He said Fitzpatrick is about 40 years old, likes to laugh, tell stories
and never passes up an opportunity to sample some of his mother's home
cooking.

He said Fitzpatrick's only family are two sisters who live in Indiana.

Fitzpatrick's friend, Mel, said she is worried and frustrated.

"I'm just hoping and praying, that's all I can do," she said. "`If I had
a rowboat I would go out there and paddle if I could."