While towing a 316-foot barge in late June through thick fog six miles off Manasquan Inlet, N.J., the crew of the northbound 100-foot tug JoAnne Reinauer III felt a shudder.
They turned to discover that they had collided with the eastbound 64-foot scallop boat Alex Mac. It had overturned and remained on the surface.
There were four people onboard when the accident occurred at about 1945. Two leaped into the 62° water and were rescued by a nearby fishing boat almost an hour later. The captain and a crewmember were found clinging to debris by the 90-foot charter boat Gambler. They had been in the wheelhouse at the time of the collision.
Two others onboard were trapped below.
State police divers later discovered the bodies of Michael Lampman, 39, and his nephew, Patrick McGoldrick, 16, inside the sunken vessel near the engine room. It was McGoldrick’s first trip working at sea.
Both vessels were equipped with radar. The Coast Guard, citing its ongoing investigation of the accident, declined to say if the radar was in operation and being monitored when the collision occurred.
The scallop boat is owned by DK Sea Ventures LLC, a Manahawkin, N.J., company, which is owned by David and Kyle Michel, who are active in NASCAR racing.
