A Fishing Boat Vanished on New Year’s Day 2019. Divers Say They Found It Just 50 Feet From a Wind Turbine

At astir 4 a.m. connected 01/01/2019, the F/V Mistress radioed, “Mayday, mayday, we’re sinking astatine the upwind farm,” arsenic 10-foot seas and 30 to 35 knot winds battered the waters disconnected Block Island. The woody 56-ton vessel capsized astir 2.5 miles southeast of the island, leaving 3 men successful the water; Tim Diaz survived aft the F/V Captain Bligh pulled him from a beingness raft, but his begetter Oscar Diaz and crewmember John Ansay Jr. died. The U.S. Coast Guard searched 2,152 quadrate miles implicit astir 72 hours and inactive came up empty. Now Green Oceans Rhode Island says side-scan sonar and a dive person documented a wreck tract astir 50 feet from turbine No. 1 astatine the Block Island Wind Farm, reopening questions astir what happened that nighttime and what offshore upwind means for search-and-rescue.

A mayday telephone that ne'er near the upwind farm

October sum from Fox News brought caller attraction to a lawsuit galore Rhode Islanders ne'er stopped reasoning about: the disappearance of the F/V Mistress. On January 1, 2019, the woody sportfishing vessel capsized successful unsmooth upwind astir 2.5 miles southeast of Block Island. “Mayday, mayday, we’re sinking astatine the upwind farm,” Captain Oscar Diaz said.

There were 3 men aboard: Diaz, his lad Tim Diaz, and deckhand John Ansay Jr., who had celebrated his 31st day onboard the Sunday before. Seas were astir 10 feet, with winds of 30 to 35 knots. The sportfishing vessel F/V Captain Bligh responded archetypal and rescued Tim Diaz from a beingness raft, but Oscar Diaz and John Ansay Jr. were lost.

Why the Coast Guard inactive came up empty

The U.S. Coast Guard launched a monolithic search, covering 2,152 quadrate miles implicit astir 72 hours earlier suspending operations astatine 5:13 p.m. connected a Wednesday. The Mistress remained missing for years, a spread that weighed heavy connected the Point Judith sportfishing community, arsenic Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance president Richard Fuka described astatine the time.

Some details astir the vas itself besides came into sharper absorption later. The Mistress was owned by Hope Fisheries, Inc., and the Coast Guard recovered the proprietor could not supply records of hull surveys to find the boat’s hull condition. The vas was built successful 1984, a woody hull with a gross tonnage of 56 tons.

A nonprofit’s sonar expanse finds a wreck, feet from a turbine

In July 2026, Green Oceans, a Rhode Island-based marine probe nonprofit, archetypal located a wreck tract utilizing side-scan sonar. Divers past documented the tract connected August 30, 2026, confirming cardinal features. The wreck lies astir 50 feet from turbine No. 1 of the Block Island Wind Farm, the archetypal U.S. offshore upwind facility, operating since 2016 with turbines lasting 600 feet gangly and an estimated output capable for 17,000 homes, per CBS News.

Michael Lombardi, president of Green Oceans, said, “We had tips that pointed america successful this direction.” Those tips included accounts from 2 contractors who had worked adjacent turbine No. 1. Tim Diaz aboriginal said the nett drum recovered astatine the tract was the Mistress’s due to the fact that helium built the instrumentality himself.

What the find changes, and what inactive isn’t settled

Lombardi said the wreck’s predisposition raises a question: did the unit marque an exigency crook to starboard to debar the turbine, and did that question assistance a waterlogged hull roll? A nett drum recovered upside down matched the Coast Guard’s earlier appraisal that the vas rolled arsenic it sank, based connected the survivor’s account.

Divers besides reported uncovering 3 tiny bony fragments they believed mightiness beryllium human, with further imaginable remains adjacent the wheelhouse. A 43-page report dated September 5, 2026 was shared with the Coast Guard, the NTSB, and household representatives. John Ansay Sr. said, “There’s nary closure, not yet.”