New Bedford Fisherman Identified After Tragic Yankee Rose Capsizing

NEW BEDFORD (WBSM) — A New Bedford fisherman who died in the capsizing of the fishing vessel Yankee Rose on Thursday has been identified.

According to Cape & Islands District Attorney Robert J. Galibois, he has been identified as Angel Nieves, 37.

Nieves was one of two people aboard the vessel when it capsized. The other person has not yet been recovered and the search for them was called off Friday afternoon.

Coast Guard Sector Southeastern New England was notified just before noon on Thursday, March 5, that the Yankee Rose had overturned about two nautical miles northeast of Race Point in Provincetown.

Rescuers arrived within minutes, and Nieves was located and pulled from the water at about 12:27 p.m. by a Coast Guard Rescue Swimmer and the Massachusetts Environmental Police.

Nieves was transported to MacMillan Pier in Provincetown, where Provincetown Fire Rescue was waiting. Galibois said they determined he was no longer viable for resuscitation.

Nieves had posted a "Good Morning" video to his Facebook page from the water earlier that day.

Massive Search Effort Off Provincetown

At about 3:48 p.m., a Coast Guard helicopter crew confirmed the Yankee Rose sank with an adjacent debris field.

The search for the second crewmember of the Yankee Rose then continued for 21 hours until it was called off at 1:27 p.m. on Friday, March 6.

“Despite adverse weather and sea conditions, including freezing temperatures, an active small craft advisory and a gale warning, all available resources were leveraged in the effort to locate the missing mariner,” the Coast Guard stated in a release.

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Commander Thomas Wieland, the search and rescue mission coordinator from Sector Southeastern New England, thanked those who took part in the search effort.

“The decision to suspend a search is never taken lightly, and we offer our most sincere condolences to the families of the lost fisherman,” he said.

New Bedford Officials Comment on Yankee Rose Tragedy

The New Bedford Port Authority released a statement on Friday afternoon expressing “heartfelt condolences in the wake of the tragic capsizing of the fishing vessel Yankee Rose.” The Port Authority stated that although “the Yankee Rose has primarily been operating from Provincetown for the past several years” that “the boat owner and crew are from the New Bedford area.”

“Our thoughts are with the crew of the Yankee Rose and their families,” Mayor Jon Mitchell said. “We in New Bedford, America’s preeminent commercial fishing port, stand ready to support them in the wake of this tragedy.”

The Coast Guard and Massachusetts Environmental Police are investigating the circumstances around the vessel’s capsizing.

Earlier Carbon Monoxide Incident on Yankee Rose

Just a week prior, the Yankee Rose had been involved in another emergency incident. At about 5:59 p.m. on Thursday, February 26, Provincetown Police and the Provincetown Fire Department responded to MacMillan Pier for a report of an unresponsive individual on a boat in the harbor. They arrived to find the person as well as a second crew member on the vessel both passed out from apparent carbon monoxide exposure. They were taken to Cape Cod Hospital and were later released.