Tragic final call TV fisherman made hours before vessel carrying entire crew sunk off Massachusetts coast as the search is called off

A TV star fisherman who vanished with his crew when their ship sank off the coast of Massachusetts on Friday shared a tragic phone call with his friend just hours before.

Gus Sanfilippo, the captain of the Lily Jean, is presumed dead along with six other seamen after the vessel capsized amid frigid temperatures on the East Coast.

The desperate search for the crew was called off Saturday morning, and Sanfilippo’s friend, Sebastian Noto, has since revealed details of a phone call they shared.

Noto, a fellow fishing captain, told NBC10 Boston he was also out sailing and was located around 30 miles east of Sanfilippo when they spoke at around 3am Friday.

‘We usually work together all the time. We are like glue, man. We give a lot of information back-and-forth,’ he said.

The fisherman added that Sanfilippo told him he was suffering from the cold on board the 72-foot Lily Jean, as the area experienced temperatures of around 12F.

‘He just couldn’t do the cold because the air holes (vents) were freezing,’ Noto said, adding that Sanfilippo told him: ‘I quit. It’s too cold’.

Several hours later, Noto knew something was wrong when he did not hear from his friend for the rest of the day. ‘I said, this is a serious situation,’ he told NBC.

Gus Sanfilippo and his crew are presumed dead after their boat sank off the coast of Massachusetts. Sanfilippo had a call with a friend and fellow captain just hours earlier
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Gus Sanfilippo and his crew are presumed dead after their boat sank off the coast of Massachusetts. Sanfilippo had a call with a friend and fellow captain just hours earlier

After a more than 24-hour search that was called off on Saturday, just one body was found in the water, as well as an empty lifeboat. The vessel that sank, called the Lily Jean, is pictured
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After a more than 24-hour search that was called off on Saturday, just one body was found in the water, as well as an empty lifeboat. The vessel that sank, called the Lily Jean, is pictured

The cause of the Lily Jean’s disappearance remains a mystery, as the crew did not make a Mayday call – a distress signal used when a ship needs emergency assistance.

US Coast Guard officials were instead notified by the boat’s beacon which is triggered when the vessel hits the water.

Noto speculated that the vessel experienced mechanical issues, such as a problem with the ship’s bilge pump, but said he was baffled as to why they didn’t send out an SOS.

‘Just a guess, I could be wrong you know because even if the bilge is taking water, you got plenty of time to call Mayday,’ he said.

‘You got plenty of time to get into the survival suit, life raft. The boat takes time to sink.’

Sanfilippo was a fifth-generation commercial fisherman from Gloucester, Massachusetts, in the Georges Bank.

He was featured along with The Lily Jean and its crew in a 2012 episode of the History Channel show Nor´Easter Men.

The crew was shown working in dangerous weather conditions for hours on end, spending as many as 10 days at sea on one trip fishing for haddock, lobster and flounder.

The six unrecovered crew members are all presumed dead due to the frigid temperatures at sea and in the water. Fishing boats tied up at the Lily Jean's home port are pictured
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The six unrecovered crew members are all presumed dead due to the frigid temperatures at sea and in the water. Fishing boats tied up at the Lily Jean’s home port are pictured

The crew appeared on a Nor'Easter Men, where they were filmed working in dangerous weather conditions for hours on end
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The crew appeared on a Nor’Easter Men, where they were filmed working in dangerous weather conditions for hours on end

Sanfilippo is a fifth-generation commercial fisherman, fishing out of Gloucester, Massachusetts (pictured)
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Sanfilippo is a fifth-generation commercial fisherman, fishing out of Gloucester, Massachusetts (pictured)

A rescue mission for the lost crew was launched when the US Coast Guard received a radio beacon alert from the Lily Jean a little before 7am on Friday.

Officials issued an emergency alert after being unable to contact the Lily Jean’s crew.

Searchers found one body in the water and an empty life raft after covering a 1,000 square mile area with aircraft, cutters and small boats.

They worked through the night while contending with below-freezing temperatures and icy sea sprays.

The six crew members who remain missing are all presumed dead, as the temperature at sea was 12F, and the water temperature was around 39F.

The Coast Guard said that suspending the search on Saturday was ‘an incredibly difficult and painstaking decision,’ which was only made after rescue teams determined that all reasonable search efforts had been exhausted.

Jamie Frederick, the Coast Guard’s sector Boston commander, said: ‘Based on the totality of circumstances, the frigid water and air temperatures and the time since the vessel sank, I believe there is no longer a reasonable expectation that anyone could have survived this long, even if they had been wearing a survival suit.’

The commander also said that a formal marine casualty investigation has begun, but so far, there has been ‘no single clue’ about what caused the Lily Jean to sink.

Vito Giacalone, head of the Gloucester Fishing Community Preservation Fund, said he knows Sanfilippo from the captain’s early days in commercial fishing and knew him as a hard worker from a fishing family.

‘Commercial fishing is a really tough living to begin with, and it’s as safe as the elements and all of the things allow it to be,’ Giacalone said. ‘Gus was a very seasoned, experienced fisherman.’

Gloucester Council President Tony Gross, a retired fisherman who had joined other elected officials at the harbor in the city after learning of the missing boat, called it a ‘huge tragedy for this community.’

Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey said she was 'heartbroken' to hear about the boat's sinking
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Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey said she was ‘heartbroken’ to hear about the boat’s sinking

Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey said she was ‘heartbroken’ to hear about the boat’s sinking.

‘I am praying for the crew, and my heart goes out to their loved ones and all Gloucester fishing families during this awful time,’ she said in a statement.

Republican State Senator Bruce Tarr, who confirmed seven people were on the vessel, grew emotional as he talked about Sanfilippo, who was a good friend.

‘He’s a person that has a big smile, and he gives you a warm embrace when he sees you,’ Tarr said. ‘He is very, very skilled at what he does.’

Tarr said the ‘fact that vessel now rests at the bottom of the ocean is very hard to understand,’ given the owner´s experience.

Although none of the people aboard the Lily Jean, other than Sanfilippo, were officially identified, the family of 22-year-old biology graduate student Jada Samitt told WFXT she was on the boat when it sank.

As for what caused the Lily Jean to sink, the friend of the vessel’s captain, Noto, had some suspicions.

He said the bilge pump may have stopped working, but emphasized that is ‘Just a guess.’

‘I could be wrong, because even if the bilge is taking water, you got plenty of time to call Mayday,’ Noto told NBC. ‘You got plenty of time to get into the survival suit, life raft. The boat takes time to sink.’