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Family member recalls last call from doomed Lady Mary crew
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CAPE MAY - The last person to hear from the crew of the doomed Lady Mary testified Wednesday about getting an eerie satellite phone call with but a single spoken syllable -- and then static.
"Hey," the person on the line said, Janet Greene of Middle Township told a U.S. Coast Guard panel investigating the March 24 sinking of the scallop boat.
Six people died in the maritime accident, including boat captain Royal Smith Jr., the longtime boyfriend of Greene's daughter, Stacy, who still lived at home.
Greene testified that when her would-be son-in-law was at sea, she often got calls from him at odd hours. Smith called her "Miss Janet" and phoned from sea as many as three times a day just to let his family know he was doing well or to talk to Stacy and the couple's two boys, she said.
At 4:45 the morning of the sinking, Greene answered the phone by her bedside on the first ring.
"When he is out on the water, I never sleep sound," she said.
But when she put the receiver to her ear that morning, nobody immediately replied.
"Hello? Hello?" she recalled saying.
From more than 60 miles away, out on the dark Atlantic Ocean, came a muffled voice: "Hey."
"It sounded like him. I'm almost sure it was him," she said. "It just faded out - like static -- and it faded out. It wasn't long at all."
The panel asked if she ever lost reception on these satellite calls in the past.
"Not really. Sometimes, it would break up, but not like this time," she said.
After testifying, Greene said in an interview that the voice was neither full of fear nor panic. She assumed Smith would simply try to call later. Once awake, she got out of bed, turned on the TV news and prepared to get her grandchildren up for school.
Only later would she learn that the Lady Mary sank in strong winds and heavy seas. The boat was wrapping up a weeklong trip to scalloping grounds called the Elephant Trunk 60 miles off Cape May.
Mechanic Paul Adams of Lower Township also testified about his work on the boat's engines and hydraulics systems. After testifying, Adams said he thinks the fishing boat collided with another ship.
"In my opinion, that's the most logical explanation, especially after seeing the photos the dive team took," Adams said. "I don't the hydraulics of the winches would be powerful enough to cause that kind of damage."
Phone records indicate that Smith called Janet Greene's home and his girlfriend's cell phone on March 18 from aboard the Lady Mary.
After the accident Stacy Greene checked her phone records to see if she might have missed any calls from Smith the morning of the accident. None had come.
Janet Greene said the family is still devastated by the accident.
"It's just a bad, sad situation," she said.
Greene said she did not think the Coast Guard's inquiry would provide any satisfactory explanations about what happened to the Lady Mary and her crew that fateful morning.
"Only God can answer those questions," she said.
Posted in Breaking, Cape_may, New_jersey on Wednesday, November 4, 2009 11:00 am
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