A judge has awarded nearly $ 1 million in damages to the families of a Gloucester fisherman and three crew members who died when their boat mysteriously sank off Cape Cod in 2020.

The 82-foot Emmy Rose, based in Portland, Maine, broke down in early November 23, 2020, on its way to port after a seven-day fishing trip, National Transportation said. Safety Board. The fishermen of the Emmy Rose had caught groundfish like haddock and had to land their catch at Fisherman’s Wharf in Gloucester. Among the crew was Michael Porper Jr., 38, of Gloucester and Peaks Island, Maine.

A total of $ 960,000 in insurance products from the boat owner, Boat Aaron & Melissa Inc. of Westbrook, Maine, was distributed to families by US District Judge John Woodcock this week.

The families agreed to accept the money in exchange for an order relieving the owner of any additional liability. The judge also exonerated the owner.

Woodcock wrote that every man died “an unspeakably tragic and terrible death.”

“Again, there is no evidence of how the ship sank and it is possible that it sank suddenly and without warning, but it is more likely that there was some period of panic because the sailors worked in horrible conditions to prevent his and their terrible deaths, ”Woodcock wrote.

The vessel made no distress calls. The Coast Guard searched over 2,200 square miles over a 38-hour period, but found nothing more than a field of debris, the smell of diesel fuel, a distress beacon and an empty life raft.

The Crew – Porper, Captain Robert Blethen Jr., of Georgetown, Maine; Jeffrey Matthews, of Portland, Maine; and Ethan Ward, of Pownal, Maine – has never been found.

The steel-hulled Emmy Rose was found in May, upright with its stabilizers deployed, in about 800 feet of water on the seabed about 25 miles off Provincetown, the NTSB said.

Federal authorities partnered with the National Science Foundation and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in September to inspect the sunk ship using a remote-controlled vehicle. The vehicle produced high resolution videos and photos which are used by investigators trying to determine why the vessel sank.

Porper grew up and attended schools in Gloucester, and began working on fishing boats at the age of 15, according to his father. He was the descendant of a long-standing Gloucester fishing family – his great-grandfather, Captain Robert Porper, commanded several fishing schooners, most notably the Cavalier in the early 1900s, and was a “highliner” in fishing, its vessels catching more halibut than any other Gloucester schooner.

Porper’s family are working to have his name added to the Fishermen’s Memorial cenotaph on Stacy Boulevard, where he would join the names of three relatives: William A. Porper (1890), John A. Porper, (1911) and William H. Porper .

He leaves behind two children, Myiah Olivia Porper, daughter of Holly O’Connor, and Grace Ann Porper, daughter of Ashley Gross, his fiancee.

Gross said in a statement provided by her attorney, Joseph Orlando of Gloucester, that she believed the judge had done a fair job in dividing the limited insurance between the four families.

“There is no amount of money that will bring back my friends and my fiance,” Gross said Thursday. “The judgment does not bring us closure but brings some peace of mind that Michael may have contributed to the future of his daughters.”

Each of the four men’s estates will receive $ 126,201, while prices for their minor children ranged from $ 31,383 to $ 110,700.

An email was left with the lawyer representing the owner of the Emmy Rose on Friday.

Much of the material used in this report is from The Associated Press.

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