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

At about 4 a.m. on 01/01/2019, the F/V Mistress radioed, “Mayday, mayday, we’re sinking at the wind farm,” as 10-foot seas and 30 to 35 knot winds battered the waters off Block Island. The wooden 56-ton boat capsized roughly 2.5 miles southeast of the island, leaving three men in the water; Tim Diaz survived after the F/V Captain Bligh pulled him from a life raft, but his father Oscar Diaz and crewmember John Ansay Jr. died. The U.S. Coast Guard searched 2,152 square miles over nearly 72 hours and still came up empty. Now Green Oceans Rhode Island says side-scan sonar and a dive have documented a wreck site about 50 feet from turbine No. 1 at the Block Island Wind Farm, reopening questions about what happened that night and what offshore wind means for search-and-rescue.

A mayday call that never left the wind farm

October coverage from Fox News brought fresh attention to a case many Rhode Islanders never stopped thinking about: the disappearance of the F/V Mistress. On January 1, 2019, the wooden fishing boat capsized in rough weather about 2.5 miles southeast of Block Island. “Mayday, mayday, we’re sinking at the wind farm,” Captain Oscar Diaz said.

There were 3 men aboard: Diaz, his son Tim Diaz, and deckhand John Ansay Jr., who had celebrated his 31st birthday onboard the Sunday before. Seas were about 10 feet, with winds of 30 to 35 knots. The fishing boat F/V Captain Bligh responded first and rescued Tim Diaz from a life raft, but Oscar Diaz and John Ansay Jr. were lost.

Why the Coast Guard still came up empty

The U.S. Coast Guard launched a massive search, covering 2,152 square miles over nearly 72 hours before suspending operations at 5:13 p.m. on a Wednesday. The Mistress remained missing for years, a gap that weighed heavily on the Point Judith fishing community, as Rhode Island Fishermen’s Alliance president Richard Fuka described at the time.

Some details around the vessel itself also came into sharper focus later. The Mistress was owned by Hope Fisheries, Inc., and the Coast Guard found the owner could not provide records of hull surveys to determine the boat’s hull condition. The vessel was built in 1984, a wooden hull with a gross tonnage of 56 tons.

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

In July 2026, Green Oceans, a Rhode Island-based marine research nonprofit, first located a wreck site using side-scan sonar. Divers then documented the site on August 30, 2026, confirming key features. The wreck lies about 50 feet from turbine No. 1 of the Block Island Wind Farm, the first U.S. offshore wind facility, operating since 2016 with turbines standing 600 feet tall and an estimated output enough for 17,000 homes, per CBS News.

Michael Lombardi, president of Green Oceans, said, “We had tips that pointed us in this direction.” Those tips included accounts from 2 contractors who had worked near turbine No. 1. Tim Diaz later said the net drum found at the site was the Mistress’s because he built the equipment himself.

What the discovery changes, and what still isn’t settled

Lombardi said the wreck’s orientation raises a question: did the crew make an emergency turn to starboard to avoid the turbine, and did that motion help a waterlogged hull roll? A net drum found upside down matched the Coast Guard’s earlier assessment that the vessel rolled as it sank, based on the survivor’s account.

Divers also reported finding 3 small bone fragments they believed might be human, with additional possible remains near the wheelhouse. A 43-page report dated September 5, 2026 was shared with the Coast Guard, the NTSB, and family representatives. John Ansay Sr. said, “There’s no closure, not yet.”