Boothbay-built ship located by divers after going missing 96 years ago
Diver Andrew Donn swims above one of Seiner's trawl doors. Courtesy of Joe Mazraani and Becca Boring
Seiner's double drum trawl winch. Courtesy of Joe Mazraani and Becca Boring
One of ST Seiner's boilers. Courtesy of Andrew Donn
ST Seiner's anchor windlass. Courtesy of Andrew Donn
ST Seiner's steam engine. Courtesy of Andrew Donn
ST Seiner's rounded stern. Courtesy of Andrew Donn
The team preparing for a second set of dives July 28 on ST Seiner. Left to right: Rick Simon, Tom Packer, Joe Mazraani, Jennifer Sellitti, Eric Takakjian, and Andrew Donn. Courtesy of Atlantic Wreck Salvage
Launch of Seiner’s sister ship, Harvard, circa 1925. Courtesy of Boothbay Region Historical Society
Seiner’s sister ship, Harvard. The vessel’s windlass, hawsepipe, and raised forecastle deck are visible in the photo. Courtesy of Boothbay Region Historical Society
Launch of Seiner’s sister ship, Harvard, circa 1925. Courtesy of Boothbay Region Historical Society
Sister ships Harvard and Bainbridge under construction at Rice Brothers Shipyard, circa 1921. Courtesy of Boothbay Region Historical Society
Diver Andrew Donn swims above one of Seiner's trawl doors. Courtesy of Joe Mazraani and Becca Boring
Seiner's double drum trawl winch. Courtesy of Joe Mazraani and Becca Boring
One of ST Seiner's boilers. Courtesy of Andrew Donn
ST Seiner's anchor windlass. Courtesy of Andrew Donn
ST Seiner's steam engine. Courtesy of Andrew Donn
ST Seiner's rounded stern. Courtesy of Andrew Donn
The team preparing for a second set of dives July 28 on ST Seiner. Left to right: Rick Simon, Tom Packer, Joe Mazraani, Jennifer Sellitti, Eric Takakjian, and Andrew Donn. Courtesy of Atlantic Wreck Salvage
Launch of Seiner’s sister ship, Harvard, circa 1925. Courtesy of Boothbay Region Historical Society
Seiner’s sister ship, Harvard. The vessel’s windlass, hawsepipe, and raised forecastle deck are visible in the photo. Courtesy of Boothbay Region Historical Society
Launch of Seiner’s sister ship, Harvard, circa 1925. Courtesy of Boothbay Region Historical Society
Sister ships Harvard and Bainbridge under construction at Rice Brothers Shipyard, circa 1921. Courtesy of Boothbay Region Historical Society
Atlantic Wreck Salvage (AWS), owner and operator of D/V Tenacious, announced Sept. 17 the discovery of the wreckage of the steam trawler Seiner, a World War I-era fishing vessel that disappeared in the fishing grounds of Georges Bank in January of 1929.
ST Seiner was a 139-foot, steel-built steam trawler with a double-drum trawl winch and a raised forecastle deck built by Rice Brothers Corporation of East Boothbay, Maine in 1921. The ship departed from New London, Connecticut on Jan. 9, 1929, and was last heard from on the 18th when her captain, Thomas Miller, made a required daily report to the vessel’s owner, Portland Trawling Company.
Concerns grew when Seiner failed to make her Jan. 19 report and again when she missed her scheduled return to port on Jan. 22. It is believed that the vessel foundered in a storm. Her entire crew of 21 men went down with the ship.
A team from D/V Tenacious, led by Captains Joe Mazraani and Eric Takakjian, discovered the wreck site in 2022 using side scan sonar. Time and weather constraints prevented the team from diving the wreckage at the time. They returned to the site on July 27 and 28, 2025, and made a total of seven dives. “The team was able to identify Seiner from features such as the double drum trawl winch, remains of the raised forecastle deck, shape of the stern, and the presence of a steam engine and boiler,” said Captain Takakjian, who has participated in the discovery of almost 100 shipwrecks. “No other steel or iron hull steam trawlers of this size are known to have sunk on Georges Bank.”
Takakjian first became aware of the Seiner sinking in the 1990s when he was researching trawlers sunk by German U-boats during WWI. Although Seiner sank during a storm shortly after the war, it came up in searches for other vessels and set him on a path towards finding her. Seiner’s location so far from shore and in the deep, high-current waters that run through Georges Bank made locating and diving the wreck too great of a technical challenge in the 1990s.
D/V Tenacious located the wreckage in 2022 as part of expedition to Georges Bank. They returned to the area on July 27, 2025, re-scanned the target, and confirmed that the vessel’s length and beam match that of Seiner. Seiner rests approximately 125 miles from Nantucket, on the eastern edge of Georges Bank, in approximately 200 feet of water.
When the ship went missing in 1929, Portland Trawling Company and the US Coast Guard mounted a search and rescue mission that involved private fishing vessels, twelve patrol boats, and two destroyers. They found no survivors.
“The discovery of a new shipwreck can be bittersweet. While the team celebrates this important historical find, we are mindful of the loss endured by the families, colleagues, and loved one of those who went down with the ship,” said Jennifer Sellitti of Atlantic Wreck Salvage and D/V Tenacious. “We hope this discovery can provide some measure of closure to the descendants of those who perished.”
The names of ST Seiner’s lost crew:
Captain Thomas Miller (Brooklyn, NY)
Mate Merrill Greenleaf (Gloucester, MA)
Chief Engineer Ross Payne (Hoboken, NJ)
Assistant Engineer Edward Morgan (New Haven, CT)
Cook Niles Hansen (Brooklyn, NY)
Radio Operator Robert Horner (Portsmouth, NH)
Fireman Sidney Hann (New York, NY)
Fireman Arthur Johnson (New York, NY)
Fireman Jack Wilson (New London, CT)
Fisherman Brendan Carew (Brooklyn, NY)
Fisherman John Hann (New London, CT)
Fisherman Patrick Parsons (Brooklyn, NY)
Fisherman Michael Heddersen (Newfoundland, Canada)
Fisherman Georg Peters (Brooklyn, NY)
Fisherman Christopher Powers (Brooklyn, NY)
Fisherman Patrick Foley (Brooklyn, NY)
Fisherman John Hunt (Brooklyn, NY)
Fisherman John McGrath (Newfoundland, Canada)
Fisherman Peter McGrath (Brooklyn, NY)
Fisherman William Whalen (Newfoundland, Canada)
Fisherman John Hayes (Brooklyn, NY)
Descendants of those who were lost aboard Seiner are encouraged to reach out to D/V Tenacious. Members of the 2025 Seiner discovery expedition included: Andrew Donn, Captain Joe Mazraani, Tom Packer, Jennifer Sellitti, Rick Simon, and Captain Eric Takakjian. In addition to the members of the 2025 expedition, previous expeditions included: Francois Merle (2023), Kurt Mintell (2022 and 2023), and Joe St. Amand (2022).
D/V Tenacious Captain Joe Mazraani died two days after the Seiner discovery while identifying a second shipwreck on Georges Bank. The team has been working to locate and identify shipwrecks on in that area since 2022. Mazraani’s photographs of ST Seiner have been edited by his friend, Diver/Photographer Becca Boring.
About Atlantic Wreck Salvage and D/V Tenacious
Atlantic Wreck Salvage (AWS) is a New Jersey-based company that conducts operations in the North Atlantic. D/V Tenacious is the vessel from which AWS’ crew locates, dives, and salvages shipwrecks. D/V Tenacious and her crew have discovered numerous shipwrecks in the waters off the coast of New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts, the most celebrated of which are, U-550, the last German U-boat known to rest in diveable North Atlantic waters, and the 1855 French passenger steamship Le Lyonnais. D/V Tenacious and her expeditions have been chronicled in the books “Where Divers Dare: The Hunt for the Last U- boat,” “Dangerous Shallows, In Search of the Ghost Ships of Cape Cod,” “The Adriatic Affair: A Maritime Hit-And-Run Off the Coast of Nantucket,” and in dive publications worldwide. The vessel is owned by Atlantic Wreck Salvage, L.L.C. and operated by a crew led by the company’s managing member, Jennifer Sellitti.
