A team of divers investigating the seabed near Block Island, Rhode Island, has documented a shipwreck believed to be the long-lost commercial fishing vessel F/V Mistress, more than seven years after the boat sank with the loss of two fishermen.
The wreck lies in approximately 92 feet (28 metres) of water near the Block Island Wind Farm and was investigated by scientific divers on August 30, 2026, following earlier side-scan sonar surveys.
The underwater team photographed multiple features that investigators say correspond with the missing vessel, including its propeller and shaft, fuel tanks, net drum, deck hatch and fish-processing equipment.
Apparent human remains were also observed at the wreck site.
Neither the identity of the wreck nor the remains has yet been officially confirmed by the relevant authorities.
A Seven-Year Mystery
The 52-foot wooden-hulled Mistress was operating from Point Judith, Rhode Island, when it sank during severe weather shortly after midnight on January 1, 2019.
Three fishermen were aboard: Captain Oscar Diaz, his son Tim Diaz and his nephew John Ansay Jr.
According to accounts from the original incident, the vessel began taking on water while returning towards Rhode Island as weather conditions deteriorated. The crew donned immersion suits and transmitted a distress call before abandoning the vessel.
Tim Diaz survived after reaching a life raft and was rescued by the fishing vessel Captain Bligh. Oscar Diaz and John Ansay Jr. were never recovered.
The subsequent multi-agency search failed to locate either the missing fishermen or the vessel itself.
A NOAA incident record for the loss of the Mistress states that the vessel was taking on water near Block Island and that its dewatering pumps were unable to keep pace before the boat capsized.
Image copyright: Green Oceans
Sonar Leads Divers To The Wreck
The latest investigation was sponsored by the nonprofit organisation Green Oceans.
According to information released by the organisation, a multidisciplinary team began examining the area after side-scan sonar work detected possible wreckage. A more detailed sonar survey conducted on July 27, 2026, revealed a wreck site close to the Block Island Wind Farm.
Divers descended to the site on August 30.
Their underwater survey documented features considered consistent with Mistress. Photographs of the wreck were subsequently compared with images and information relating to the vessel contained in records from the original investigation.
One particularly distinctive feature was the vessel’s net drum. Investigators reported finding it upside down relative to the orientation of the wreckage, which they say is consistent with the survivor’s account that the vessel rolled as it sank.
Despite the similarities, formal identification remains a matter for the appropriate authorities.
Apparent Human Remains At The Site
The discovery took on additional significance when divers encountered what the investigation team described as apparent human remains.
The remains were left at the wreck site.
The Boston Globe, which reviewed a 43-page report produced following the investigation, reported that divers photographed suspected remains and observed three small bones believed by the team to be human. The project leader told the newspaper that the bones were not removed.
John Ansay Sr., father of John Ansay Jr., has said he wants authorities to recover and analyse the remains so that DNA testing can establish whether they belong to either of the two missing fishermen.
Authorities have not yet established their identity.
Image copyright: Green Oceans
Wreck Found Close To Wind Turbine
The wreck’s location has also raised questions beyond its identification.
Investigators place it approximately 50 feet (15 metres) from the base of turbine No. 1 at the Block Island Wind Farm.
Green Oceans has called on federal authorities to reopen the investigation into the loss of Mistress and examine both the circumstances surrounding the sinking and the original search-and-rescue operation.
The organisation has submitted sonar imagery, underwater photographs and other documentation to agencies including the US Coast Guard, National Transportation Safety Board and Rhode Island authorities.
Green Oceans has also asked the US Department of the Interior to coordinate an interagency investigation.
Those requests include examining whether the nearby offshore infrastructure affected navigation or the 2019 search-and-rescue response.
That issue remains unresolved. Green Oceans is an advocacy organisation that campaigns against the industrialisation of ocean areas through offshore wind development, and its claims about the implications of the wreck’s location should therefore be distinguished from the physical discovery itself.
Contemporary Coast Guard records cited in reporting on the case indicate that the rescue helicopter faced a combination of high winds, poor visibility, a low cloud ceiling and proximity to wind turbines during the response.
Those records do not by themselves establish that the wind farm caused the sinking or prevented the recovery of the missing fishermen.
Image copyright: Green Oceans
Authorities Asked To Secure The Site
Green Oceans President Michael Lombardi said the organisation had provided its evidence to federal authorities and requested that the wreck be secured so that an appropriate forensic investigation can take place.
The discovery potentially gives investigators something they did not have in 2019: the vessel itself.
A detailed examination of the wreck could help confirm whether it is Mistress, while forensic work on the suspected remains could potentially provide answers to families who have waited more than seven years.
For now, however, both findings remain provisional.
The wreck has compelling physical similarities to the missing fishing vessel, but authorities have yet to formally identify it. Likewise, the material observed by the divers has been described as apparent human remains but has not yet undergone the forensic examination needed to establish an identity.
For the families of Oscar Diaz and John Ansay Jr., the discovery could mark the beginning of a new investigation into a tragedy that has remained unresolved since New Year’s Day 2019.
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