"Miracles Do Happen" - Family Of Missing Fisherman Holding Out Hope

The family of Patrick Hoagland, the man who went overboard from the fishing vessel Gaston’s Legacy south of Nantucket last Saturday and remains missing, is still holding out hope he will be found.

“I am praying his survival instinct kicks in and brings him back safely,” said his brother Howard Hoagland. “ Miracles do happen. But we all know the way of the sea.”

Hoagland said his brother had grown up on the Jersey shore, worked on fishing boats nearly all his life, and was a strong swimmer. He described him as a loving father to his teenage son, and doting uncle to his young niece.

“He would give you the shirt off his back and the last nickel in his pocket,” Hoagland said of his younger brother. “He would go out of his way to help anyone even if they never asked.”

Patrick Hoagland is a resident of Bath, North Carolina. The F/V Gaston’s Legacy, after searching in vain for Hoagland for several days after he went overboard, traveled south and is now anchored in nearby Beaufort, North Carolina.

“Please continue to search for my brother,” Howard Hoagland told the Current. “Thank you all from his family.”

Hoagland was reported overboard by the captain of the F/V Gaston’s Legacy around 8 p.m. on Aug. 12. The Coast Guard immediately scrambled a motor life boat from Station Brant Point as well as a Jayhawk helicopter from Air Station Cape Cod to search the waters south of Nantucket. The search widened the next day to include Coast Guard cutters, fixed-wing aircraft, and a host of Nantucket first responders scouring the south shore of the island. But by Sunday night, the Coast Guard suspended its search.

It's not clear if Hoagland was wearing a life jacket or any survival gear when he went overboard, and the circumstances of how he ended up in the water remain unclear.