SEPTEMBER 2017 • FOGHORN 25 REGULATORYREPORT sailing, most probably due to a loss of watertight integrity connected to deferred topside and/or underwater maintenance. The only technology for alerting owners or responders to the possible sudden loss of a vessel was an emergency position indicating radio beacon, essentially a signaling device, called an EPIRB. No signal was ever detected. The S.S. Marine Electric was lost in 1983. She was then a vessel whose bow and stern sections came from a World War II tankship built in 1944 and welded to a new cargo hold mid-body in 1961. The SS Marine Electric left the port of Hampton Roads, VA, with a load of steam coal headed to Somerset, MA on February 12, 1983. After standing by a disoriented fishing vessel, the Theodora, in assistance to the Coast Guard on October 13, the S.S. Marine Electric resumed her course to Somerset at about 6:00 p.m. that day. The vessel encountered heavy weather and labored into the head sea while making little headway. During the night, the watch became aware that the vessel was no longer rising with the seas and was shipping green water over the deck. The master notified the Coast Guard by radio that the vessel was in trouble. The master gave his location to the Coast Guard. The exchange between the Coast Guard and the S.S. Marine Electric concerning the Theodora involved transmission of S.S. Marine Electric/Theodora’s position de- termined by Loran coordinates. Using that information the Marine Board de- termined that the S.S. Marine Electric was never in water sufficiently deep to ground or otherwise imperil the S.S. Marine Electric. Shortly thereafter, the vessel capsized trapping some crew but throwing most of 34 crew, only three who would survive, into the sea. The auto release EPIRB was never released or failed to operate. The Marine Board had both diver and remotely operated vehicle (ROV) access to the vessel in 120 feet of water, plus the testimony of the three survivors. The Marine Board concluded that the vessel floundered due to progressive flooding of forward