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Workboat tragedy remembered in updated video

The Reedville Fishermen’s Museum sponsored a public showing of its recently updated video, “The Sinking of the Fenwick Island,” on Monday. The menhaden boat Fenwick Island, with a crew of 14—all from the Northern Neck and Middle Peninsula—left the port of Beaufort, N.C., to fish off the coast on Dec. 7, 1968. She sank in a storm that night while returning to port. Seven crewmen survived, thanks to the crew of another boat. The other seven perished. The boat was never recovered. Among those attending the showing were relatives of three men who were on the scene of the tragedy 57 years ago.Relatives of Fenwick Capt. Charles L. Forrest Jr. of Mathews, who survived the sinking, included cousins Franklin Forrest and Daniel Forrest and nephew Capt. Calvin Mason. He said his uncle inspired him to follow a career in the menhaden industry. He will be mate on a boat out of Moss Point, Miss., in April. Relatives of Bobby L. Diggs of Mathews, a Fenwick crewman who perished, included Yolanda Fells,...

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