Widow sues owner of boat sunk by tanker

PORTLAND – The widow of a Maine fisherman lost at sea two months ago off New England’s coast has filed a lawsuit against the boat’s owner, but her lawyer says it’s intended to target the ship that allegedly rammed it.

Carol Doughty filed the $4 million claim in U.S. District Court on Tuesday. It names Atlantic Mariner, the Rockland-based owner of the Starbound.

Doughty’s husband, Mark of Yarmouth, James Sanfilippo of Thomaston and Thomas Frontiero of Gloucester, Mass., drowned after Starbound was struck and sank Aug. 5.

Doughty and her lawyer said the suit is ultimately intended to focus on the owner and operator of Virgo, the tanker suspected of hitting the Starbound and not stopping after the collision.

“Everyone in this case is focused on what the Virgo is going to do,” said Edward Bradley, Carol Doughty’s lawyer.

A spokesman for Primorsk Shipping, Virgo’s operator, said he did not know whether the company would respond in the case.

The captain and two crew members of the Virgo are charged with manslaughter and negligence. The U.S. government is expected to apply by Friday for their extradition from Canada, where they have been detained.

Doughty said Tuesday she wants the tanker’s officers to know what they have done to her family. She and her two young daughters continuously struggle to accept the loss of her husband two months ago.