Dennis R. Smalling Jr., a 33-year-old commercial fisherman from Point Pleasant, New Jersey, disappeared after a fishing trip that began February 7, 2018. He had been working aboard the 46-foot fishing vessel Queen Anne’s Revenge as a crew member for about two months. A former antique car repairman, he left behind a mother and a daughter who were close to him.

Around 1:20 a.m. on February 8, the U.S. Coast Guard received an emergency position-indicating radio beacon alert and a distress call from the vessel about 40 miles off Barnegat Light. Weather was severe: 10-foot seas, 25 mph winds and about 46-degree water. An expansive search covering 4,441 square miles involved helicopters, cutters, aircrews, station boat crews and a Good Samaritan fishing boat that found possible debris, but neither Smalling, his crewmate Paul Matos, nor the Queen Anne’s Revenge were located. After two days the Coast Guard suspended the search and the men were presumed lost at sea.

A cross was placed on the beach where Smalling was last seen. What details about the boat’s condition or the sequence of events that night might explain what happened? If anyone knew Dennis, his vessel, or saw activity off Barnegat Light that night, please share what is known.