On Sunday, the ocean was still putting on a show. The Sea Foam was dancing all over the Back Shore.
What is sea foam? From the National Ocean Service.
Sea foam forms when dissolved organic matter in the ocean is churned up.
If you scoop up some water from the ocean in a clear glass and look at it closely, you’ll see that it’s chock full of tiny particles. Seawater contains dissolved salts, proteins, fats, dead algae, detergents and other pollutants, and a bunch of other bits and pieces of organic and artificial matter. If you shake this glass of ocean water vigorously, small bubbles will form on the surface of the liquid.
Sea foam forms in this way – but on a much grander scale – when the ocean is agitated by wind and waves. Each coastal region has differing conditions governing the formation of sea foams.
Algal blooms are one common source of thick sea foams. When large blooms of algae decay offshore, great amounts of decaying algal matter often wash ashore. Foam forms as this organic matter is churned up by the surf.
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Friday, October 2 at 6:00 PM Cultural Center at Rocky Neck, 6 Wonson Street, Gloucester, MA
Open Studio on Saturday, October 24 from 2-4 PM
51 Main Street (Rear), Gloucester, MA
Elizabeth Bish Closing Talk on Friday, October 30 at 6 PM
51 Main Street (Rear), Gloucester, MA
Gloucester, MA The Rocky Neck Art Colony invites the community to join Gloucester artist Elizabeth Bish for an intimate Artist Talk on Friday, October 2, at 6 PM at the Cultural Center at Rocky Neck.
As the 2026 Gloucester Invitational Artist, Bish will share her artistic journey and process to date and how she’s looking forward to the Goetemann Artist Residency providing her with the time and space to explore new directions in her painting, pushing her familiar language of landscape and still life toward greater abstraction.
A longtime Gloucester resident and practicing chiropractor, Bish has devoted decades to the study and practice of painting. Working primarily in oils, her work encompasses landscape, still life, figurative painting, and abstraction. Her paintings are grounded in close observation while increasingly exploring the possibilities of color, shape, gesture, and abstraction.
Bish has exhibited throughout Cape Ann, including at the Rockport Art Association, North Shore Arts Association, and Patricia Sullivan Gallery. Her work reflects a deep connection to the Cape Ann landscape and a continuing curiosity about how that landscape can be translated through paint.
The Artist Talk is open to the public
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Annisquam Village Hall, 36 Leonard St, Gloucester, MA
This carefully curated show features 30 local artisans and fine artists, both returning favorites and some with us for the first time. They’ll offer Homemade preserves as well as hand-crafted jewelry, sea glass, beautiful purses, pottery, paper goods, ornaments, decoupage, hand painted shells, silk scarves, pashminas, candles, and cashmere mittens. The Gallery will showcase works in watercolors, oils and pastels.
Please join me, the Coalition for the Prevention of Domestic Abuse, and many others of our community as we come together on Tuesday, October 6th, at 12:30pm on the steps of City Hall to once again proclaim October as Domestic Abuse Awareness and Prevention Month.
We anticipate remarks from our elected officials, HAWC (Healing Abuse Working for Change) and the Gloucester Police Department reflecting our efforts over the last year towards responding to domestic abuse. We will present a proclamation declaring October Domestic Abuse Awareness and Prevention Month and raise our Ending Abuse flag. Please note the date and plan to join us.
Each year, we in Gloucester come together in this manner with local officials, community partners, survivors and their families to reaffirm our combined commitment to prevention and response. We join together to recognize the experiences of survivors and their families, and to highlight the critical work being done within our city to provide the necessary services and support. For more than twenty-five continuous years this has been a longstanding tradition in our community.
We recognize that abuse and violence remain critical and preventable public health issues affecting the safety and well-being of our community. While we are well aware of the increased challenge these efforts may take during these times, we remain proud and pleased with the continuing response from so many segments of our community.
We are committed to support services providing hotlines, shelter, safety and education to victims and survivors; and that we will need each other and our community’s services as we try to address and prevent incidents of domestic abuse and sexual assault.
Please join me and others as we stand with survivors and recognize that some community members have additional layers of vulnerability related to gender, race, ethnicity, class and immigration status. This year we need to assure that we sustain our commitment to pursuing restorative justice with and for all peoples, including Immigrant Families, Black, Indigenous, People of Color, LGBTQIA+ and Trans Persons.
I sincerely hope you will be able to join us for this important annual event. This is an open event, so please encourage others in your network to attend. While RSVPs are appreciated they are not strictly necessary.
Best regards,
Mayor Paul Lundberg City of Gloucester
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We were happy to hear the Gloucester House Pub on Rogers Street had reopened so we stopped for some dinner and good company. I had some French Onion Soup and Jim had the fish fry. It’s a welcoming atmosphere; warm in more ways than one. Thanks for welcoming us back in such a friendly manner! See you all there soon.
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Think your cardboard boat can survive Manchester Harbor? There’s only one way to find out. 🚣♂️📦 Float or Die!
The Manchester-by-the-Sea Cardboard Boat Regatta is back Sunday, October 11 at 11 AM — and we’re looking for brave builders, questionable engineers, creative geniuses and anyone else willing to put their boat-building skills to the ultimate test.
Build it. Decorate it. Bring your crew. Then climb aboard and see whether your creation floats… or becomes part of the harbor.
No experience required. No fancy materials required. Just a little creativity, a sense of humor and the willingness to get wet.
The weather on Saturday was beautiful, but it can be very dangerous. Rick and went to Shore Road and the Back Shore. Mother Nature put on a show. Thank you, Mother Nature.
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To my friends, neighbors, fishermen, fishing families, and everyone who has supported my effort to bring Mark Doughty home:
I want to personally update everyone who has been following my effort to have Mark E. Doughty’s name added to the Gloucester Fishermen’s Memorial Cenotaph Tablets.
Last Monday, I met with Mayor Paul Lundberg, Senator Bruce Tarr, Representative Dru Tarr and Al Cottone. On Wednesday, I sat down with the Cenotaph Committee and personally presented Mark’s case.
After Mark’s request had already been denied, I was reluctant to put myself through another meeting. This is not simply a disagreement over a name on a stone for me.
I was the captain of the Starbound.
On August 5, 2001, I survived. Tom Frontiero, Jimmy Sanfilippo and Mark Doughty did not.
Going back through what happened and talking about those three men is difficult for me. But I went to the meeting, and I am glad I did.
For the first time, I was able to sit across from the Committee and lay out the complete case, from beginning to end, with the documents in front of us.
I want to explain that case here in simple terms so everyone understands exactly what I am asking the Committee to decide.
The rule
The Cenotaph has written eligibility criteria.
One of those criteria essentially says that if a fisherman is lost while working aboard a “Gloucester fishing or lobstering vessel,” that fisherman may be included on the memorial regardless of where he came from or where he lived.
That is important because Mark did not live in Gloucester.
So the central question isn’t whether Mark Doughty was a Gloucester resident.
He wasn’t.
The question I put before the Committee was:
Should the F/V Starbound be considered a “Gloucester fishing vessel” for purposes of the memorial and its existing eligibility criteria?
That is my case.
I am not asking for a new rule.
I am not asking for a special exception for Mark.
I am asking the Committee to look at the complete history of the Starbound and decide whether she fits words that are already in its criteria.
Why I believe the Starbound qualifies
This part requires understanding how our fishery actually worked.
When we originally purchased the vessel from Stinson Seafood, she was named the Atlantic Mariner. We later made substantial changes to her, repainted her and renamed her the Starbound.
I was a Gloucester resident, captain of the Starbound, and one of four owners of the corporation that owned the vessel. My ownership interest was 25 percent.
The corporate records I brought to the Committee identify me as a shareholder and list my Gloucester address.
But ownership is only part of the story.
We were fishing for Atlantic herring, and herring fishing was migratory.
For somebody outside the fishing industry, the easiest way I can explain that is this:
We followed the fish.
The Starbound didn’t spend an entire year operating from one dock because the fish didn’t spend an entire year in one place. As the herring moved along the coast, so did we.
We worked from different ports.
Gloucester was one of those ports.
We fished from Gloucester and spent significant time here. I was from Gloucester. I captained the vessel. I was one of her owners.
So when the Starbound has simply been described as a boat “based” somewhere else, I believe that leaves out an important part of her actual history.
Commercial fishing—especially a migratory fishery—is more complicated than a single home-port label.
The sea has never recognized city limits. Neither has commercial fishing.
Then I asked the Committee an important question
During my presentation, I stopped.
I asked the Committee directly whether there was another document, another criterion, or another written definition that I had not seen that defined what constitutes a “Gloucester fishing vessel” for purposes of the memorial.
They told me there was not.
That moment was important to me.
Because if there is no additional written definition, then I believe the fair thing to do is look at the entire relationship between the vessel and Gloucester:
I lived in Gloucester. I captained the Starbound. I was one of the owners of the corporation that owned her. We participated in a migratory fishery. We operated from Gloucester as part of that fishery.
And three members of my crew died together aboard that vessel.
The history of the memorial matters too
I also brought original records from the Gloucester Archives concerning the development of the Fishermen’s Memorial criteria.
Those records were particularly meaningful to me because the people involved in creating this process understood that circumstances would arise that they hadn’t anticipated.
They wrote about the importance of considering “new perspectives” and “adapting to the unexpected.”
They also wrestled with difficult questions about who should be remembered and considered what exclusion could mean to the families left behind.
I don’t believe anyone writing those words more than twenty-five years ago could have anticipated every way the fishing industry would change or every circumstance that would eventually come before the Committee.
That’s exactly why those words matter today.
I believe the Starbound presents one of those circumstances.
Where things stand today
The meeting was emotional for me.
I had to stop several times while reading my presentation. But I finished it.
And I want to thank the members of the Cenotaph Committee for giving me the time to do that and for listening.
I have since heard from Committee Chairwoman. She told me that the Committee intends to meet again and further discuss Mark’s case.
The Committee Chairwoman told me they would not let this hang out there for too long.
I respect that.
I’m going to give them the time and space to consider everything I put before them.
And I need to say thank you
There is something else I don’t want to get lost in all of this.
I am incredibly grateful.
So many people have helped me get to this point.
Some spoke publicly when I needed a voice. Some researched records and found documents. Some made telephone calls, wrote letters, opened doors or helped me understand the history. Some attended meetings. Some stood beside me without saying a word because they knew I needed them there.
I’ve heard from fishermen, fishing families, friends, elected officials, people in City government and people who simply care about Gloucester and what this memorial represents.
Some of you have helped publicly.
Others have helped quietly behind the scenes.
Please know that I see it. I remember it. And I am deeply grateful for every bit of it.
There were times during this process when I wondered whether I had the strength to keep reopening something that happened twenty-five years ago. Having people stand beside me made a difference.
When this is finished, I want to properly recognize the people who helped along the way individually. There are people who deserve that.
I haven’t forgotten any of you.
But right now, I want the focus to stay where it belongs.
Mark
Twenty-five years ago, Tom Frontiero, Jimmy Sanfilippo and Mark Doughty died together aboard the Starbound.
I survived.
Tom and Jimmy are remembered on the Gloucester Fishermen’s Memorial.
Mark is not.
After twenty-five years, I am not asking anyone to rewrite history.
I’m asking them to look at all of it.
Look at the written criteria.
Look at the ownership records.
Look at my Gloucester residency.
Look at who captained the vessel.
Look at how a migratory herring vessel actually operated.
Look at the Starbound’s relationship with Gloucester.
Look at the original words of the people who helped create the memorial.
And then apply the existing standard to the complete facts.
I hope the next update I write isn’t about criteria, corporate records, meetings or arguments.
I hope it’s simply a thank-you.
And I hope that, after twenty-five years, I can finally look at that memorial and see the three names where I believe they belong:
Tom. Jimmy. Mark. Together.
I brought my crew home once.
I’m asking you to help me bring the last one home.
With gratitude,
Joseph A. Marcantonio
Captain and Co-Owner, F/V Starbound
Sole Survivor
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A rainy Monday calls for good food and something sweet! Stop by SurfSide and Long Beach Dairy Maid today and take advantage of these awesome specials! 🙌
🍕 SURFSIDE — OPEN 11-9
🦞 $13.99 + tax Lobster Roll served with Chips & Pickles
🍕 Buy any 16” Pizza and get the 2nd 16” Pizza HALF PRICE
⭐ BONUS: Buy any 18” Pizza and get the 2nd 18” Pizza HALF PRICE
Limit 2 per customer on pizza specials
🍦 LONG BEACH DAIRY MAID — OPEN 2-9
🌧️ Buy any ice cream and get a 2nd ice cream HALF PRICE!
Rainy Mondays don’t have to be boring — grab dinner at SurfSide and finish it off with ice cream at Long Beach Dairy Maid! ❤️
SurfSide pizza specials exclude gluten-free and online orders. Pizza specials cannot be combined.
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Many of your favorite local vendors will be participating in the kickoff event for fall/holiday craft fairs Sunday at the Gloucester Elks on Atlantic Road. It’s scheduled to be held outside but could be moved inside weather and wind depending. Pat D’s Photos will be there along with Ardizzoni Photography and many more.
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