Fishing boat fire ‘suspicious’


The Atlantic Queen, a boat docked on Channel Drive in Point Pleasant Beach [above], suffered damage in what authorities described this week as a suspicious fire early last Thursday morning. The fishing trawler’s captain and owner were charged this month with illegally harvesting flounder and black sea bass. Photo by SUEANNE GOSS, STAR NEWS GROUP



By Lauren Herstik

POINT PLEASANT BEACH — Last Thursday’s early-morning fire on board the fishing trawler Atlantic Queen, docked here, remains under investigation as “suspicious,’ according to Detective Patrick Petruzziello of the Point Pleasant Beach Police Department.

The Atlantic Queen’s owner and its captain — Alda Gentile, 53, of Speonk, N.Y., and William Jeffery Stanley, 44, of Brick — were issued a summons for illegally harvesting thousands of pounds of flounder and black sea bass earlier this month.

An employee at Point Pleasant Packing, Channel Drive, placed a 9-1-1 call at 12:37 a.m. Thursday morning, reporting the fire on board the boat.