When Marblehead lobsterman Paul Burns got a call on July 7 that his lobster boat was sinking at its mooring off The Barnacle Restaurant, he rushed to the harbor. But by the time he arrived, only the tip of the bow remained above the water.
Heavy rain and wind apparently caused the bilge pump aboard Gail Force to fail, allowing the 19-foot yellow Seaway lobster boat to fill with water. Heavy swells eventually pulled the vessel under.
For Burns, losing the boat meant far more than losing a vessel. It meant losing the foundation of the lobstering business he had just started building.
“This has been like a dream for me,” he said about fishing. “It’s just what I love to do.”
Burns, 34, took over his grandfather John’s commercial lobster license in February 2025 and purchased Gail Force three months later. The boat was his first as an independent lobsterman after years of fishing alongside his father, Jack Burns, a well-known Marblehead fisherman.
“I loved that boat,” he said about Gail Force. “We had just spent the Fourth of July on the mooring watching fireworks.”
The timing is especially tough.
“This is the (peak) season,” Burns said. “It couldn’t have happened at a worse time.”
The family’s primary source of income comes from lobstering. During the winter, Burns supplements that income with snow plowing and construction work, but summer is when he relies on the lobster fishery.
Without Gail Force, Burns has returned to hauling lobster traps by hand from his father’s 14-foot Lund skiff.
The sinking also claimed much of his fishing equipment, including his striped bass gear.
Because Gail Force was Burns’ first boat and he was just starting his business, it was not insured for this type of loss.
“My wife and I are just starting out,” Burns said.
Abby Burns described the emotional toll in a GoFundMe campaign launched July 8.
“Following heavy rainfall, an electrical failure caused Gail Force to flood and sink,” she wrote. “In a matter of hours, the lobster boat Paul relied on to provide for our family was gone.”
She said the boat represented far more than transportation.
“To many, it may be just a lobster boat,” she wrote. “To us, Gail Force was our livelihood, our future and the continuation of a three-generation family tradition.”
She added that owning Gail Force marked the beginning of Burns’ own fishing business after years of working alongside his father.
“For years, Paul has worked side-by-side with his father, Jack Burns, a well-known and respected fisherman,” Abby Burns wrote. “Together, this father-and-son duo have spent countless mornings on the water, with Jack passing down the knowledge, values and traditions that have shaped generations of Burns fishermen.”
The family is now hoping to raise enough money to purchase a replacement used lobster boat and the equipment needed to return to work. Depending on the vessel, Burns estimates a replacement could cost anywhere from $15,000 to $100,000.
“We’re looking to see what it is,” Burns said. “Looking to score a boat. Whatever we have to do to get it is our goal.”
Despite the setback, Burns isn’t giving up.
The third-generation fisherman said carrying on his family’s legacy remains his goal, especially for his 5-year-old daughter, who already loves joining him on the water.
“We’ll do whatever we have to do,” he said.
