GLOUCESTER, Mass. — A commercial fishing vessel that was presumed to sink off the coast of Massachusetts on Friday was carrying a crew of seven people and the U.S. Coast Guard was expected to maintain a search for survivors around the clock.

The Coast Guard launched a search and rescue mission early Friday after receiving an alert from the 72-foot Lily Jean about 25 miles off Cape Ann. They located a debris field near where the alert was sent along with a body in the water.

“We will continue to search throughout the night with the cutter, hoping to find additional folks as we continue,” the Coast Guard’s Timothy Jones said, adding that the crew was “coming back full of fish” and may have had problems with their fishing gear that required them to return for repairs.

The Lily Jean, its captain, Gus Sanfilippo, and his crew were featured in a 2012 episode of the History Channel show “Nor’Easter Men.” Sanfilippo is described as a fifth-generation commercial fisherman, fishing out of Gloucester, Massachusetts, in the Georges Bank. The crew is shown working in dangerous weather conditions for hours on end, spending as many as 10 days at sea on one trip fishing for haddock, lobster and flounder.

Gloucester is often described as America’s oldest working seaport, with a fishing industry that goes back more than 400 years.

The city, where the reality television show “Wicked Tuna” about Atlantic bluefin tuna fishermen was based, has been the site of maritime tragedy over the years. Among them was the FV Andrea Gail, which went missing at sea in 1991. The loss of the Andrea Gail was the basis of the 1997 book and 2000 movie “The Perfect Storm.” In another tragedy, four fishermen died when the Emmy Rose sank in 2020 off Provincetown, Massachusetts. on its way to Gloucester.

Republican State Sen. Bruce Tarr, who confirmed seven people were on the vessel, grew emotional as he talked about Sanfilippo, who was a good friend.

“He’s a person that has a big smile, and he gives you a warm embrace when he sees you,” Tarr said. “He is very, very skilled at what he does.”

Tarr said the “fact that that vessel now rests at the bottom of the ocean is very hard to understand.” But he expected the community would come together as it always has with such tragedies.

“I’m going to make a prediction. Tonight, tomorrow and the days that follow, you’re going to see strength,” he said. “The strength that has made this the most historic fishing port in the United States of America.”