Gary E. Thorbjornson was a 41-year-old commercial fisherman from the Port Clyde and Tenants Harbor area of Maine, a man whose life had long been tied to the Gulf of Maine and to the close-knit fishing families of St. George. He was born in Rockland on November 15, 1963, grew up in Rockland and St. George, and graduated from Georges Valley High School in 1982.
After school, he made the sea his work, first serving as a deckhand aboard vessels including the FV High Chapparal and FV Sea Trek, then becoming a captain in the early 1980s. Later, he worked in his family’s fishing business as captain of the FV Sirius and FV Erika Lynn, and his obituary remembered him as a man who enjoyed 26 years in commercial fishing, loved returning home to his wife and children after long trips, and was deeply connected to family, friends, and the outdoors.
In July 2005, Gary was aboard the fishing vessel Sirius off the Maine coast when the trip turned into a maritime disaster. Official missing-person information identifies him as Gary E. Thorbjornson, NamUs case MP53203, a White/Caucasian male, 41 years old, missing from Port Clyde, St. George, Knox County, Maine, with a listed date of last contact of July 15, 2005. The case data states that the Sirius sank in the area of Newfound Ground and that no survivors saw Gary exit the vessel. Other reporting and memorial accounts describe the loss as occurring on July 13, 2005, when the Sirius, a 50-foot fishing vessel, went down at sea; because the public sources differ on the exact date associated with the sinking and the last contact entry, the broader public record places the event in mid-July 2005.
The final moments reported publicly show the danger and urgency of the situation. The Sirius was said to have been carrying about 10,000 pounds of groundfish and taking on water while the crew prepared to head home. Crew members reportedly contacted the fishing vessel Irene & Alton by cell phone and said they were abandoning ship. Gary, as captain, was described as going below deck to retrieve survival suits when the boat rolled into the sea, throwing him and two crewmen overboard. Reporting states that his 17-year-old son, Garrett Thorbjornson, and 19-year-old crewman David Wilgus reached a life raft, shared a survival suit, fired flares, and were rescued within about an hour by the Irene & Alton. Gary did not make it to safety.
The aftermath was devastating for Gary’s family, friends, and the Port Clyde fishing community. A later account described Randy Cushman, a close friend from the same fishing world, spending two days searching the Gulf of Maine for Gary’s body after the sinking. By the time Cushman arrived, the surviving crew members, including Gary’s son, were safe aboard a rescue boat, but the Sirius was on the ocean bottom and Gary had vanished. The search moved from hours into days, with teams crossing the water in the hope of finding him and bringing some measure of closure to his family.
Gary’s case is not listed in the provided data as resolved alive or resolved deceased, and the NamUs-style information provided does not state a recovery. Public memorial and obituary sources, however, consistently describe him as having died or been lost at sea when the Sirius sank, while the missing-person record remains a formal record tied to his disappearance from Port Clyde. He is remembered not only through records and reports, but through the St. George Fishermen’s Memorial at Marshall Point Lighthouse in Port Clyde, a five-foot black granite tablet honoring local fishermen lost at sea since 1941. Fundraising for that memorial began after Gary’s loss, and more than 100 people attended its dedication, a reflection of how deeply his disappearance affected the community.
At its heart, the case of Gary Thorbjornson is the story of a lifelong Maine fisherman, husband, father, son, brother, and friend whose work placed him in one of the most unforgiving environments. In mid-July 2005, the Sirius sank near Newfound Ground after taking on water; two younger crewmen survived, but Gary was not seen safely leaving the vessel and was lost to the sea. His family and community were left with grief, unanswered pain, and the difficult kind of remembrance familiar to fishing towns where the ocean gives livelihoods and sometimes takes lives. The enduring overview of the case is that Gary E. Thorbjornson, age 41, was last associated with Port Clyde, Maine, after the sinking of the FV Sirius; survivors were rescued, Gary was not recovered in the public information reviewed, and his memory continues through his family, the fishermen who searched for him, and the Port Clyde memorial built in honor of those who never came home.Last Seen: Jul 15, 2005
