Roy Milford Bickford Jr. was a 77-year-old man from the New Harbor and Pemaquid area of Lincoln County, Maine, whose life had long been tied to the sea. Online memorial information says he was born on July 6, 1926, in Fairfield Center, Maine, later moved with his mother and brothers to Pemaquid Beach, attended Bristol schools, and served in the U.S. Navy as a Seaman 1st Class from October 1943 to December 1945.
He was described as a lifelong fisherman and lobsterman who began working with a local lobsterman when he was only ten years old, and the same memorial account credits him with once saving that lobsterman after the man became tangled in an anchor line. Over the decades, Roy became part of the working waterfront’s history: he was reported to be one of the founding members of the Pemaquid Co-Op in 1947 and later experimented with shrimp trapping in areas that had been difficult to fish, improving a trap design that spread into other communities.
On October 13, 2003, Roy left Pemaquid Harbor to go lobstering. Public missing-person summaries state that his boat was later found still running, with a lobster buoy caught in the hauler, a detail that gives the case the stark character of a sudden maritime emergency rather than a disappearance on land. He was listed as missing from New Harbor, Maine, under NamUs case MP53322, and Uncovered’s summary identifies the date missing as October 13, 2003, with Roy’s age at the time as 77, his height as 5 feet 11 inches, his weight as about 174 to 180 pounds, and his hair as gray or partially gray.
The online memorial connected to Roy’s case says he was reported missing from his lobster boat, the Sharon Marie, and presumed drowned at the mouth of the Damariscotta River on October 13, 2003. It also records that he was survived by his wife of 56 years, Marie, his daughter Sharon, grandchildren, great-grandsons, a brother, and nieces and nephews, and notes the painful family history that two of his brothers had also lost their lives to the sea. That account presents Roy not only as a missing person, but as a husband, father, grandfather, veteran, community member, and experienced fisherman whose absence would have deeply affected the people who loved him and the waterfront community that knew him.
Roy’s name was later included in a Maine legislative joint resolution honoring Maine fishermen lost at sea. The resolution recognized the danger faced by commercial fishermen and named Roy Bickford among those being remembered, with October 13, 2003, listed as his date lost at sea. The same resolution described commercial fishing as a dangerous occupation and acknowledged the grief carried by the families and communities of those who did not return home from the ocean.
No online source reviewed here indicates that Roy’s remains were recovered, and the exact circumstances of what happened aboard the Sharon Marie remain limited in the public record. What is publicly known is that Roy Bickford left Pemaquid Harbor to work at sea, his boat was found running with a buoy in the hauler, and he was thereafter memorialized as a fisherman lost at sea. The case stands as the story of an elderly but experienced Maine lobsterman, a Navy veteran, and a deeply rooted member of the New Harbor area whose final known day began as another working trip on familiar waters and ended in enduring loss for his family, his community, and Maine’s fishing heritage.Last Seen: Oct 13, 2003
