LOS ANGELES _ Calm seas and clear weather greeted the fishing boat Tammy as it set out from San Pedro on July 11, 1994, to cast its nets for sea cucumbers _ and then disappeared.
The 40-foot, steel-hulled vessel carried a crew of four Vietnamese fishermen that night. Two of their bodies were found the next day in the shipping lanes off Newport Beach. The others were never recovered.
"To this day, we do not have even a death certificate for my dad because they never found him," Thai Minh Ta said of Cong Minh Ta, the boat's owner.
He and other children of the ill-fated fishermen have longed to know what happened to the men _ and the boat that carried them to their deaths.
"I always wonder if some ship hit my dad and run away, hit my dad and not turn around to save him," said Lisa Nguyen, the daughter of Nhieu Van Nguyen, whose body was recovered.
The Coast Guard concluded that the Tammy sank, but closed its investigation without pinpointing a cause or locating the wreckage.
Now, more than two decades later, two men with extensive experience in researching and identifying submerged wrecks think the long-lost fishing boat might rest on the ocean floor in 70 feet of water near the entrance to the Port of Long Beach.
Steve Lawson, a technical writer and avid wreck diver, and Gary Fabian, a computer consultant and maritime historian who discovered the sunken vessel in 1995, have spent more than a decade trying to identify it.
Its location, dimensions and steel-hull construction bolster their theory that it is the Tammy. But Lawson and Fabian say they can't be certain without comparing it to photos of the boat before it sank.
Three children of the fishermen contacted by the Los Angeles Times said they have no pictures of the Tammy. Nor were they able to identify the wreck _ now corroded and covered in sea anemones and other growth _ from an electronic data image and underwater photos the researchers have compiled.
"Circumstantial evidence suggests this is the wreck, but more definitive proof is needed," said Lawson, 52. "It's a mystery that needs to be solved."
