On March 13, beachcombers on Fanore Beach, Co. Clare, Ireland, happened to come across an orange tag washed up on shore. It wasn’t unusual: plenty of tags and other marine debris from the U.S. constantly travel 3,000-plus miles before washing up on Ireland and Scotland’s shore as we covered in a previous stories such as this one and this one.

However, the astute Irish observers noted that this tag was from the Hannah Boden, the sister boat to the Andrea Gail lost during the Perfect Storm of 1991and posted it on their Facebook page Burren Shores Beachcoming and More. The post was widely shared with dozens of people in Maine questioning whether the lost tag was from the swordboat once captained by Maine’s own Linda Greenlaw. Allen Morse Jr., Greenlaw’s sternman, confirmed that Greenlaw identified the tag as being authentic.

According to Eastern Shipbuilding, “The Hannah Boden was originally built as a combination lobster and longliner swordfishing boat.”

Years ago, Greenlaw sold the swordfishing boat and today it is a deep sea red crab boat/long liner owned by John Williams, which operates out of New Bedford, Massachusetts. Williams was quoted in the Wiscasset Newspaper confirming that the tag was cut off from old gear he’d sold.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com