Dulac fisherman mourned by family, friends and industry

The call for help went out last Wednesday morning, when the captain of the shrimping vessel “Miss Tudy” was reported missing from his vessel, resulting in a four-day search by no less than four rescue agencies on punishing seas.

Relatives and friends of Eugene “Mac” Lodrigue braved the waters as well and on Saturday morning it was the captain of a skimmer boat — one of about ten civilian vessels involved with the search — that located Lodrigue’s body near the mouth of the mouth of Gran Pass Dezille, near Caillou Bay. Now his wife, Lydia, their 13 children and 51 grandchildren mourn the loss. So do members of the fishing communities on several Terrebonne Parish bayous where Lodrigue was known.

“He had a big family and his kids, the boys and the girls, did commercial fishing,” said Tracey Trahan of Shrimp Kingdom, a Dulac dock where Lodrigue occasionally brought his catches. “That’s all he knew was commercial fishing, oysters, shrimp, he even worked at some docks,” said Trahan. “They are all hard workig, and he always provided for his family any way he could.”

Lodrigue’s deckhand, Rocky Rel, made the call for assistance. When he realized the captain was missing after a walk to the boat’s stern, Rel circled the waters in increasingly bad conditions, searching as best as he could.

But the boat developed mechanical trouble and Rel himself needed help.

Sgt. Chris Guise of the Terrebonne Parish Sheriff’s Office Water Patrol was first to reach the stricken vessel, followed by Lt. D.J. Authement, who tended to the deckhand — already taken on board a Good Samaritan’s boat. They then began their search, while reinforcements continued to the area.

“It was awful,” Authement said of the deteriorating conditions. “When we first started searching it was raining and at some points we had waves 3 foot and 3 ½ foot.”

Waves broke over the windshields of the larger rescue boats as they bobbed and pitched. The U.S. Coast Guard sent a helicopter and also a fixed-wing aircraft for the search. Chief Quint Liner of the Dularge Fire Department and several of his volunteers were also involved, as was the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.

Authorities said they are proud of the efforts they made, although it turned out that one of their number had not made the discovery that ended the search. Despite the rough conditions, several said, the ability to try and help was worth the risk.

“It’s hard to say that we put the weather aside,” said Authement, a 20-year law enforcement veteran who has served on Sheriff Jerry Larpenter’s floating patrol for 11 years. “But when that’s going down we do put the weather aside. We did our best to find this person, to give the family peace. Sure we were getting tossed around and banged up but we know it was for a great and important cause.”

Authement’s cause of death — drowning — has been classified as an accident.

Rescuers said the sad event is a reminder for mariners to always wear life jackets — even just a work vest if it’s handy — when doing work or taking care of things on the stern or sides of a vessel.

Services for Lodrigue were scheduled for Tuesday at the Chauvin Funeral Home followed by burial at St. Elois Cemetery.

Eugene Lodrigue

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