The devastated family of one of the men lost in the tragic sinking of the fishing boat New Nuts told last night how it was the way he would have wanted to go.

The aunt of drowned young father Micah Battersbee, 29, said, as a professional fisherman, he spent most of his time on the water and felt at one there.

“He would have definitely wanted to have died at sea,” said Caroline Burgess. “He loved the water. We were thinking today that we would like to go out to sea and have a memorial service.

“For me, I think I would have liked to have been able to see something to show me that Micah was gone, because it may help me to come to terms with his death, but I feel he was just swallowed up by the sea.”

Mr. Battersbee, who had a six-year-old son, Machi, was on board the New Nuts on Tuesday night, about 80 miles off the north east coast of Bermuda, when a freak wave overturned the boat, causing it to sink soon afterwards.

Skipper Robert (Bobby) Lambe managed to escape and was picked up 20 hours later by American naval ship the US Comfort, but both Mr. Battersbee and fellow comrade Alan Edness are believed to have gone down with the boat.

They were all experienced fishermen.

The three of them had left the Island on Monday morning in search of the abandoned yacht Altair, but were making their way back home earlier than planned on Tuesday because of poor weather conditions when the boat ran into fatal trouble.

On Wednesday, each of the three men's families sat patiently waiting at home to hear if their loved ones had been found safe and well.

The US Coast Guard spotted one survivor, but it was some time before the families were told which one of the men had made it out alive.

For Bobby Lambe's family, there was bittersweet relief, but for the relatives of Mr. Battersbee and Mr. Edness, there was only shock and sadness.

“Today has been a bit better,” said Ms Burgess, who lives at Bailey's Bay.

“Emotionally, it's been a lot easier and a lot quieter. We are all coping. We have all been to Micah's boat, Machi II, today to make sure it is secured, and his family is now taking care of his affairs.

“I think for me, his death is sinking in. When Harbour Radio laid out the whole scenario on Wednesday night, I felt there was no hope.

“I felt I had hope up until the point I heard that it was Bobby Lambe they had found. I felt relieved for Bobby's family, but, of course, we wanted it to be Micah.”

Ms Burgess said Mr. Battersbee's parents, father Owen Enos and his mother Romelle Battersbee, were coping as well as expected yesterday.

But she said his father was very subdued.

“Micah was very close to his father, so it has come very hard,” she added.

“Everybody loved Micah so much and he will be very much missed. He had such a dry wit. He was very responsible - he had his head on straight.

“Micah was very business-minded and he knew what he wanted out of life and he would set about getting it.

“He was mild-mannered and did not get agitated quickly. I think he would have been very calm when everything started to happen on that boat.

“If he could talk to us now, I think he would tell us ‘everything is alright'. We will miss him.”

Ms Burgess said a counsellor had spoken to little Machi, and had told him his father had passed and would not be coming home.

“It's difficult to know what he is going through,” she added. “He will be confused. The counsellor spoke to him, and then I saw him a little later and he was playing Nintendo like any normal child. I don't think he quite understands what it's all about.”