Family Rocked By Loss of Fishing Captain

Kathleen Sutter had just spoken to her uncle, Stian Stiansen, on Saturday — a day before his life was taken after a tragic accident in the Shinnecock Inlet on Sunday in which his fishing boat capsized.

"He was so full of life. He was a young 85," she said. "This is a great loss for our family." 

From her home in Islip on Monday morning, Sutter said that family members were trying to make sense of the accident while reminiscing about a man who she said was loving, caring and was always out to help others. 

"He was quite a captain," said Sutter. "He knew that inlet and it was definitely one he could navigate. He's been out in worse seas." 

At 85, she said her uncle has been navigating Long Island's waterways for 70 years. 

And he was strong, she said, able to pull in heavy fishing nets.  

Sutter said her uncle, whose parents hailed from Norway, grew up in Islip, spending his days alongside his cousins inside the Mills Grocery Store.

"We would all sit around the pot-belly stove and listen to fishing stories," said Sutter.

When Stiansen was about 15 years old, Sutter said his father decided to build a boat from hand in his backyard and start a commercial fishing business. From then on, Stiansen never left the water. He'd found his passion in the siren song of the sea.

The boat was called the Stanley Gordon and birthed at the White Cap in Islip. Soon after, they purchased the Pricilla Ann, a Coast Guard boat, then added to the fleet, building several other boats. 

Stiansen stayed to help his family and the business until he was 25-years-old and married his wife, Pauline.

They moved to the Hamptons, bought two commercial fishing boats, then settled later in East Quogue, said Sutter. 

Stainsen, said Sutter, loved his wife, who passed away in 2005 at the age of 90. The boat he was navigating Sunday was named for her, Sutter said.

"My only consolation is that he is now with his beloved wife," said Sutter.  

Stiansen speaks of his wife and his family in his own words in a YouTube video posted in April 2013 as he celebrated his 85th birthday — it is a video that family members are now clinging to.

As he turned 85, Sutter said her uncle told family members that he was ready to hire someone to run the commercial fishing business so that he could spend more time with the family this summer. 

"He loved his family and we love him," Sutter said. "He was a wonderful man."