Adam Hoffman has been identified as one of the two missing fishermen whose bodies were recovered from the sunken trawler, Dianne, on Saturday.
Queensland police confirmed the death of the 30-year-old on Monday with a statement from his heartbroken family, who paid tribute their ‘kind, thoughtful and funny brother.’
‘He was one in a million with a heart of gold. He will forever be our beautiful pirate who went out doing what he loved,’ they said.
The news comes as the sister of one of the other crewmen Adam Bidner, 33, issued a desperate plea on Facebook to find her brother and three other missing fishermen.
Adam Hoffman (pictured) has been identified as one of the two missing fishermen whose bodies were recovered from the sunken trawler, Dianne, off the Queensland coast on Saturday
The news comes as the sister of one of the other crewmen Adam Bidner (pictured), 33, issued a desperate plea on Facebook to find her brother and three other missing fishermen
Mr Bidner’s sister, Jodie, asked people to help find her brother, who she claims may have made it to shore after the trawler sank, in a post on Facebook on Sunday night (pictured)
Mr Hoffman, Mr Bidner, Chris Sammut, 34, Eli Tonks, 39, Zach Feeney, 28, Ruben McDornan, 32, and 45-year-old skipper Ben Leahy were working on the trawler on October 16 when it capsized off the Queensland town of Seventeen Seventy, north of Brisbane.
Mr McDornan is the only one of the crew members believed to have survived.
Mr Bidner, Mr Sammut, Mr Tonks, Mr Feeney and Mr Leahy are presumed dead.
Mr Hoffman’s body and another unidentified body were retrieved on Saturday and the search resumed on Sunday.
But, after locating and searching the ship’s wreckage and surroundings, police divers found no sign of the four men by Sunday afternoon.
Mr Hoffman’s family described him as fearless, courageous and a ‘genuine legend’.
‘For those who knew him he loved to laugh and was funny as hell.’
‘To his family he was our cherished brother who was kind, thoughtful, loving and would always tell it like it is,’ they said.
Mr Hoffman leaves behind his five-year-old daughter Evie, his parents and five sisters.
Mr Hoffman, Zachary Feeney, 28, Eli Tonks, 39, Chris Sammut, 34, skipper Ben Leahy, 45, and Mr Bidner (pictured from left to right, top to bottom) are believed to have died in the fishing accident
Mr McDornan (left) is the only one of the crew members believed to have survived. He was rescued by commercial fisherman Mal Priday and his wife Linda (pictured right together), who heard his desperate cries for help as he entered his eighth hour treading water in horrendous seas
Mr McDornan, 32, was aboard cucumber trawler ‘Dianne’ (pictured) with the six other fishermen when it capsized off the Queensland town of Seventeen Seventy on Monday night
Mr Hoffman’s family described him as fearless, courageous and a ‘genuine legend’
Queensland Police divers resumed their search on Sunday for the four remaining fisherman
The family said they had set up a gofundme page that would go into a trust for Evie.
Mr Bidner’s sister, Jodie, asked people to help find her brother, who she claims may have made it to shore after the trawler sank, in a post on Facebook on Sunday night.
‘Desperate times call for desperate measures,’ she began.
‘We as a family are asking anyone in or near Agnes Waters or 1770 to PLEASE search your Local Beaches and Surrounding areas in the hope you/we locate our four Queensland men from the Trawler Diane.’
‘Even if you’re walking your dogs, go the extra 10 minutes further for them. Check inland slightly, let’s leave no stone, cave, hole, area uncovered. If they are NOT in the water then there is still a possibility that they’ve made it to the shore.’
‘Let’s give them a fighting chance because time is of the essence. If they are still fighting to survive we owe it to them to fight with everything we’ve got to find them!’ she said.
Members of the local community have started a flower memorial for the men at 1770’s Round Hill Headland, overlooking the water.
Floral tributes are seen at the Seventeen Seventy Headland. The families of four fishermen presumed dead continue to wait for news about the fate of their loved ones
Mr McDornan and his wife Sammy embrace as they see each other for the first time since the tragedy