Divers have recovered the bodies of two missing lobster fishermen – a father and son – who failed to return home on Tuesday.

The body of Gerald Blackburn, 60, was found shortly after 10 a.m Wednesday about 12 metres from his sunken lobster vessel.

His son's body, Gerry Blackburn, 29, was located about two-and-a-half hours later, about 80 metres from the boat.

The Transportation Safety Board will investigate to determine what happened.

Debris from their 7.5-metre vessel had been found yesterday. Searchers were hoping the two men from Lower Prospect, N.S. had made it to shore.

The RCMP Halifax District and the Halifax Regional Search and Rescue team searched the shoreline and many islands around the Lower Prospect area throughout the night. Searchers were up against rough terrain on the islands, as well as rough seas and fog. The weather hampered the efforts on Tuesday of helicopters in the air.

The RCMP had also called in assistance from the Department of Fisheries who will be supplying two zodiacs and operators, Halifax Regional Fire Services, and East Coast Outfitters were kayaking around the islands and transporting some of the searchers.

Many local fishing vessels also aided in the search.

The men headed out in their lobster boat Tuesday morning at 6:45 a.m. and were reported missing around 10 a.m. to the Canadian Coast Guard. At 10:47 a.m. the Joint Rescue Coordination Center activated an air and sea search and at 10:50 a.m. located debris from the boat.

Both Blackburn's had access to full emersion suits on board their vessel. The suits had not been recovered with the debris, which had further raised hopes they had made it to safety.