Articles Posted in Vessel Sinkings

At 3 am on May 3, 2015, the Coast Guard received a May Day call from Kenneth Martin, Master of the 52-foot F/V SEA BEAST. Martin told them that the stern was taking on water and the boat was sinking approximately 14 miles offshore of La Push, WA. Three crewmen successfully abandoned ship into a life raft, but the SEA BEAST reportedly capsized with Martin still onboard.

The Coast Guard found and rescued the three men in the life raft and took them to Station Quillayute River in La Push. Coast Guard helicopter crews and motor lifeboat crews searched over 498 square miles looking for Martin, but they finally suspended the search after 17 hours, said Petty Officer Jonathan Klingenberg, spokesman for the Seattle Coast Guard.

“One of the hardest decisions the Coast Guard has to make is when to suspend a search for a missing person,” said Cmdr. Brian Meier, of the Coast Guard Sector Puget Sound response division. “Our heartfelt condolences go out to the friends, family and loved ones of the vessel captain.”

A crewmember on board the 80-foot tender F/V EYAK called the Juneau Coast Guard at 5:45 am on January 19, 2015 to report they had grounded and the boat was taking on water. The tender was located near Calligan Island, about 16 miles south of Sitka Harbor. The Coast Guard flew a helicopter from Air Station Sitka and also asked for assistance from Sitka Police and Fire Departments and the Alaska State Troopers.

Sitka’s emergency response vessel (ERV), jointly operated by the fire department and police department, and a boat from the Alaska State Troopers arrived at the EYAK around 7:30 a.m. The four EYAK crewmembers wore survival suits and had inflated the life raft. Sitka Police Ryan Silva was aboard the ERV. “I’m just glad we got there when we did because it was under 45 minutes later that it (the EYAK) slipped into the water fully,” Silva said.

The crew was transferred safely to the ERV, along with their dog. All four were uninjured and did not require medical attention, according to the Trooper report.

The Coast Guard Alaska Sector and five Good Samaritan vessels are assisting the Russian Kamchatka Border Guard Directorate (KBGD) in finding 54 crew members missing from the capsized South Korean trawler 501 ORYONG. According to the KBGD, the crew was hauling in its catch of pollock when a wave hit and flooded the boat’s cargo holds. The 326-foot vessel sank off the coast of Chukotka, Russia on November 30, 2014.

Coast Guard spokeswoman Petty Officer 2nd Class Diana Honings said that officials from the KBGD requested U.S. assistance with the search on December 1. They reported that a Good Samaritan vessel had rescued seven people in a life raft, one person was confirmed dead, and 54 were missing. A Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak Hercules airplane crew and the crew of the Coast Guard Cutter MUNRO along with a Dolphin helicopter were sent to the scene Monday morning.

Weather on scene was reported as half-mile visibility with a 250-foot ceiling, 22-foot waves and water temperature at 57 degrees.

The Coast Guard rescued five crew members from their life raft as the fishing vessel BLAZER sank eight miles west of Siletz Bay, Oregon the early morning of November 29, 2014. Coast Guard North Bend, Oregon received a MAYDAY call at 4:17 a.m. from the 75-foot fishing vessel BLAZER stating they were disabled, taking on water, and dumping crab pots. Ten minutes later crew called again to report they were donning survival suits and deploying the life raft.

Three of the survivors were rescued from the life raft by the Newport Coast Guard Dolphin helicopter crew and treated for minor injuries. The other two survivors were transferred from the life raft to a Coast Guard Depoe Bay 47-foot Motor Life Boat (MLB).

The BLAZER sank in 420 feet of water with reportedly 2,000 gallons of diesel aboard. There have been no reports of pollution at this time. North Bend pollution responders are monitoring the situation and will respond if needed.

At 7:31 am on October 17, 2014, the owner of the 67-foot recreational vessel LADY A made a we’re-abandoning-ship distress call to the Coast Guard in Port Angeles, WA. The Coast Guard immediately sent a response boat and helicopter to the sinking boat located north of the Dungeness Spit in Sequim, WA. The crew of TOKYO EXPRESS, a 664-foot tanker traveling through the Strait of Juan de Fuca, also sent a response boat to assist. Both response boats arrived at the LADY A around 8:10 am and found the man and woman, local residents of the area, still on their boat. They were transferred to the Coast Guard response boat and taken to the Port Angeles station. Neither crewmember was injured, the Coast Guard reported.

Lady A reportedly sank in 180 feet of water with approximately 700 gallons of diesel on board. No sheen has been reported. Pollution responders from the Coast Guard’s incident management division have been notified and are working with the vessel owner and the Washington State Department of Ecology to decide if the vessel can be salvaged. It is unknown at this time why the boat sank.

The crews of 30-foot F/V MISS JANA and 50-foot F/V EQUINOX, both hailing out of Cordova, AK, and owned by Leslie P. Allen of Valdez, came to the rescue of three people whose 36-foot Belltech 5 was sinking near Valdez Wednesday night.

The Coast Guard issued an Urgent Marine Information Broadcast as soon as the Belltech 5 crew alerted them via VHF 16 what was happening. Fortunately, MISS JANA and EQUINOX were close enough to make the difference.

The Belltech 5 had already sunk with her crew already in the water when MISS JANA arrived to pull them out. The three rescued men were then transferred to EQUINOX, which in turn transferred them to the Coast Guard for further transport for medical care. Conditions at that time included snow, 7mph winds, and 3-foot seas.

On Saturday, September 29, the Coast Guard suspended its search for 32-year old Kelly Dickerson, the MAVERICK crewman who went missing after 90-foot VIKING STORM and 40-foot MAVERICK collided about 30 miles off La Push, Washington, the day before.

MAVERICK sunk, while VIKING STORM suffered a dented bow and some scrapes in the collision. None of the VIKING STORM crew were injured, and that crew managed to pull three of the four MAVERICK crewmen from the water. Those three men were reported to be in stable condition after their rescue and taken to Quileute Harbor Marina in La Push.

VIKING STORM is Vancouver BC-based and owned by Leader Fishing, LTD. MAVERICK is based out of Seattle and owned and captained by Darby Dickerson of Port Angeles. Mr. Dickerson was one of the rescued men and is also the father of Kelly Dickerson.

The fishing vessel CHEVELLE collided with the jetty near Newport, Oregon on Friday and is reportedly breaking up in heavy weather. One witness described crab pots shifting on the vessel after it took a hard roll while crossing the bar. The 70-foot crab vessel is owned by Chad Hall of Newport. Fortunately, the four crewmen aboard the vessel all survived the incident. Three crewmen were airlifted to safety by the Coast Guard, and the fourth crewman was able to climb onto the jetty and make his way to shore. Salvage operations cannot get under way until the weather subsides. There is some concern that the vessel may break apart and sink, obstructing passage to the harbor. The incident is under investigation by the Coast Guard.

In March of 2011, in Tuyen Thanh Mai v. American Seafoods Company, LLC, the Washington State Court of Appeals upheld the ruling that American Seafoods Company (ASC) did not have the right to deny seaman Tuyen Thanh Mai maintenance and cure when she did not agree to ASC’s demand for an independent medical examination (IME) prior to her knee replacement surgery. The Court also held that Mai is entitled not only to the maintenance and cure that ASC had withheld from her, but also to compensatory damages and attorney fees, sending a strong message to employers that maintenance and cure are fundamental rights not to be denied a seaman.
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