The ship began sending Mayday calls shortly before 3am. The ship had begun flooding with the water entering the rudder room.Even though the sea was mild, the ship cannot be saved. It has endured decades of duty on the Alask waters.
Eventually the ship sank.
Of the 47 member crew, 4 were dead and one went missing. Among the dead were Eric Peter Jacobsen, the skipper. The others were chief engineer Daniel Cook, mate David Silveira, and crewman Byron Carrillo, according to the Fishing Company of Alaska, owner of the ship.
The Coast Guard Aviation Survival Technician 2nd Class O’Brien Hollow said that 13 survivors rescued by them were spread across a mile in their survivla suits with strobe lights. He picked them one by one without disconnecting from the helicopter.
22 crew mwmbwers were scooped up by the Alaska Warrior, a sister ship of the Alaska Ranger and then headed to the Dutch harbor.
Other crew members remained on a second boat that was searching the area, about 120 miles west of Dutch Harbor. The bodies of the four dead crew members had been recovered and were aboard the Alaska Warrior.
Very little additional details related to the flooding was available. The swells were only 6-8 feet given the 30-40 feet during fierce storms in the Bering Sea.
“We do not have sufficient information to determine why the vessel foundered. We will do everything possible to find out what occurred, with the hope that something can be learned that will be of value to our fishing community,” the company said.
