Tag Archives: F/V Destination
Coast Guard Releases Results of Crab Pot Icing Study
Vessel icing, including the possibility of asymmetrical icing, was suggested as a causative factor in the F/V Scandies Rose loss of stability and, ultimately, its sinking. The Coast Guard has released the results of a study of ice accretion and ice accumulation on fishing pots, specifically crab/cod pots used in the Alaska/Bering Sea fishery. In December 2020, a Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation requested Coast Guard Research and 
Development Center (RDC) assistance for the study following icing factors involved in the loss of the fishing vessels Scandies Rose in 2019, and the F/V Destination in 2017. The MBI also noted the investigation into the 2017 loss of the Destination revealed that excessive icing directly contributed to the vessel loss of stability and rapid capsizing. >click to read< 14:46
F/V Scandies Rose: NTSB to Hold Meeting to Determine Probable Cause for Sinking
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) announced Thursday its plan to hold a public board meeting to determine the probable cause for the 2019 sinking of the fishing vessel Scandies Rose. The 130-foot Scandies Rose sank December 31, 2019 about 2.5 miles south of Sutwik Island, Alaska with the loss of five crew members. Two others were rescued. The loss of the Scandies Rose marked the worst accident to hit Alaska’s commercial fishing industry since the sinking of the F/V Destination with the loss of all six crew members in February 2017.,, The Coast Guard previously convened a Marine Board of Investigation concluding in March to consider evidence related to the accident. >click to read< 08:55
F/V Scandies Rose: Tragedy survivor details harrowing experience during sinking
Jon Lawler, who was on the F/V Scandies Rose on Dec. 31, 2019, when the boat began rapidly sinking into the sea,,, As soon as things began going wrong around 10 p.m. that New Year’s Eve, Lawler knew something was severely amiss, he said, and immediately ran upstairs, encountering Capt. Gary
Cobban in the process. “And I look at Gary,” he said. “And I said, ‘What the f— is going on? What’s going on?’ And he said, ‘I don’t know what’s going on. I think we’re f—— sinking.’ ‘No f—— s— we’re sinking.’ Fast forward, and Lawler would miraculously make it outside the boat alive, donning a rescue suit. That, though, was hardly the end of the distress. Video, >click to read< 13:35
‘Deadliest Catch’: 8 Things You Didn’t Know About the Show
In Alaska, commercial fishing remains dangerous despite increased safety measures
Commercial fishing was once the most dangerous job in the country, (Scott Wilwert said, and during the 1970s and 1980s an increase in accidents and deaths ultimately led to the passage of the Commercial Fishing Industry Vessel Safety Act of 1988. The regulations required boats to have survival suits and life rafts and to carry out onboard safety drills, among other safety measures.,, “There was a time in the ’70s and ’80s where, I think, even the fishermen would tell you that there was a mentality, that ‘you have to go out but you don’t have to come back’ kind of thing,” Wilwert said. “That just doesn’t exist, nobody thinks that way anymore.” >click to read< 07:29
Tragic details that have come out about Deadliest Catch
The Discovery Channel’s bracing look at the lives and losses of Bering Sea crab men, Deadliest Catch, has been packing a punch since it debuted in 2007.,, Crabbing is not for the faint of heart or the fragile. The ocean, in other words, offers no safe spaces. Unfortunately for the stars of Deadliest Catch, the drama has not been confined to the high seas. Tragedy has followed the show’s captains and crew members on-shore, landing several of them in court and even in jail cells. And some who have escaped sinking or burning ships have done so only to die in hotel rooms or in their own front yards. >click to read< 15:06
‘Deadliest Catch’ Captains Discuss What Happened In F/V Destination Tragedy – Sig encourages re-evaluation
It’s no secret that crab fishing is the most dangerous job in the world, and that is why Deadliest Catch fans hero worship the captains and crew that star on this adventurous reality series. On February 11, 2017 the Destination sunk. What happened to this crab fishing vessel and what have the Deadliest Catch captains said about the boat and crew?,,, Although the Destination was not part of the Discovery show, the captain and crew were friends with the captains of the reality show. >click to read< 10:50
Emotional ‘Deadliest Catch’ captain Sig Hansen still haunted by friend lost at sea – Hansen is encouraging all the boats in the community to re-evaluate their boats so that tragedies like the F/V Destination don’t happen again. And while the sinking is a painful memory for Sig, he believes the awareness it has garnered will save lives for years to come. >click to read<
Even after sinking of Seattle-based F/V Destination, Coast Guard slow-walks training for fishing boat skippers
The Coast Guard investigation into the 2017 sinking of the Seattle-based Destination, released last month, was the latest in a long succession of Coast Guard inquiries to spotlight serious stability problems that led to commercial fishing boats going down and their crews dying. Earlier findings prompted Congress, in a 2010 overhaul of commercial fishing safety laws, to require operators take a short course that reviews how loading gear, boat modifications and changing weather conditions can affect a vessel’s ability to stay afloat. But nine years later, the Coast Guard has yet to come up with regulations to enforce the safety mandate. Even in the aftermath of the Destination investigation, which documented the missteps that contributed to the loss of six crew members in the Bering Sea, Coast Guard leaders have yet to say when this training rule might be in place. So the stability courses remain voluntary, often sparsely attended. >click to read<11:07
Overloading, heavy ice and an open hatch: Coast Guard details what sank the Seattle-based F/V Destination
The ability of the Seattle-based Destination to stay afloat in the harsh conditions of a Bering Sea winter was seriously compromised before it set out on its final, fatal voyage, according to a Coast Guard report released Sunday that blamed the captain and the owner of the crab boat for failing to ensure safety. The Marine Board of Investigation detailed a series of missteps the Coast Guard found led to the deaths of all six crew on Feb. 11, 2017, just off the Bering Sea island of St. George. The panel also uncovered weaknesses in a safety-oversight system set up to prevent such fishing-industry disasters. Among the conclusions: >click to read<14:35
What caused the F/V Destination to sink? Coast Guard to release findings on Sunday
The Coast Guard on Sunday will release results of its investigation into why, without a mayday call, the Seattle-based Destination sank in 2017 in Alaska’s deadliest crabbing accident in more than a decade. Over the years, Coast Guard investigative reports into fishing disasters have repeatedly spotlighted the hazards of one of the nation’s most dangerous industries, sometimes helping to push reforms but often falling short of bringing major change. All six of the Destination crew were lost on Feb. 11, 2017, and the report is expected to offer the most likely scenario for what happened on a chill day in the Bering Sea when freezing spray was thought to have frozen on the boat. The report also will offer safety recommendations to try to prevent such losses of life. >click to read<15:46
NO RETURN: The final voyage of the crab boat Destination
The Seattle-based Destination went down without a mayday call two years ago this week, stunning a Bering Sea crabbing industry that appeared to have left its deadly legacy behind. A former crewman is haunted by what may have gone wrong in the sinking that killed his brother and five others. ,,, The Destination sank after more than a decade of relative safety in a Bering Sea crab fleet that appeared to have left behind the deadly legacy of the late 20th century, when dozens upon dozens died as their boats went down. For industry veterans, the loss of the Destination was a gut-check that spurred reflection: Are we as safe as we think? >click to read<12:47
NTSB Says Icing Caused Fatal Sinking of FV Destination in Bering Sea, issues related Safety Alert
The National Transportation Safety Board has issued a marine accident brief >click to read<and a related safety alert>click to read< warning mariners of the dangers of icing following the agency’s investigation of the sinking of the fishing vessel Destination in the Bering Sea last February with the loss of all six crew members. The 110-foot, 196-gross ton, fishing vessel Destination sank in frigid, remote waters 2.6 miles northwest of St. George Island, Alaska, on February 11, 2017. >click to read<09:36
The Boat at the Bottom of the Sea
Captain William Prout was up early. Or was it late? During crabbing season it was sometimes hard to tell the difference. The day before, Friday, February 10, 2017, Prout and his crew had offloaded a batch of snow crab on the remote Bering Sea island of St. Paul. Then they’d turned the Silver Spray around and motored back out to the fishing grounds to collect their remaining crab pots. At 5am on Saturday, Prout pulled his anchor and pointed his bow southeast. Hours of darkness still remained—dawn came late on the Bering Sea in February. Captain Prout stayed in the wheelhouse, drinking coffee with his son and looking out at the icy night, as the Silver Spray churned along. >click to read<20:06
Podcast: “F/V Destination, Do You Copy?”
It was the kind of disaster that wasn’t supposed to happen anymore. On February 11, 2017, the fishing vessel Destination disappeared in the Bering Sea on its way to the crab grounds. The boat went missing with an experienced crew, in unremarkable weather conditions, yet there was no mayday and rescue crews could find no life raft or survivors. For the past year, reporter Stephanie May Joyce has been following the investigation into what went wrong, and how this mysterious tragedy has changed Alaskan fishing. >click to listen<18:01
One Year After The Sinking, Crab Fishermen Remember The F/V Destination — And Take Extra Precautions
This Sunday, Feb. 11 marks the one-year anniversary of the loss of the F/V Destination. Its sinking ranks as the Bering Sea crab fleet’s deadliest accident in more than a decade. While the cause remains a mystery, memories of the crew are inspiring fishermen to stay extra safe this winter.,, Almost a year later, the tragedy is still fresh in the minds of many fishermen, especially crabbers who are out dropping pots in the same area the Destination went down. “Do I think about it?” asked Captain Rip Carlton of the F/V Patricia Lee. “Yes.” >click to read< 13:58
Beyond Deadliest Catch: The Fisherman in Pursuit of One of the World’s Great Delicacies
Dan Jansen had been awake for about a day and a half on his first-ever trip as captain of a crab-fishing boat way back in 1986. When there was finally a lull, Jansen left the wheelhouse to get some rest. His eyes hadn’t been shut for more than 15 minutes when he heard what sounded like an explosion. In the time it took for his feet to swivel from his bunk to the floor, Jansen’s stateroom had filled up with more than a foot of water. click here to read the story 10:46
Seattle-based Alaska crab fleet alerted to new hazard: They’re carrying heavier pots
Alaska crab boats carry stability reports meant to guide the safe loading of up to several hundred crab pots that may be used to bring in a catch from the turbulent Bering Sea. But Coast Guard spot checks found that most of these documents significantly underestimate the weights of the steel-framed pots. The checks were spurred by a Coast Guard investigation into the Feb. 11 sinking of the Seattle-based Destination and the loss of all six of its crew. One of the vessel’s pots — retrieved from the Bering Sea bottom in July — was found to weigh more than the Destination’s stability report had assumed, according to testimony in a Marine Board of Investigation into the disaster. click here to read the story 10:46
$1.4 billion fishing industry stays afloat amid regulations, tragedies
It’s been two months since the missing crab vessel Destination was found on the ocean floor of the Bering Sea. The Seattle-based crew went missing in February. All six people on board died when the crab boat went down in “Deadliest Catch” waters. You can see the memorial that still stands at Fisherman’s Terminal in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood. It’s a grim reminder that Alaskan fishing is still coined the most dangerous job in the world, but the commercial fishing industry also has helped form the blueprint of the Pacific Northwest. Latest numbers from the state show it brings in $1.4 billion a year to our state. Today, it employs more than 14,000 people. Today, the $35 million, 191-foot freezer liner Blue North glides across the Bering Sea, catching cod in a moon pool. Video, click here to read the story 09:02
Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation – Icy spray, heavy pots may have doomed Seattle crab boat F/V Destination
What caused the February sinking of the Seattle-based Destination in the Bering Sea? On the morning of Feb. 11, crab-boat skipper Daher Jorge received a Coast Guard radio request to assist a Bering Sea search for a missing vessel — the Seattle-based Destination. But Jorge’s own boat, the Polar Sea, was burdened by a thickening mantle of ice that made it more vulnerable to sinking. His crew had been unable to break off all that ice while at sea, so Jorge felt compelled to reject the call for assistance and head to port in Alaska’s Pribilof Islands. “That was the only reason we did not go. For our own safety,” Jorge testified during two weeks of hearings held earlier this month in Seattle by a Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation into the sinking of the Destination and loss of all six of its crew. click here to read the story 12:44
‘Deadliest Catch’ tragedy: Sig Hansen in tears as crab fishermen friends are lost at sea
Crab fishing is a dangerous profession and that was made tragically clear on Tuesday night’s emotional episode of “Deadliest Catch.” On the Discovery Channel show, the captains were devastated to learn that the Destination, the ship of their friend Jeff Hathaway, had gone missing off the coast of Alaska. Hathaway and his crew couldn’t be found. The Bering Sea had been fierce all winter and as the episode began, veteran Sig Hansen noted, “We have had our close calls. It makes me wonder, how many chances do we get?” Sadly, unbeknownst to the skippers, the coast guard was searching for a missing vessel that had set off a distress signal. click here to read the story 09:53
F/V Destination Investigation: Day 2 – Brother of lost fisherman tells investigators about pressures of commercial fishing
Two days before the fishing vessel Destination disappeared in the Bering Sea with six crew members aboard, Dylan Hatfield met up with the crew in Dutch Harbor, Alaska. Hatfield previously worked on the Destination. His brother, Darrik Seibold, took his place and was among those lost at sea. “I personally worked with every single man,” Seibold (Hatfield) told Coast Guard investigators who are looking into the February sinking of the boat. Hatfield said when he came off another boat and met the Destination’s crew, “the boys were pretty beat down. It was a pretty grueling cod season” with 24-hour work shifts. The crew was switching seasons, from cod to crab, and they were behind schedule for a delivery. Over dinner at the Norwegian Rat Saloon, Hatfield said, “I was all giddy and excited and it was a table full of long faces.” Video, click here to read the story 08:38
F/V Destination – Day 1: Investigation Hearing begins
In Seattle on Monday, the Coast Guard and the National Transportation Safety Board began two weeks of testimony into the sinking. Monday was spent questioning the ship’s owner, 68-year-old David Wilson. The experienced fisherman, who hired Captain Jeff Hathaway back in 1993, recounted documents recapping the safety drills and briefings given to all crew before the season began. Larry O’Grady, Raymond Vincler, Darrik Seibold, Charles Jones and Kai Hamik were all on board with Hathaway. All presumed lost. Earlier this summer, the U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker Healy spent days over the wreck and found the vessel sitting upright in 240 feet of water listing to the port. On Monday morning, Wilson was asked about maintenance issues — including a discussion, he had with the ship’s captain by phone while in Alaska. click here to read the story Todays proceedings can be reviewed click here, and the hearing restart at 09:00 tomorrow, using that link. 20:06
F/V Destination – Hearings to begin on why Seattle-based crab boat sank with 6-man crew aboard
Two weeks of Coast Guard hearings into the sinking of the Seattle-based Destination begin Monday. They will put a spotlight on safety in the crab-boat fleet, and are expected to include testimony about the recent exploration of the sunken vessel by a remotely operated vehicle. The Destination sits on the bottom of the Bering Sea, listing heavily to its port side and still carrying roughly a third of the steel-framed pots the six-man crew planned to use in a winter crab harvest off Alaska. In two weeks of Seattle hearings that begin Monday, Coast Guard officers will hear testimony from the owner of the crab boat, former crew and other industry and government officials as they gather clues to what went so horribly wrong when the crew perished Feb. 11. click here to read the story to read the USCG notice click here with instructions for comment. click here for live stream of the proceedings. 09:29
NOAA locates F/V Destination wreckage, Coast Guard hearing set for August
Two NOAA ships, en route to scientific missions in Alaskan waters, helped locate the missing fishing vessel Destination at the request of the U.S. Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation. The Destination and its six crew members were lost February 11, 2017, while fishing for Opilio crab (snow crab) northwest of St. George, Alaska. NOAA Ship Oscar Dyson, a fisheries survey vessel, conducted the first survey from April 30 through May 1. The Dyson used its multibeam echo sounder to search the area around the last known position of the Destination. While the ship was not able to positively identify any contacts, it did narrow the search area. A second survey by NOAA Ship Fairweather, a hydrographic survey vessel, was conducted on July 8 and 9. The Fairweather used its multibeam sonar, designed for seafloor mapping and object detection, to locate the Destination in approximately 250 feet of water. click here to read the press release 13:51
Fisherman’s Memorial remembers ‘Destination’ crew lost at sea
Members of the commercial fishing community came to remember those lost at sea at the Fisherman’s Terminal in Ballard Sunday. The Fisherman’s Memorial is an annual ceremony, but this year it had added importance. In February, the Seattle-based crabbing boat the Destination mysteriously disappeared off the coast of Alaska. It had six crew members on board. click here to view a video, read the rest 10:42
Norwegian Rat Saloon Fundraiser in Unalaska brings in $37,000 for F/V Destination families
A benefit event last Friday at the Norwegian Rat Saloon in Unalaska brought in over $37,000 for the families of the crew of the crab boat Destination which disappeared in the Bering Sea on Feb. 11 along with six fishermen. The biggest item auctioned, in terms of both size and money, was a whale skull. The winning bid was $6,500 submitted by a group of people. The skull was promptly donated to the saloon, and will remain in the bar’s back yard as a memorial to the missing men, Capt. Jeff Hathaway, Larry O’Grady, Darrick Seibold, Kai Hamik, Raymond Vincler, and Charles Glen Jones. Norwegian Rat manager Teressa Henning credited bartender Rachel Reed with the idea for the event and doing all the work to make it happen. continue reading the story here 13:14
Lost Seattle-based crab-boat crew memorialized
The owner of the Destination, the crab boat that went missing Feb. 11, said he had full confidence in the skills of the six lost crew, and that his own son was initially supposed to be part of that Bering Sea harvest. “I have had a lot of sorrow in life but nothing like this,” wrote David Wilson, of Edmonds, in remarks read at a Thursday afternoon memorial service for the six lost crew. “God only knows why something like this happens because I don’t know why these good men went down at sea. … The pain will never go away. Even though these men are gone, their memory will live on forever.” Several hundred people attended the service for the six crew members: Capt. Jeff Hathaway, Larry O’Grady, Raymond Vincler, Darrik Seibold, Charles G. Jones and Kai Hamik. It was held at the Aurora Community Church of the Nazarene in Shoreline and was a celebration of their lives that included poetry and musical performances. continue reading the story here 13:03
Crew of lost crabbing vessel declared legally dead
The six men lost when their crabbing boat sank on a cold morning in the Bering Sea last month were declared legally dead at an unusual court proceeding Monday, allowing heartbroken families to take a first step toward closure and settling their loved ones’ affairs. The proceeding, known as a presumptive death hearing, is a kind of mini-trial held to determine whether a missing person can be declared dead. They are often held in the cases of people who have disappeared in such extreme terrain as to have exhausted the chances of survival or recovery. The fishing vessel Destination sank 3 miles north of St. George Island on the morning of Feb. 11, just before starting the winter snow crab season. The bodies of the men aboard — captain Jeff Hathaway and crew members Kai Hamik, Darrik Seibold, Larry O’Grady, Raymond Vincler and Charles G. Jones — have not been found. continue reading the story here 23:34
Destination crew remembered at 89th “Blessing of the Fleet” ceremony
It’s been one month and one day since the Destination mysteriously disappeared in Alaskan waters. The Seattle-based crabbing boat went missing in the Bering Sea and all six crew members with it. On Sunday, the fishing community marked its 89th “Blessing of the Fleet” at Seattle’s Fisherman’s Terminal. Lutheran ministers raised a flag above a boat named St. Anthony and wished safe passage for all who risk their lives at sea. However, it was Destination that was on the minds of many people who attended. “I come to the blessing every year,” Laurel Schultz of Gig Harbor said. Schultz’s cousin worked on a crab boat and was lost at sea in 1989. “I’m drawn to this every year because it’s a powerful experience. It brings together a group of people who care about fishermen and women,” Schultz said. Video, photo’s, read the story here 10:00
