Maritime Injury Law Blog

March 13, 2007: Five fishermen were hoisted to safety after the 53-foot fishing vessel, Risky Business, became disabled and started to sink.

A 7:48 am call alerted Air Station Kodiak that the Risky Business was listing to port, and was heading to Kodiak. At noon they further reported a mechanical problem, listing of 30 degrees to port, and announced they were planning to abandon ship.

The Coast Guard dispatched a HH-60 Jayhawk helicopter, that arrived just as the vessel was forced on its port side by 20-foot seas and 50 mph winds. The Coast Guard instructed the crewmembers to put on survival suits and enter the water, and they were each hoisted by basket into the helicopter.

BOSTON. At 2 a.m. on February 2, 2007 the Coast Guard received an electronic signal from the 52-foot commercial fishing vessel, Lady Luck, indicating the vessel may be in distress. The signal did not include any information on its position. An urgent marine broadcast was sent out at 2:55 a.m. alerting boaters in the area where the boat was believed to have been, to be on the lookout.
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BOSTON. On January 27, 2007 the Coast Guard began its search for the fishing vessel Lady of Grace and it four-person crew, who never arrived in New Bedford Harbor at its expected time.

Last contact with Lady of Grace was reportedly with the fishing vessel Lisa Ann II, by e-mail the night of the 26th. Lisa Ann II’s crew became concerned when the Lady of Grace did not respond to their last e-mail at around 10 pm.
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Four crewmen from the 43-foot fishing vessel “Ash” have been reported missing after the boat capsized and sunk at the entrance to the Rogue River in Oregon. At 3:40pm on December 16th, 2006, the Coast Guard received a report that the vessel had overturned and was sinking. The vessel was apparently trying to cross the river bar at the time of the incident.

The U.S. Coast Guard dispatched a helicopter and a motor life boat and searched the area extensively. The vessel’s life raft, two survival suits, and small pieces of debris have been recovered, but there has been no sign of survivors.

Source: U.S. Coast Guard Press Release

October 20, 2006

On Thursday night, October 19th, the search for the 26-year-old missing crewman of the Ocean Challenger was officially called off. Officials had searched more than 1,730 square miles in the North Pacific for two days. After 48 hours there is very little chance of survival in water temperatures of 48 degrees. The missing man was not wearing a survival suit.

It is still not known what caused the boat to capsize, but the weather was known to be severe.

The 58-foot commercial fishing Ocean Challenger capsized Wednesday in the stormy Pacific Ocean, 90 miles south of Sand Point, Alaska. Four were on board the fishing boat. Moments before the boat capsized, the fishermen launched a life raft, but none of them were able to get in it, overtaken by waves two stories high.

The Ocean Challenger was a longliner and home-ported out of Adak, Alaska. The Ocean Challenger had been fishing for black cod near the Sanak Islands and was traveling back to the Aleutian fishing town of Sand Point when it disappeared into the water.

The survivor, 28-year-old Kevin Ferrell, was the only person wearing a survival suit, the Coast Guard said. The two other men, skipper David “Cowboy” Hasselquist of Hoonah, Alaska and Walter Foster of Westport, Washington, were dead when pulled from the water by a rescue swimmer. The missing man, a 26-year-old Kodiak fisherman, was reportedly not wearing a survival suit, the Coast Guard said