LAPUSH — Three fishermen were rescued and one remained missing Sunday afternoon after a Neah Bay-registered commercial fishing vessel overturned before dawn in the ocean 14 miles off LaPush.
Coast Guard boat and air crews continued searching Sunday evening for the unidentified master of the 52-foot commercial fishing boat Sea Beast, which capsized after 3 a.m. Sunday, said Petty Officer Jonathan Klingenberg, spokesman for the Coast Guard in Seattle.
Klingenberg said the master, if wearing a survival suit, has a “window of survivability” until about 10 p.m. Sunday, prompting rescuers to continue the search past dusk.
The Sea Beast reportedly took on water and issued a mayday call, Klingenberg said.
The crew abandoned the boat and were later rescued, but the skipper apparently remained aboard when it capsized.
A 47-foot motor life boat crew from Coast Guard Station Quillayute River, a MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew Air Station/Sector Field Office Port Angeles and the crew of the Coast Guard cutter Blue Shark were assigned to the search operation.
Coast Guard officials have not released the name of the missing man.
The website www.boatinfoworld.com, which tracks vessel registrations, lists the owner of the 41-year-old Sea Beast as Glen Halttunen Jr.
Duty personnel at Coast Guard Sector Columbia River received a mayday distress call from the master of the Sea Beast at 3 a.m., Klingenberg said.
The distress call, released by the Coast Guard on Sunday afternoon, described a desperate situation for the red and white boat, which keeps caught fish alive in an aerated tank in the hold.
‘We’re taking water’
“We’re taking water over our stern. Our stern . . . is failing fast. Our stern is sinking. We’re sinking right now,” said the voice on the radio, identified by the Coast Guard as the master of the Sea Beast.
[Video and audio of the mayday call from the Coast Guard are below.]
Coast Guard duty personnel instructed the fishermen to don their survival suits and abandon ship into their life raft as rescue crews within range of the Sea Beast’s position were dispatched to the location.
“Three crewmen successfully abandoned ship and the vessel reportedly capsized with the master still aboard,” Klingenberg said.
The ocean was relatively calm, with 5 to 10 mph winds and 4-foot seas, he said.
Klingenberg said the Coast Guard’s motorized lifeboat crew found the three fishermen in the life raft and took them to the pier at LaPush, where Station Quillayute River is located.
The three crew members from the life raft were reported to be in good condition.
The sinking occurred in the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary, and the state Department of Ecology was notified by the Coast Guard because the Sea Beast can reportedly carry up to 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel.
No pollution from the sunken vessel was reported Sunday, and the Sea Beast was not thought to be a hazard to navigation.
Anyone with information about the sinking of the Sea Beast is asked to call the Coast Guard Sector Puget Sound command center on VHF-FM radio Channel 16 or by phoning 206-217-6001.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arice@peninsuladailynews.com.
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Here is video from the Coast Guard:
Here is the mayday distress call: https://www.dvidshub.net/audio/40742/coast-guard-rescues-3-fishermen-capsized-vessel-searching-master-near-quillayute-river-wash#.VUaVz2Yxkb0
