GARDINER — The Coast Guard said Sunday it will continue to investigate the cause of an Oregon boat capsizing that has left a North Olympic Peninsula commercial fisherman presumed dead.
But the agency will not restart its search for George B. Shaw, 55, of Gardiner and a companion fisherman also missing unless new clues come in, a Coast Guard spokesman said Sunday.
Shaw and Timothy Leake, 44, of Tillamook, Ore., were aboard the 42-foot crab boat, Network, along with its skipper, Darrin Mobley, 43, of Bay City, Ore., when the vessel was swamped by high seas near the entrance to Tillamook Bay, Ore., on Friday.
Mobley was able to swim to nearby jetty rocks, where he was picked up and taken to Tillamook County General Hospital.
He was treated and discharged.
Cause investigated
The Coast Guard will continue to look into the cause of its capsizing, Coast Guard Petty Officer Eric Chandler said in Seattle on Sunday.
“That can be very time consuming,” he said of the investigation.
The search for Leake and Shaw has been suspended unless any new information comes in.
“The Coast Guard has regular patrols in that area, so if they see anything or if a call comes in and has more information about anything, they’ll look into that,” Chandler said.
But the active search — which lasted seven hours and spanned 15 square miles of water — is over, he said.
The Network, based at nearby Garibaldi, Ore., broke in two and sank as Mobley and his two friends were attempting to cross the Tillamook bar, which is a narrow opening to the Pacific Ocean between two jetties.
The boat capsized after it was hit by several waves of least 11 feet high.
Chilly waters
None of the men was wearing a life jacket, and the water was about 52 degrees, the Coast Guard said.
The Tillamook County Sheriff’s Office unsuccessfully searched the nearby coast on Saturday.
The three men — all good friends stemming back to the days when Shaw lived in Oregon, according to his wife — were setting crab pots in preparation for Oregon’s crabbing season, which begins today.
Shaw, who has lived in Gardiner since 1985, owned a timber consulting firm, Shaw Timber.
He holds dual degrees in forestry and sociology, his wife, Dorothy, said Saturday.
He enjoyed working outdoors more than indoors at a desk, she said.
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Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at paige.dickerson@peninsuladailynews.com.
