Calls to loved ones reveal rough conditions before sinking (Alaska (Deadliest Catch")

The Albuquerque Journal ^ | Becky Bohrer and Martha Bellisle

[CedarDave]

JUNEAU, Alaska — Calls to loved ones in the lead-up to the sinking of a crab boat in the cold waters off Alaska revealed the rough conditions the crew faced, including icing that did not seem to rattle the boat’s captain.

Gary Cobban Jr., the captain, was among five fishermen missing and feared dead after the Scandies Rose sank late Tuesday. Two others aboard were rescued.

Cobban’s ex-girlfriend, Jeri Lynn Smith, told the Anchorage Daily News he called her in North Carolina about two hours before the boat sank to wish her a happy new year. She said the conditions hadn’t seemed to worry him.

“When I talked to him, he told me the boat was icing and it had a list to it, but he didn’t sound alarmed. He didn’t sound scared,” Smith said. “The boat ices. The boat ices every winter. It’s just something they deal with. I didn’t worry about it.”

Others listed as missing were David Lee Cobban, Arthur Ganacias, Brock Rainey and Seth Rousseau-Gano, according to the Coast Guard. The Coast Guard said it used helicopters, planes and a boat as part of a search effort that covered 1,400 square miles and ended Wednesday evening.

Those rescued told authorities they were the only ones who made it into a life raft, the Anchorage Daily News reported. Dean Gribble Jr., who’s appeared on the Discovery Channel documentary series “Deadliest Catch,” and John Lawler suffered hypothermia but were released from a hospital.

The 130-foot (40-meter) Scandies Rose was traveling in an area with warnings about strong winds and heavy freezing spray, said Louise Fode, a warning coordination meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

[CedarDave]

Crab pots weigh about 700 pounds each and can pose problems in stormy weather They can get covered with ice, which causes the boat to be top heavy. Though the Coast Guard is investigating the sinking and has not identified a cause, it is likely that with the icing the center of gravity was disrupted and large waves could tip the boat over.

The article cites a previous incident in 2017 where six people died in the capsizing and sinking of the vessel Destination in the Bering Sea. In the investigative report the Coast Guard found stability, weight issues and excess ice accumulation from freezing spray as contributing factors.

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health classifies commercial fishing as one of the country’s most dangerous occupations.

[Gay State Conservative]

For later

[Drew68]

The 130-foot (40-meter) Scandies Rose was traveling in an area with warnings about strong winds and heavy freezing spray

I couldn't imagine a more miserable occupation.

[Texas Eagle]

Prayers up for all those crab fisherman and others on The Bering Sea.

[cableguymn]

they always say when you become complacent.. that is when the bering sea gets you.

[pepsi_junkie]

They make a LOT of money. It's dangerous and miserable, as you say. But men do it because they can make a lot more in a season than a year doing contruction or something.

On a side note, whenever I hear about the "gender wage gap" I muse how something like 99% of all work related deaths happen to men. Men take the dangerous jobs that pay more, they take risk to reap rewards (they hope). Women don't. Just one of many reasons men make more, but it's not really "equal work".

[cableguymn]

The sinking of the destination lead to the most of the fleet being recertified as to the number of pots they could carry.

over the years pots have gotten larger and heavier thus, the need for ships to carry fewer.

Discovery did a deadliest catch special on the destination and why she sank and what the rest of the fleet did to adjust for the heavier pots.

this is the episode
https://go.discovery.com/tv-shows/deadliest-catch/full-episodes/the-mystery-of-f-v-destination

[Fightin Whitey]

I couldn't imagine a more miserable occupation.

Some pretty rough ones, all right.

The things men do to feed their families, and the world beyond.

[HamiltonJay]

For ever 100 women killed on the job, well over 1000 men die on the job..... its not 99% women are more than 10 times less likely to die on the job than a man.

[pepsi_junkie]

Okay, so 90%

[CedarDave]

Thanks for the link.

[gibsonguy]

Good point, I just bristle when these rat jerks start the “comparable worth” crap. Where some Government hack determines a female office assistant should get paid as much as they pay a male welder who works 10 stories up in the air welding support beams.

[HamiltonJay]

Yes, I believe the exact figure is something like 93% or something.. its a huge gap to be sure...

[setter]

“I couldn’t imagine a more miserable occupation”

Oil rig North Dakota covered in oil and -40 below winds.

[Rummyfan]

They make a LOT of money. It's dangerous and miserable, as you say. But men do it because they can make a lot more in a season than a year doing construction or something.

Yes, the potential reward outweighs the danger. Sounds like the captain got a little careless. Tragically so.

[Bob434]

[[I couldn’t imagine a more miserable occupation. ]]

San Fransisco Street Sweeper

[Roccus]

Oil rig North Dakota covered in oil and -40 below winds.

Tough conditions? Absolutely! But you are on land...in your element.
On the water, you are OUT of your element. Totally different story.

[immadashell]

Icing may only be a contributing factor. Other, more catastrophic, things like loss of power, loss of steering or a rogue wave may well have been the primary cause.

[Amberdawn]

Icing and boats overloaded with heavy crab pots have been the cause of many losses over the years, most notable in 1983 with the loss of two sister boats and the deaths of all 14 crew.