Posted on 03/31/2008 3:28:08 AM PDT by Clive
ILES-DE-LA-MADELEINE, Que. — A routine rescue operation that turned into disaster in the waters of the North Atlantic sparked anger and frustration Sunday as grieving families grappled with the loss of four of their men.
Three men died and one is lost at sea after L’Acadien II flipped over while it was under tow early Saturday from a Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker.
Of the six crew members aboard L’Acadien II, two were plucked alive from the icy waters by sealers on a boat that was following behind.
The captain of the overturned trawler, Bruno Bourque, and sealers Gilles Leblanc and Marc-Andre Deraspe died.
The coast guard ended the active search for the missing man, Carl Aucoin, saying "all hope had diminished for his survival."
The news came as a shock to the family of the 31-year-old sealer, who left behind a wife and young son.
"We don’t want this to ever happen again," Aucoin’s mother, Micheline Aucoin, told The Canadian Press. "It was a rescue mission gone wrong."
Aucoin’s family is upset his case has been handed over the RCMP, which doesn’t intend to continue the search.
"We’re sure by now he’s dead but we would have liked to have had his body," said Dorothee Noel, who is aunt to both Aucoin and Claude Deraspe, one of the two survivors of the sinking off the coast of Cape Breton.
"It’s difficult to grieve without the body, knowing he’s all alone at sea."
Family and friends from across the island gathered at Aucoin’s parents house Sunday night. The joyful shrieks of toddlers mixed with the sobs from bleary-eyed adults.
"The coast guard sunk them," said Damien Deraspe, Aucoin’s brother-in-law.
Sunday’s newspaper, with the deaths front-page news, lay well-read on the kitchen table.
"We’re frustrated about what happened," Noel said. "It wasn’t a hunting accident, it was rescue mission. We are not the ones to judge, but we are frustrated."
Iles-de-la-Madeleine Mayor Joel Arseneau said the families of the victims are owed an explanation.
"The men were under the coast guard’s responsibility," Arseneau said.
Federal investigators in Sydney interviewed crew members who were aboard the coast guard tow vessel, Sir William Alexander.
Investigators are "gathering data from all the electronic systems, the electronic chart system, the data recorder they have," said John Cottreau of the Transportation Safety Board.
Witnesses say the coast guard ship was going too fast and failed to realize the 12-metre trawler had swerved into a large cake of ice and flipped. The Canadian Coast Guard has not responded to the allegations as initial investigations by the RCMP and TSB continue.
""I think there was human error,"" said Claude Deraspe, a boat captain who heard L’Acadien II’s distress calls. He is not directly related to the man by the same name who was rescued.
"Normally there is supposed to be someone watching from back of the boat. They are very big ships that can easily overcome a trawler and there needs to be constant surveillance."
Sailors consider the tow undertaken by the icebreaker as a routine operation, though some risk is involved.
"Once you take charge of a boat to tow it, it’s your job to ensure their security," said Jean-Claude Lapierre, a former head of the local seal hunting association.
He said it isn’t out of the ordinary for the captain and crew to remain on a vessel as it is towed. The decision is entirely up to the captain.
L’Acadien II radioed the coast guard for help after losing its rudder amid ice floes. The trawler plowed into ice, rose out of the water and capsized.
"There was a danger, a danger of loosing the boat to the ice, but it’s like that every year," said Deraspe, the captain of the Santa Christina, which returned from the hunting grounds late Saturday night.
"Working on the ice is not for the light-hearted. Everyone who goes, and everyone who has been, know that’s how it is."
Other ships among the 16 that left for the seal hunt last week were expected to return later Sunday. They called off the hunt partly out of solidarity for the dead and missing.
There is also widespread concern about the record amounts of ice near the seal hunting grounds, which can exert enough pressure on a boat’s hull to cause it to sink.
Seven crew members of another seal hunting boat lost their vessel to such factors. They managed to jump to a nearby ice floe and were later rescued by helicopter.
Seal hunters are holding out hope they will be able to salvage some of their season with conditions expected to improve this week.
"There’s a quota of 15,000 seals and we expect to meet it," said Lapierre.
A second hunt opened Sunday for New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia.
Phil Jenkins of the federal Fisheries Department said about eight vessels were out and having to contend with unusually thick ice.
Only about 1,000 seals had been taken by Sunday morning, he said.
"Ice is still a very large issue out there right now," Jenkins said from P.E.I.
As for the ill-fated L’Acadien II, it was unclear Sunday how it would fit into the transportation board’s investigation. The immediate focus was what happened aboard the coast guard icebreaker.
"It boils down essentially into three elements: man, machine and the environment," Cottreau said in an interview from Ottawa.
"We’re going to be looking at all the human interactions at play during the accident, we’re going to be looking at all the mechanical interactions, and we’re going to be looking at the environment, both weather-wise and on board the vessels at the time."
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Fishing boats sit in Cap-aux-Meules harbour in Iles-de-la-Madeleine, Que., on Sunday. Three seal hunters were killed and a fourth is missing after their boat capsized early Saturday while being towed back to port by a Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker. (Ryan Remiorz / CP)
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Ships under tow often go down, but here’s a secret that many land-lubbers don’t know: many times when the ship under tow goes down, she takes the tow vessel with her.
That is one of several reasons that the tow vessel ought to keep the wire continuously monitored. Another reason is that the tow vessel has assumed responsibility for the safety of the vessel under tow.
“There is also widespread concern about the record amounts of ice........”
Note for reference.
We have the highest regard for the men who serve Coast Guard esp. search and rescue.
Very many fishing vessels and fishermen have been saved do to the training and skill of all coordinated working together out at sea.
I don't know any rescue here that after so much time they go back out and look for a body.
It is called lost at sea if the person does not wash up on shore.
I sympathize with the pain and suffering but it IMO would be rare for a rescue to be labeled negligent.
Coast Guard does training exercises all the time and keep a huge priority on safety.
Yes. Many folks think this is an easy operation, but when one thinks about it (or actually sees it) the complications become obvious.
The wire has to be long enough so that towor and towee don't bump or become entangled. While maintaining separation both vessels are individually riding up the swells and down the trough. The pressure on the wire is immense; up taut, down slack, up taut, down slack and snapping taut every time, yanking the towed ship forward then relaxing.
Not bad in a calm sea, but add in a North Atlantic winter and...
Global2010, I've known a great number of shallow water sailors and everyone of them has been outstanding for their seamanship.
Well, sometimes everything just goes to Hell, ain’t nobodies fault.
Score these guys on Algore's sheet, OK?!
Hopefully if that is the case the BOI will come to that conclusion. But we can evel learn from accidents that are "nobody's fault". Safe seamanship, safety and rescue procedures and safe marine construction develop over the years from lessons learned, most often lesons learned the hard way.
Stereotyping.
Canadians know about ice.
I will really be interested to see the eventual BOI report.
The seal hunt this year was delayed due to thicker than normal ice and may have to be aborted because of it.
CCGS Sir William Alexander is an ice breaker.
Algore is a snake oil salesman. A very successful one, but a scam artist nonetheless.
Prayers for the men and their families.
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