The coast guard icebreaker
Sir William Alexander sits off the coast
of Cape Breton, N.S., on Saturday.
(Andrew Vaughan/Canadian Press)
Posted on 04/01/2008 8:41:04 PM PDT by Clive
The crew of a coast guard icebreaker involved in a botched weekend tow operation off Cape Breton is giving a different account of what happened before at least three seal hunters died than a survivor and a witness, the Transport Safety Board said Tuesday.
The disabled 12-metre trawler L'Acadien II was being towed by the Sir William Alexander early Saturday in the Gulf of St. Lawrence when the small boat hit an ice block and capsized, killing the three sealers and leaving a fourth presumed dead in icy waters.
Two crew members on the icebreaker were monitoring the operation when the small trawler capsized, said Pierre Murray, a senior safety board marine investigator.
"Our investigation has determined that there were two men at the stern of the ship," Murray said in French.
That conclusion contradicts the accounts of one of the two survivors and a witness on another boat, who both said they saw no one at the stern of the ship.
The three bodies that were pulled out of the capsized boat could arrive in the sealers' home community of Îles de la Madeleine as early as Tuesday night if the weather clears enough to let flights land.
'Nobody looking,' witness says
In addition to sorrow, members of the community are expressing their anger over what they view as a series of questions the coast guard hasn't answered about the events that led to the tragedy.
Wayne Dickson, captain of the Madelinot War Lord, which was trailing L'Acadien II when it tipped over, told CBC News the events leading up to the deaths of his friends have left their mark on him.
"Every time I close my eyes, I see the boat going over, and it just tears the heart out of me that we were there, so close and within reach, and couldn't do anything," Dickson said.
"We felt hopeless. It was a hopeless situation to be in with no help from the coast guard at all."
He said coast guard personnel initially watched the towing process, but after a while were nowhere to be seen.
"At the time when she was going over these ice cakes, there was nobody looking," he said.
Bruno-Pierre Bourque, one of the two survivors, has cancelled a few events where he planned to recount details of the accident. But Bourque told CBC's French-language sister station RDI on the weekend that he also saw no one on the icebreaker monitoring the tow.
The federal safety agency, RCMP and coast guard are all conducting investigations. An RCMP spokesman said that while a criminal negligence investigation could be sparked by new information, it appears the incident was simply an "unfortunate accident" and criminal charges are not expected.
Searchlight allegedly turned off
Dickson's crew started the rescue operation and plucked two of the submerged vessel's crewmen out of the freezing water. He alleges someone on the icebreaker made a decision that drastically hindered search efforts.
"We were circling around, trying to find more guys and the god-damned coast guard turned the fucking light off, excuse my language," Dickson said. "They turned the spotlight off and we couldn't see."
Gilles Leblanc, Marc-André Déraspe and Acadien II captain Bruno Bourque were killed when their boat overturned. Carl Aucoin is missing and presumed dead.
The funerals for the men will take place on Saturday.
With files from the Canadian Press
The coast guard icebreaker
Sir William Alexander sits off the coast
of Cape Breton, N.S., on Saturday.
(Andrew Vaughan/Canadian Press)
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ping to self.
I have no experience in such matters, but I could imagine this happening so fast as to make it impossible to avoid a capsize. I can also see momentarily turning off a searchlight if it made it easier to see if there were any personal flotation lights in the darkness.
Thanks for the ping, Clive.
I’ve conducted tows on a cutter and on an icebreaker. On the icebreaker I was a deckie and the towing winch operator. On the cutter I was a QM and my bridge watch was responsible for keeping tabs on such things. .
I’m still not sure what to think about this.
The people who say there was no towing watch... Weren’t aboard the tow boat. That doesn’t mean there was no watch set.
Tows can go very sideways very quickly. In the time it takes for the watch to see badness... Communicate the badness... Have the OOD give an order to mitigate the badness... Have the helmsman execute the command for steering or engine change... And then have the ship finally respond to the command... and then the ship finally turn or slow... Can be an eternity. And all too late.
A Cutter I was on had a 140ft vessel adrift with no rudder. We got him in tow but had to turn him around in about 20-30ft seas. Damn near rolled him over as we made the turn. He caught a nasty wave at just the wrong time in the turn. Its not a precise science. Sometimes it is just about saying your prayers and turning the wheel.
There would’ve been nothing we could do fast enough to make a difference. As it happened he went way over but came back up. A little shaken but unmolested.
Add an ice field to the mix and things might get even more unpredictable. The tow line is supposed to always stay in the water. Or it will break. In the water, with ice, means that it can run under the ice in a turn. That’s bad.
This thing could have developed in mere seconds. No doubt what seemed like an eternity to guys on the swamping boat could well have been just seconds.
Prayers for all those who go to sea on boats. An investigation will surely turn up more tidbits of information.
Thank you for your detailed information. It certainly helps to know how unpredictable these kinds of scenarios are and how they can become fatal quickly. All we can do is pray for those poor souls.
I’m up in Vancouver B.C. right now. This is front-page news two days running in the Globe and Mail. A witness says that the ship was dragged over two other floes and listed at over 30 degrees each time before the final fatal incident, and that he was screaming at the tow ship over the radio about that and that they should slow down and got no response.
"... and that he was screaming at the tow ship over the radio about that and that they should slow down and got no response."
That is another thing that I would like to hear about in the evidence to this probe.
The trawlers and the icebreaker all ought to have been listening on a common frequency.
I don't recall ever seeing anyone at the stern of tug while underway, as a seperated tow cable could easily backlash and kill anyone standing there.
Right. The watch wouldn’t necessarily (or even likely) have been right on the fantail where they are visible.
Just to be clear: I’m not saying that this CCG ship didn’t royally screw up. They may have. I have no idea. I expect the investigation will show what happened and what should have happened. My point here is merely that things can go very wrong even when everybody is doing their job right. It’s a dangerous business. Sometimes a happy ending just isn’t in the story.
The gross negligence described is just unthinkable to me. But it is still possible. We’ll see.
God help me. I do so miss the high seas.
You and me both, shipmate. :-)
I envy and pity you both.
And rightfully so. :-)
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