Hinkle and Eville were members of the 1st Special Forces Group, while Hulin was in the 25th Infantry Division, according to a Fort Lewis news release. The Army did not disclose their ages or hometowns.
One was recovered from a mud flat about three miles south of Bay Center, on the east side of the bay.
The other two were on the western side of the bay near Leadbetter Point, about 75 yards apart. The men appeared to have died of hypothermia — a lowering of body temperature.
In 55-degree water, the temperature of Willapa Bay yesterday, hypothermia takes between two and five hours, according to Coast Guard figures.
Their 20-foot boat had been spotted Saturday at 9 p.m. by a Bay Center woman who noticed it sitting upright on a mud flat at low tide, with no one aboard.
Inside the boat were a portable Global Positioning Unit, a cooler with uneaten lunches, binoculars, a first-aid kit and fishing gear.
One of the fishing rods was rigged with an orange flag, indicating the men may have tried to signal for help. There was less than a foot of water in the boat.
The woman reported the boat's registration number, printed on the hull, to the Coast Guard. The wife of boat owner David Eville was then telephoned. She said her husband and two friends had left Olympia, where the Evilles live, at 3:30 a.m. Saturday. The men apparently drove to Westport and launched the boat around 6 a.m., a time deduced from the fact that the Coast Guard closed the Grays Harbor bar at 7:30 a.m. to vessels under 26 feet due to rough conditions.
After the boat was discovered Saturday night, a Coast Guard Jayhawk helicopter was dispatched from Astoria.
Using night-vision goggles and a thermal-imaging system that detects heated objects, the five men aboard the helicopter searched Willapa Bay throughout the night, stopping only to refuel. A second Jayhawk from Astoria arrived after daylight and began searching the Pacific Ocean west of Willapa Bay.
"The mystery that everybody would like to know" the answer to, said Lt. Andy Eriks, a pilot aboard the second Coast Guard helicopter, which recovered two of the bodies, "is why would they leave the boat."
Circumstantial evidence gives only a hint of what might have happened. The signal flag. The cord on the secondary trolling motor that was pulled out as if someone had tried to start it, suggesting the possibility of engine problems. The fact all three men had a chance to don life preservers.
But why were they out of the boat? Eriks thinks it may have been because of rough sea conditions at the mouth of Willapa Bay, which is pocked with shifting sand bars that, depending on waves, currents and wind, can toss up formidable waves.
The Coast Guard reported that seas were running 8 feet at the time of the accident, with a northwest wind of 15 knots.
"It can really get churned up out there, like a washing machine effect," Eriks said. "It can be tough to navigate for anyone. If you haven't done it before or grown up on the bay, getting in and out safely can be very difficult. With any amount of swell and surface chop, the chances are very high of your vessel being tipped over or running aground or both."
The men may have jumped ship to try to swim to shore or to avoid being aboard when a capsize appeared imminent, Eriks speculated.
After almost two decades in the Coast Guard, Eriks has been stationed at Astoria, flying rescue helicopters, the past two years. "Sure, it looks inviting," he said of the ocean. "Everybody likes to fish or be in and around the water, but you just can't take a chance out there."
He said the boat didn't have a radio or flares, two of the essential safety items (life preservers are the third) that every vessel should carry.
Another caveat: Stay with a vessel, Eriks said, even if it capsizes, because it is much easier to spot from the air than a swimmer.
Well first, 15 knots is 17.26 MPH, knots are 'bigger' not 'smaller' (by 1.15 aprox.).
Second, 8 footers in a 20 foot boat is about the safty limit in most cases. Unless those waves were really long rollers it would be awful hard to fish when most of the time would be spent holding on.
Several years ago, two experienced fishermen were lost to Lake Michigan while trolling in calm water. Both of them were at the stern watching the fishing gear when the boat struck a floating timber, similar to a telephone pole. The contact angle caused the bow to climb the timber. The sudden change in angle pitched the two men over the side. The boat then settled out and continued to troll away from them. It was found beached on the shore, out of gas . . .
Hypothermia contributed to 3 deaths, but why they were in water remains unknown
Tuesday, June 4, 2002
By MIKE BARBER
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
Three Fort Lewis soldiers died on a fishing trip near Willapa Bay on the weekend by drowning, with hypothermia as a contributing factor, the Pacific County Coroner's Office said yesterday.
No autopsies, however, were performed on the bodies of Sgt. 1st Class Robert J. Hulin, 35, originally from Oklahoma; 1st Sgt. Howard E. Hinkle, 37, from West Virginia; and Sgt. 1st Class David W. Eville, 46, from California, said Vicki Flemetis, chief deputy coroner.
"Drowning is something we see a lot in our area," Flemetis said yesterday, and it was obvious the men had died of "asphyxia from salt water."
The Coast Guard, State Patrol and Pacific County authorities are conducting a recreational boating accident investigation to determine why the trio's fishing trip turned deadly, and expects to have some indication within a few days, said Coast Guard Petty Officer Robert Lanier.
Although the seas were not particularly severe at the time of the accident -- about 8 feet with a 15-knot northwest wind -- shifting sandbars and surface chop can increase instability, Coast Guard officials said.
Eville is survived by a wife and three children. Hulin and Hinkle each are survived by a wife and two children.
Members of the soldiers' families have declined to share their memories of the three. At Fort Lewis, base spokesman Joe Hitt said memorial services are being planned for later this week but no date or time had been set yesterday.
The base also experienced the death of a fourth soldier on the weekend when Specialist Sean P. Lindsey, 21, was killed, and a second soldier, Specialist James R. Downer, 29, injured in a fall early Sunday morning from a cliff after a party at a home near Oxbow Park east of Portland, Ore. Authorities said alcohol might have been a factor.
Downer was in serious condition with back injuries and a broken pelvis at Legacy Emanuel Hospital in Portland. The two apparently had been fooling around when Lindsey began falling and Downer tried to help him, authorities said.
In the boating accident, Eville's wife told authorities the three soldiers had set out on a fishing trip Saturday morning. Eville's 20-foot boat was launched from a ramp in Westport. The first indication of trouble was reported at about 9 p.m., when the boat washed up at Bay Center on a small peninsula in Willapa Bay.
The boat was right side up, its interior had some water but was generally dry and its cooler still contained lunches and drinks. But an orange signal flag was tied to one of the fishing poles and the cord on the boat's small trolling motor was pulled out, as if someone had tried to start it, a possible indication of engine problems, officials said.
The first body was spotted three miles south of Bay Center at about 9 a.m. Sunday on a tide flat. The other two were found 45 minutes later in the water off Leadbetter Point at the entrance to Willapa Bay.
All three men wore flotation devices. And the Global Positioning System and depth finder were still operable. The boat, however, lacked a VHF radio or flares, authorities said.
Eville, a 19-year veteran, and Hinkle, an 18-year-veteran, were Green Berets, members of the 1st Special Forces Group based at Fort Lewis. Hulin, an 18-year veteran, was an infantryman assigned to Company D, 52nd Infantry.
Eville arrived at Fort Lewis in January 1990. Hinkle arrived at Fort Lewis in 1998 and Hulin in August 2000.
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P-I reporter Mike Barber can be reached at 206-448-8018 or mikebarber@seattlepi.com