Coast Guard rescues crew
Published: October 1, 2005
U.S. Coast Guard crews saved two Canadians after a 50-foot commercial fishing boat sank Thursday, said Mark Dobney, civilian search and rescue controller at U.S. Coast Guard Group Astoria.
David Cook of British Columbia, the operator of tuna fishing vessel Scotian, sent out a distress call aobut 7:30 a.m. His boat was taking on water about 65 miles west of Long Beach, Wash., and he had one other person on board.
Air Station Astoria launched an HH-60 Jayhawk helicopter and Coast Guard Station Grays Harbor sent a 47-foot motor lifeboat to assist. Crews arrived to find about four feet of standing water in the boat’s engine room. They lowered two dewatering pumps from the helicopter so the Scotian could be drained and towed to shore.
But several helicopter trips later, after three more dewatering pumps were lowered and after the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Fir was diverted to the scene, the Scotian’s crew decided to abandon ship.
“Five pumps couldn’t save the boat,” Dobney said. “They think it was a couple of popped planks. It definitely had a good leak.”
Cook and crew member Lorne Turner, also of British Columbia, were taken by motor lifeboat to Grays Harbor, arriving in Westport around 7:30 p.m.
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