marine board report - Off Soundings

Commandant
United States Coast Guard
2100 Second Street, S.W.
Washington, DC 20593-0001
Staff Symbol: G-MOA
Phone: (202) 267-1430
Fax: (202) 267-1416
19 December 2003
16732
SINKING OF THE UNINSPECTED FISHING VESSEL ARCTIC ROSE, OFFICIAL
NUMBER 931446, IN THE BERING SEA ON APRIL 2, 2001, WITH ONE PERSON
DECEASED AND FOURTEEN PERSONS MISSING AND PRESUMED DEAD
ACTION BY THE COMMANDANT
The record and the report of the Marine Board of Investigation convened to investigate the
subject casualty have been reviewed. The record and the report, including the findings of fact,
analysis, conclusions, and recommendations are approved subject to the following comments.
COMMENTS ON FINDINGS OF FACT
Finding of Fact 7.d, paragraph 1: At 0335, on April 2, 2001, the command center in D17 Juneau
received a 406 MHz EPIRB notification over telex. The message identified the EPIRB as
registered to the ARCTIC ROSE. The watch supervisor telephoned the company’s Seattle,
Washington representative provided by the EPIRB signal, Mr. David Olney, and requested he
contact the ARCTIC ROSE to determine if the alert was a false alarm. Mr. Olney called back to
inform the CC that he was unable to reach the vessel by phone or email. The CC issued an
Urgent Marine Information Broadcast (UMIB) alerting all vessels to be on the lookout for the
ARCTIC ROSE and/or survivors. Mr. Olney contacted the CC and passed that his company’s
other vessel, the ALASKAN ROSE was in the area fishing with the ARCTIC ROSE. COMSTA
Kodiak attempted to contact the ALASKAN ROSE without success. At approximately 0400,
AIRSTA Kodiak launched a C-130 to begin searching for the ARCTIC ROSE. The C-130 and
COMSTA attempted to hail the ARCTIC ROSE without success. At approximately 0730,
shortly before the C-130’s arrival on-scene, contact was made with the ALASKAN ROSE via
VHF radio. Mr. John Nelson, who was on watch, informed the C-130 crew that he did not hear
of a Mayday or call for assistance from the ARCTIC ROSE and immediately altered the vessel’s
course to intercept the EPIRB. The mate awoke Captain Anderson and briefed him on the
situation. Mr. Nelson tried numerous times to hail the ARCTIC ROSE on VHF radio without
success. The ALASKAN ROSE was eleven miles due south of the EPIRB position. It took
approximately one hour for the ALASKAN ROSE to arrive on-scene.
Comment: In addition to the UMIB issued by the Coast Guard Seventeenth District’s Command
Center (D17CC) and the attempts to contact the ALASKAN ROSE by Communications Station
(COMSTA) Kodiak and the C-130 aircraft, there were also seven individual INMARSAT C
messages sent from the D17CC in Juneau, AK, to the ALASKAN ROSE beginning at 0413.
Two were sent over a prototype system operated by COMSAT (now TELNOR), and five were
sent over a server, which is no longer in service. The prototype COMSAT system was incapable
of initiating a distress-priority message, and the server, while capable of initiating a distresspriority
message, did not do so for reasons unknown.