Coast Guard seeks clues in sinking

Coast Guard seeks clues in sinking

Family members know there's no hope of finding Arctic Rose survivors now

Thursday, April 5, 2001

By SCOTT SUNDE
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

A Coast Guard cutter and icebreaker searched the rolling waters of the Bering Sea yesterday with hope all but gone of finding any survivors from the Arctic Rose, but intent on locating clues that might unlock the mystery of why the fishing boat went down.

The Seattle-owned vessel disappeared before dawn Monday without a mayday or any distress call. Only an emergency transmitter, which sends out a signal automatically when a boat sinks, alerted the Coast Guard that the vessel and its crew of 15 were lost.

NOTE: This article has been updated since it was originally published in the newspaper.

The Coast Guard estimates that a crew member in a survival suit could last 36 hours in the cold waters north of the Pribilof Islands. That limit was passed days ago, and the search was called off late Wednesday.

"We're beyond that envelope now," said Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Ray Massey. "We're hoping to find anything that might give us an indication of what happened."

Family members know the realities, too. "They had a window of time when there could be survivors, and now that time has passed," said Heidi Spiedel, sister of Arctic Rose crewman Edward Haynes, 40.

The Coast Guard will establish a marine board of inquiry. Three Coast Guard officers will make up the board.

The Coast Guard establishes boards of inquiry when it believes something useful can be gained from investigating an accident. "If they can learn something, then maybe this won't happen again," Massey said.

The weather improved yesterday, allowing the cutter Boutwell and the icebreaker Polar Star to search and spot an oil sheen where the vessel may have gone down. Crew members from the Boutwell were able to chip away ice to launch a helicopter.

A bag that carried a survival suit was found.

Only the body of skipper David Rundall has been recovered.

Without survivors and with little wreckage, the investigators will have to backtrack, talking to fishermen who worked on the boat or saw it or talked to its crew members before the Arctic Rose disappeared, Massey said.

"This is a true mystery at this point," he said.

Spiedel said she and her family got good reports from Haynes, who quickly became known as the "candyman" for the bags of treats he brought with him.

Haynes grew up on a ranch near Spokane but loved the sea. He served in the Navy and then on a crab boat 10 years ago.

He found work on the Arctic Rose this year by simply working the docks and fishermen in Seattle. "He never met a stranger. He could talk to anyone," Spiedel said.

P-I reporter Scott Sunde can be reached at 206-448-8331 or scottsunde@seattle-pi.com

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