B5
THE ASTORIAN • SATuRdAy, JANuARy 4, 2020
Calls reveal rough conditions before Alaska crab boat sinking
By BECKY BOHRER
and MARTHA
BELLISLE
Associated Press
JUNEAU, Alaska — A
survivor of a fatal Alaska
crab boat tragedy said the
crew went from “sleep-
ing to swimming in about
10 minutes” as rough seas
and icing threatened to sink
their boat.
“On the 31st we just
started listing really hard
on the starboard side,”
Dean Gribble Jr. said in
a YouTube video he said
he posted to answer some
questions about what hap-
pened. “From sleeping to
swimming was about 10
minutes. It happened really
fast. Everybody was try-
ing to get out. Everybody
was doing everything they
could and it was just really
a (expletive) situation.”
Gribble said they faced
20 foot seas, 40-mph winds
and icy conditions.
“I’ve fished for 20 years,
I know that you do not make
it,” he said. “Everybody can
die in those situations and I
knew that’s what we were
going into. We were in the
raft for about five hours.”
Gribble and John Law-
ler were the only survi-
vors, according to the Coast
Guard. Gribble, who’s
appeared on the Discov-
ery Channel documentary
series “Deadliest Catch,”
and Lawler suffered hypo-
thermia but were released
from a hospital.
“I just wish the other
guys would have made it,”
Gribble said in the video,
shaking his head and look-
ing down. “I kind of feel
bad now that I’m here and
they’re not. Send some love
to their families.”
Calls to loved ones in the
lead-up to the sinking also
revealed the rough condi-
tions the seven-man crew
faced, including icing that
did not seem to rattle the
boat’s captain.
Gary Cobban Jr., the cap-
tain, was among five fish-
ermen missing and feared
dead after the Scandies
Rose sank late Tuesday. The
Coast Guard did not release
details Thursday on a possi-
ble cause.
Cobban’s ex-girlfriend,
Jeri Lynn Smith, told the
Anchorage Daily News he
called her in North Caro-
lina about two hours before
the boat sank to wish her
a happy new year. She
said the conditions hadn’t
seemed to worry him.
Mike Fancher/Seattle Times
The search for five crew members of the Scandies Rose in Alaska has been suspended, the U.S. Coast Guard said after two other crew members of the vessel were
rescued after the 130-foot crab fishing boat from Dutch Harbor, Alaska, sank on New Year’s Eve.
“When I talked to him, he
told me the boat was icing
and it had a list to it, but he
didn’t sound alarmed. He
didn’t sound scared,” Smith
said. “The boat ices. The
boat ices every winter. It’s
just something they deal
with. I didn’t worry about
it.”
Smith said she wouldn’t
have hung up if she thought
he was in a crisis.
Others listed as missing
were David Lee Cobban,
Arthur Ganacias, Brock
Rainey and Seth Rous-
seau-Gano, according to
the Coast Guard. It said it
used helicopters, planes and
a boat as part of a search
effort that covered 1,400
square miles and ended
Wednesday evening.
Ashley Boggs of Peru,
Indiana, said Rainey, of
Kellogg, Idaho, called her
shortly before the ship sank
and said conditions were
bad. The two had planned
to marry after Rainey
returned.
“I’m just praying and
hoping they find him on
land or something,” Boggs
told the Associated Press on
Thursday.
The boat was carrying
a load of crabbing pots for
the start of the winter sea-
son, Dan Mattsen, a part-
ner in the vessel managed
by Seattle-Based Mattsen
Management, told the Seat-
tle Times.
Crabbing boats endure
perilous conditions in
Alaska waters that have
been
immortalized
in
“Deadliest Catch.” Work-
ers face dangers like huge
waves, harsh weather and
massive crab pots that could
crush them.
Commercial fishing is
one of the country’s most
dangerous
occupations,
according to the National
Institute for Occupational
Safety and Health. It said
there were 179 deaths in
Alaska fisheries between
2000 and 2014, the most
recent numbers available.
From 2010 to 2014, there
were 66 vessel disasters
in Alaska waters, includ-
ing sinkings and fires, that
killed 15 people, the agency
said. The leading causes of
fatal disasters were insta-
bility and being hit by large
waves. Many of the fatal
incidents involved small
boats known as skiffs.
Different fisheries have
different risks, said Saman-
tha Case, an epidemiologist
in the agency’s Commercial
Fishing Research Program.
Case said steps have
been taken aimed at making
the Bering Sea and Aleutian
Islands crab fishery safer,
including Coast Guard sta-
bility checks for vessels;
changes in fisheries man-
agement that reduced some
operational risk, such as a
“race to fish” competitive-
ness; and increased marine
safety training.
In a high-profile incident
in 2017, six people died in
the capsizing and sinking of
the vessel Destination in the
Bering Sea, which Coast
Guard Rear Admiral J.P.
Nadeau called a “tragic and
preventable accident.” An
investigative report found
stability, weight issues and
excess ice accumulation
from freezing spray as con-
tributing factors.
A study Case was a part
of looked at survival fac-
tors for crew on vessels in
Alaska that sank and found
use of life rafts and immer-
sion suits increased chances
for survival when a boat had
to be abandoned. Immer-
sion suits, which provide
a bit of flotation and can
help keep someone await-
ing rescue warm, are criti-
cal for people who will be
in water for longer periods,
Case said.
The 130-foot Scandies
Rose was traveling in an
area with warnings about
strong winds and heavy
freezing spray, said Louise
Fode, a warning coordina-
tion meteorologist with the
National Weather Service.
Its last known position
was 170 miles southwest of
Kodiak Island, and it sank
about 10 p.m. Tuesday, the
Coast Guard said. The ves-
sel had sent out a mayday
call.
Rescue crews battled
winds of more than 40 mph,
15- to 20-foot seas and vis-
ibility that was limited to
a mile, Petty Officer 2nd
Class Melissa McKenzie
said.
She said the air tempera-
ture was about 10 degrees.
The estimated water tem-
perature was 43 degrees,
the weather service said.
Bill Rose of Seattle,
who used to work on fish-
ing boats in Alaska, said the
conditions can be brutal —
even “terrifying for some-
one who had never done it.
But if it’s all you can do to
make a living and you’re
out there and you’re used
to it, you really don’t think
much of it.”
He said on the right boat,
a fisherman could make
$150,000 a year. “I mean,
why wouldn’t you do it?”
he said.
Associated Press writer
Mark Thiessen in Anchor-
age, Alaska, photogra-
pher Ted Warren in Seattle
and researcher Randy Her-
schaft in New york contrib-
uted to this report.
2019-2020 | 30TH SEASON
COLUMBIAFORUM
Tuesday, January 21, 2020
Karl Marlantes, author of the novel “Deep River”
Making sacrifices for kids
Dear Annie: My husband and I are in lives? — To Give or Not to Give
our mid-60s and have been married for 45
Dear TGONTG: Please, step away
years. We had our children early in our mar- from the checkbook. Your adult children
riage and made many sacrifices to make don’t need another cent. What they do need,
sure our daughter and son had all the ben- sorely, is some sense. To continue giving
efits of a well-rounded childhood. Because them cash is to rob them of valuable experi-
ence and life lessons.
this took up most of our discretion-
ary income, rarely did my husband
You’ve already given your grand-
DEAR
children immense advantages, as
and I eat out, and we took very inex-
ANNIE
pensive vacations, if we went any-
well. If and when the time comes
where. During our early marriage,
that they want to buy houses, they
we pursued higher education and
can work hard (using those great
worked our way into well-paying
college educations for which you
jobs.
paid) and set aside the money for a
About 25 years ago, we received
down payment, just like millions of
the first of what’s ended up being
other Americans.
numerous inheritances. We have ANNIE LANE
Enjoy your retirement. Take as
Creators
continued to be generous to our chil-
many trips you want, and don’t take
Syndicate Inc.
dren, who are now in their late 30s.
any guilt-tripping from your kids. If
We paid for their college and gave
you get the itch to be generous with
them a substantial amount of money for your wallet, donate to folks who need it.
down payments on their first homes. We Charity Navigator (https://www.charitynav-
have four grandchildren and have invested igator.org/) is a great resource.
Dear Annie: Frequently, I read letters in
enough money in our state’s college savings
plan that they will have very little, if any, your column from older people complaining
that their children, grandchildren and others
college debt.
When my father died eight years ago, we do not acknowledge gifts or send thank-you
gave each of our children a Christmas pres- notes. I have another take on this. If some-
ent that was enough to pay off their mort- one doesn’t thank another for a favor done
gages. That may have been a mistake. I feel or a gift given, maybe it is because he or she
that every Christmas since has been a dis- doesn’t feel the emotion of gratitude. How
appointment. We’re very practical, so we sad. It is a wonderful feeling to know that
give checks. The checks seem insignificant you are important enough to another person
in comparison to the “big one,” and I’m sure for them to give you a gift or a special ser-
our gifts are a huge disappointment. The vice. If they don’t feel this, they are the ones
biggest problem of all is that my husband who are the poorer for it. I have come to
and I feel guilty spending money on trav- realize that the inability to feel gratitude is
eling, a hobby we love. I suspect that my terribly impoverishing. Maybe gratitude is
daughter, in particular, feels that I’m wast- the modern secular equivalent of the Chris-
tian idea of grace. The gift-giver loves me
ing her money.
How much do parents owe adult chil- despite my faults, just as Christians believe
dren? What about our grandchildren? Their that God loves and forgives them despite
parents aren’t saving money, and I don’t their faults. — Secular Grace
see much chance that they’re going to get
Dear Secular Grace: In response to your
the kind of benefits that our children have lovely letter, a quote: “I would maintain that
received. Should we cut back on our spend- thanks are the highest form of thought, and
ing so we can give them down payments for that gratitude is happiness doubled by won-
homes when they get to that stage in their der.” — G.K. Chesterton
NOTE CHANGE IN LOCATION
Karl Marlantes is the best-selling author of “Matterhorn”, “What It Is Like to Go to War” and his
latest novel, “Deep River.” He grew up in Seaside, commercial fishing with his grandfather and
attended Seaside schools. Marlantes graduated from Yale University and was a Rhodes Scholar at
Oxford University before serving as a Marine in Vietnam.
Deep River is a family epic of three Finnish brothers who in the early 1900s are forced to
flee Finland to the United States, settling among other Finns in a logging community
in southern Washington. The novel explores the place of immigrants in
pioneering the industries and labor unions that came to define the
Lower Columbia region.
Tuesday,
January 21, 2019
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