SEATTLE — A door tied open on the stern deck is the most likely cause of the sinking of the Arctic Rose with all hands, the most deadly U.S. fishing boat accident in half a century, a naval architect and investigator has written.
A wave as low as 10 feet would have sent water pouring into the interior of the 92-foot Arctic Rose, which sank with the loss of all 15 people aboard, wrote Lt. George Borlase, a stability expert at the Coast Guard Marine Safety Center in Washington, D.C.
Investigators believe the catcher-processor, based in Seattle and owned by Arctic Sole Seafoods Inc. of Lynnwood, capsized about 3:30 a.m. on April 2, 2001, in less than two minutes after the flooding began, then sank four to eight minutes later.
The ship had been trawling for sole about 200 miles west of St. Paul Island in the Bering Sea.
No mayday was heard and only one body, that of the skipper, David E. Rundall, 34, was recovered. Four of those who were lost were from Coatepec, Mexico.
It was the worst loss of life from a fishing vessel in Alaskan waters since 32 crew members died when a Japanese trawler capsized in 1982.
Out of 19 scenarios that were considered, based on testimony and evidence presented in more than two weeks of Coast Guard hearings, the open door is the "most likely," Borlase wrote in Marine Technology, the journal of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, adding that the opinions were his own and not necessarily those of other investigators in the Arctic Rose case.
Owner Dave Olney, who continues to fish in the Bering Sea aboard another company vessel, the Alaskan Rose, said Monday he had not read the article and would not comment on Borlase’s findings.
"We really don’t know what happened," said Olney, who lost his brother in the accident. "I’m not going to say that’s what it was or anything else."
Former Arctic rose crew members testified in the hearings that the door was routinely tied open, and video images of the wreckage taken by a remote-controlled submarine indicated the door was open.
"That would explain a lot," said Kari Rundall, the skipper’s widow. "It had to have been something that happened really fast and was totally unexpected."
A Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation is expected to release its findings by the end of the year.
Copyright ©2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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