LAPUSH — The captain of a Neah Bay fishing vessel missing since his boat capsized Sunday has been identified by his family.
The Coast Guard search for Kenneth Martin was suspended at 9:30 p.m. Sunday after a 17-hour search.
Martin, skipper of the Sea Beast, was not seen after his crew got off the 52-foot commercial fishing vessel before it overturned in the Pacific Ocean about 14 miles west of LaPush early Sunday morning.
Martin was a member of the Makah tribe and brother of Bill Martin, who said Monday his family would make a statement about the loss of his brother at a later time.
The search for Martin covered more than 498 square miles around the area where the Sea Beast was last seen, said Petty Officer Jonathan Klingenberg, spokesman for the Coast Guard in Seattle.
The Coast Guard said Sunday that the window of survivability in the cold Pacific Ocean water — if Martin was wearing a survival suit — ended at about 10 p.m. Sunday.
“One of the hardest decisions the Coast Guard has to make is when to suspend a search for a missing person. Our heartfelt condolences go out to the friends, family and loved ones of the vessel captain,” Cmdr. Brian Meier of the Coast Guard Sector Puget Sound response division said in a prepared statement.
Three members of the crew were found in a life raft after a 3 a.m. mayday call from the stricken vessel, which overturned before Martin could join his crew in the lifeboat, according to the Coast Guard.
During the mayday call, Martin said the stern of the Sea Beast was sinking.
The ocean was relatively calm, with 5 to 10 mph winds and 4-foot seas, according to the Coast Guard.
The Coast Guard instructed Martin and his three crew members to don survival suits and evacuate to their life raft.
Crew members told the Coast Guard that Martin was still on the vessel when it overturned and sank.
Klingenberg said the Sea Beast is submerged in 400 feet of water.
Twelve individual searches were conducted by a Coast Guard Station Quillayute River 47-foot motor life boat crew, two MH-65 Dolphin helicopter air crews from Coast Guard Air Station Port Angeles, an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew from Coast Guard Air Station Astoria and the Coast Guard cutter Blue Shark crew, based in Everett but at sea when the mayday was heard.
The Sea Beast, built in 1974, was a red and white live-hold boat, which keeps fish and crab alive in an aerated tank in the hold.
The website www.boatinfoworld.com, which tracks vessel registrations, lists the owner of the Sea Beast as Glen Halttunen Jr.
The sinking occurred in the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary, and the state Department of Ecology was notified by the Coast Guard because the Sea Beast can reportedly carry up to 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel.
No pollution from the sunken vessel was reported Sunday, and the Sea Beast was not thought to be a hazard to navigation.
Anyone with information about the sinking of the Sea Beast is asked to call the Coast Guard Sector Puget Sound command center on VHF-FM radio Channel 16 or by phoning 206-217-6001.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arice@peninsuladailynews.com.
Earlier report:
LAPUSH — Three fishermen were rescued and one remained missing Sunday afternoon after a Neah Bay-registered commercial fishing vessel overturned before dawn in the ocean 14 miles off LaPush.
Coast Guard boat and air crews continued searching Sunday evening for the unidentified master of the 52-foot commercial fishing boat Sea Beast, which capsized after 3 a.m. Sunday, said Petty Officer Jonathan Klingenberg, spokesman for the Coast Guard in Seattle.
Klingenberg said the master, if wearing a survival suit, has a “window of survivability” until about 10 p.m. Sunday, prompting rescuers to continue the search past dusk.
The Sea Beast reportedly took on water and issued a mayday call, Klingenberg said.
The crew abandoned the boat and were later rescued, but the skipper apparently remained aboard when it capsized.
A 47-foot motor life boat crew from Coast Guard Station Quillayute River, a MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew Air Station/Sector Field Office Port Angeles and the crew of the Coast Guard cutter Blue Shark were assigned to the search operation.
Coast Guard officials have not released the name of the missing man.
The website www.boatinfoworld.com, which tracks vessel registrations, lists the owner of the 41-year-old Sea Beast as Glen Halttunen Jr.
Duty personnel at Coast Guard Sector Columbia River received a mayday distress call from the master of the Sea Beast at 3 a.m., Klingenberg said.
The distress call, released by the Coast Guard on Sunday afternoon, described a desperate situation for the red and white boat, which keeps caught fish alive in an aerated tank in the hold.
‘We’re taking water’
“We’re taking water over our stern. Our stern . . . is failing fast. Our stern is sinking. We’re sinking right now,” said the voice on the radio, identified by the Coast Guard as the master of the Sea Beast.
[Video and audio of the mayday call from the Coast Guard are below.]
Coast Guard duty personnel instructed the fishermen to don their survival suits and abandon ship into their life raft as rescue crews within range of the Sea Beast’s position were dispatched to the location.
“Three crewmen successfully abandoned ship and the vessel reportedly capsized with the master still aboard,” Klingenberg said.
The ocean was relatively calm, with 5 to 10 mph winds and 4-foot seas, he said.
Klingenberg said the Coast Guard’s motorized lifeboat crew found the three fishermen in the life raft and took them to the pier at LaPush, where Station Quillayute River is located.
The three crew members from the life raft were reported to be in good condition.
The sinking occurred in the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary, and the state Department of Ecology was notified by the Coast Guard because the Sea Beast can reportedly carry up to 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel.
No pollution from the sunken vessel was reported Sunday, and the Sea Beast was not thought to be a hazard to navigation.
Anyone with information about the sinking of the Sea Beast is asked to call the Coast Guard Sector Puget Sound command center on VHF-FM radio Channel 16 or by phoning 206-217-6001.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arice@peninsuladailynews.com.
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Here is video from the Coast Guard:
Here is the mayday distress call: https://www.dvidshub.net/audio/40742/coast-guard-rescues-3-fishermen-capsized-vessel-searching-master-near-quillayute-river-wash#.VUaVz2Yxkb0
