Peninsula Daily News news sources
TILLAMOOK, Ore. — The Coast Guard suspended it search Friday afternoon for two men missing — including one from the North Olympic Peninsula community of Gardiner — after a 42-foot crab boat capsized near the north jetty at Tillamook Bay earlier in the day.
The U.S. Coast Guard said the captain, Darrin Mobley, 43, of Bay City, swam to the rocks and was picked up by the Coast Guard and fire crews from Rockaway Beach and Garibaldi, both in Oregon.
The Coast Guard initially said he was the only one of the three with a life jacket but later said none of the three had one.
Fire crews took Mobley to Tillamook County General Hospital. He has been released, said Otto Gonzalez, nursing supervisor.
The missing crewmen have been identified as George Shaw, 55, who lived between Gardiner and Diamond Point between Discovery Bay and Sequim Bay, and Timothy Leake, 44, of Tillamook.
A Coast Guard helicopter and at least two boats searched a 15-square-mile area for seven hours.
The boat, the Network, which broke up on the jetty, was from Garibaldi.
Coast Guard casualty and pollution investigators were called because of a sheen spotted near the area where the crab boat capsized.
Coast Guard Petty Officer Shawn Eggert said about 400 gallons of diesel fuel were on board. The Coast Guard said reports show the diesel spill will do minimal environmental damage.
The boast capsized at about 7:40 a.m. Friday.
The bar at Tillamook Bay has claimed at least 15 lives since early 2007.
Crabbing season begins Monday but crabbers were allowed to set their crab pots Friday if they don’t retrieve them before Monday.
