David "Cowboy" Hasselquist, 10-18-06
Walter Foster
Steven Esparza

2 die as fishing boat sinks

By MEGAN HOLLAND

David "Cowboy" Hasselquist, 10-18-06
Walter Foster
Steven Esparza

2 die as fishing boat sinks

By MEGAN HOLLAND

Hasselquist Anchorage Daily News, Published: October 19, 2006

In the frenzied moments before their death, the fishermen launched a life raft from their capsizing boat.

But none of them were able to get in it, overtaken by waves two stories high.

Two died, one was injured and a fourth was missing after the 58-foot commercial fishing boat sank Wednesday in the stormy Pacific Ocean, 90 miles south of Sand Point, the Coast Guard said.

The boat, a longliner named the Ocean Challenger and home-ported out of Adak, had been fishing for black cod near the Sanak Islands and was traveling back to the Aleutian fishing town of Sand Point when it disappeared into the water, said vessel owner, Barry McKee, in an interview from Washington.

SSand Point, population 940, is off the Alaska Peninsula, 570 miles southwest of Anchorage.

The survivor, 28-year-old Kevin Ferrell, was the only person wearing a survival suit, the Coast Guard said. The two other men, skipper David "Cowboy" Hasselquist and Walter Foster, were dead when pulled from the water by a rescue swimmer.

The missing man, a 26-year-old Kodiak fisherman, was reportedly not wearing a survival suit, the Coast Guard said.

Just before 10 a.m, a 600-foot car carrier, the Overseas Joyce, on a trans-Pacific voyage, heard a nearby boat send out a mayday, the Coast Guard said. The freighter was close enough to the fishing boat that crew onboard saw it overturn and its occupants throw a life raft out, the Coast Guard said.

Officials Wednesday said they didn't know what caused the boat to capsize and send the four men into the frigid, turbulent Pacific. But residents in Sand Point said the weather has been severe with unpredictable hurricanelike winds.

"The weather has been day to day a moving target," said Trident Seafood cannery manager Armand Audette, who knew the missing and dead fishermen. "On Tuesday, it changed very radically. Right now our harbor is chock-full with boats because of the weather."

The Coast Guard sent a helicopter, a C-130 airplane and the Coast Guard cutter Munro to the location of the capsized vessel. The first helicopter, a Jayhawk, arrived about an hour after the distress call.

The Coast Guard reported 50-knot winds, 30-foot seas and a temperature of about 45 degrees. The National Weather Service said the water temperature was about the same.

The Jayhawk lowered a basket into the sloshing waters and hoisted Ferrell, of Lynchburg, Va.

A rescue swimmer recovered the bodies of 51-year-old Hasselquist, of Hoonah, and 26-year-old Foster, of Westport, Wash.

Ferrell was taken to the Cold Bay Clinic, about 50 miles away, then to an Anchorage hospital.

In a telephone interview, Coast Guard C-130 pilot Lt. Jerred Williams said he arrived on scene in the afternoon with the second crew to look for the missing man.

"The waves were so high you actually got white caps at the top of the wave," he said. "And, then, with the wind streaking across the blue water, and the white turbulence everywhere, it made it very challenging to find a person in the water."

The car carrier and a second freighter, the R.J. Phifer, a 500-foot container ship, trawled the water for the missing crewman, along with the Coast Guard rescuers. The Coast Guard said the search would continue today.

News of the sinking trickled into Sand Point on Wednesday.

"It's come as kind of a shock to us," said cannery manager Audette. "We are all affected by this kind of thing. We are pretty tight-knit group here."

The Ocean Challenger has spent the past several months fishing for halibut and black cod from Sand Point often for his cannery, Audette said.

Daily News reporter Megan Holland can be reached at mrholland@adn.com.



Search ends for fisherman

Daily News staff and wire reports

Published: October 20, 2006

Last Modified: October 20, 2006 at 03:10 AM

The Coast Guard suspended its search at sunset Thursday for a 26-year-old Kodiak man missing since the fishing boat he worked on capsized in the stormy Pacific Ocean 90 miles south of Sand Point on Wednesday.

Of the four men aboard the 58-foot commercial fishing vessel Ocean Challenger, two died, one was rescued, and Steven Esparza remains missing, the Coast Guard said.

Coast Guard rescuers, including a Jayhawk helicopter, a C-130 airplane and the cutter Munro, searched 1,730 square miles over 46 hours without any sign of Esparza, a Coast Guard spokesman said Thursday.

The search was suspended pending further developments.

The Ocean Challenger, a longliner home-ported at Adak, had been fishing for black cod near the Sanak Islands and was traveling back to Sand Point when it sank, said vessel owner Barry McKee in an interview from Washington.

Sand Point, population 940, is off the Alaska Peninsula, 570 miles southwest of Anchorage.

The survivor, 28-year-old Kevin Ferrell of Lynchburg, Va., was the only person wearing a survival suit, the Coast Guard said.

The two other men, skipper David "Cowboy" Hasselquist, 51, of Hoonah and Walter Foster, 26, of Westport, Wash., were dead when pulled from the water by a rescue swimmer, the Coast Guard said.

Esparza, 26, was reportedly not wearing a survival suit.

Ferrell was taken to the Cold Bay Clinic, about 50 miles away, then to an Anchorage hospital, from which he was released Thursday.

The Ocean Challenger had spent the past several months fishing for halibut and black cod from Sand Point, McKee said.

Anchorage Daily News, Published: October 19, 2006

In the frenzied moments before their death, the fishermen launched a life raft from their capsizing boat.

But none of them were able to get in it, overtaken by waves two stories high.

Two died, one was injured and a fourth was missing after the 58-foot commercial fishing boat sank Wednesday in the stormy Pacific Ocean, 90 miles south of SandHasselquist Point, the Coast Guard said.

The boat, a longliner named the Ocean Challenger and home-ported out of Adak, had been fishing for black cod near the Sanak Islands and was traveling back to the Aleutian fishing town of Sand Point when it disappeared into the water, said vessel owner, Barry McKee, in an interview from Washington.

Sand Point, population 940, is off the Alaska Peninsula, 570 miles southwest of Anchorage.

The survivor, 28-year-old Kevin Ferrell, was the only person wearing a survival suit, the Coast Guard said. The two other men, skipper David "Cowboy" Hasselquist and Walter Foster, were dead when pulled from the water by a rescue swimmer.

The missing man, a 26-year-old Kodiak fisherman, was reportedly not wearing a survival suit, the Coast Guard said.

Just before 10 a.m, a 600-foot car carrier, the Overseas Joyce, on a trans-Pacific voyage, heard a nearby boat send out a mayday, the Coast Guard said. The freighter was close enough to the fishing boat that crew onboard saw it overturn and its occupants throw a life raft out, the Coast Guard said.

Officials Wednesday said they didn't know what caused the boat to capsize and send the four men into the frigid, turbulent Pacific. But residents in Sand Point said the weather has been severe with unpredictable hurricanelike winds.

"The weather has been day to day a moving target," said Trident Seafood cannery manager Armand Audette, who knew the missing and dead fishermen. "On Tuesday, it changed very radically. Right now our harbor is chock-full with boats because of the weather."

The Coast Guard sent a helicopter, a C-130 airplane and the Coast Guard cutter Munro to the location of the capsized vessel. The first helicopter, a Jayhawk, arrived about an hour after the distress call.

The Coast Guard reported 50-knot winds, 30-foot seas and a temperature of about 45 degrees. The National Weather Service said the water temperature was about the same.

The Jayhawk lowered a basket into the sloshing waters and hoisted Ferrell, of Lynchburg, Va.

A rescue swimmer recovered the bodies of 51-year-old Hasselquist, of Hoonah, and 26-year-old Foster, of Westport, Wash.

Ferrell was taken to the Cold Bay Clinic, about 50 miles away, then to an Anchorage hospital.

In a telephone interview, Coast Guard C-130 pilot Lt. Jerred Williams said he arrived on scene in the afternoon with the second crew to look for the missing man.

"The waves were so high you actually got white caps at the top of the wave," he said. "And, then, with the wind streaking across the blue water, and the white turbulence everywhere, it made it very challenging to find a person in the water."

The car carrier and a second freighter, the R.J. Phifer, a 500-foot container ship, trawled the water for the missing crewman, along with the Coast Guard rescuers. The Coast Guard said the search would continue today.

News of the sinking trickled into Sand Point on Wednesday.

"It's come as kind of a shock to us," said cannery manager Audette. "We are all affected by this kind of thing. We are pretty tight-knit group here."

The Ocean Challenger has spent the past several months fishing for halibut and black cod from Sand Point often for his cannery, Audette said.

Daily News reporter Megan Holland can be reached at mrholland@adn.com.

Search ends for fisherman

Daily News staff and wire reports

Published: October 20, 2006

The Coast Guard suspended its search at sunset Thursday for a 26-year-old Kodiak man missing since the fishing boat he worked on capsized in the stormy Pacific Ocean 90 miles south of Sand Point on Wednesday.

Of the four men aboard the 58-foot commercial fishing vessel Ocean Challenger, two died, one was rescued, and Steven Esparza remains missing, the Coast Guard said.

Coast Guard rescuers, including a Jayhawk helicopter, a C-130 airplane and the cutter Munro, searched 1,730 square miles over 46 hours without any sign of Esparza, a Coast Guard spokesman said Thursday.

The search was suspended pending further developments.

The Ocean Challenger, a longliner home-ported at Adak, had been fishing for black cod near the Sanak Islands and was traveling back to Sand Point when it sank, said vessel owner Barry McKee in an interview from Washington.

Sand Point, population 940, is off the Alaska Peninsula, 570 miles southwest of Anchorage.

The survivor, 28-year-old Kevin Ferrell of Lynchburg, Va., was the only person wearing a survival suit, the Coast Guard said.

The two other men, skipper David "Cowboy" Hasselquist, 51, of Hoonah and Walter Foster, 26, of Westport, Wash., were dead when pulled from the water by a rescue swimmer, the Coast Guard said.

Esparza, 26, was reportedly not wearing a survival suit.

Ferrell was taken to the Cold Bay Clinic, about 50 miles away, then to an Anchorage hospital, from which he was released Thursday.

The Ocean Challenger had spent the past several months fishing for halibut and black cod from Sand Point, McKee said.