Pacesetter (fishing vessel)
 | This article may require copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone, or spelling. (January 2012) |
| File:FV Pacesetter Disappeared 1996.jpg FV Pacesetter disappeared 1996
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | Pacesetter |
| Owner | Dale Lindsay |
| Operator | Matt Pope |
| Launched | 1976 |
| Completed | 1976 |
| Acquired | 1976(as coastal glacier)1988(as Pacesetter |
| In service | 1976 |
| Out of service | 1996 |
| Homeport | Seattle, Washington |
| Fate | Disappeared in January 27 1996 |
| Status | Missing |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | crab boat |
| Length | 127 ft (39 m) |
| Capacity | 114 pots |
| Crew | 7 |
| Notes | worst accident in the 1996 Alaskan snow crab fishery |
As coastal glacier
the pacesetter was formally the crab boat Coastal Glacier the vessel was a kodiak based crabber. the Coastal glacier was fishing in the opillio crab(Chionoecetes) fishery when in 1988 Dale Lindsay and Matt pope brought the coastal glacier and renamed it the Pacesetter
as F/V Pacesetter
The 127ft(39 meters) pacesetter was owned by pacesetter mariner, inc The boat had a crew of seven,Captain Matthew Pope, Stephen Mack, Richard Anderson, Eric Ericson, Byron Koesterman, Elias Pena, Stanley Estesad.
the disappearance
The time was 00:45 USCG Kodiak, Alaska picked up an EPIRB Distress beacon Registered to the fishing vessel Pacesetter, All assets of the coast guard were sent out to find the missing crabber, at 6:40am a HH-60 Jayhawk helicopter sighted an epirb beacon at 7:12am nearby vessels spotted a Liferaft with no sign of any of the pacesetter's seven crew, at 7:47 a second liferaft was found partially Submerged and not inflated, at 8:06 a buoy float was found which had the Pacesetter's name on it
Worst fears Realized
after a two day search the US Coast guard called off the search with no luck, the pacesetter and her seven man crew are gone. similar accidents have happened, 19 September 1987 Stern trawler Nordfjord Disappeared without a trace after sending a brief Mayday 5 lost, January 29 1989 the 98ft(31 meter) crabber Vestfjord Sent a mayday about being under the accumulation of ice the boat was never seen or heard from again,11 February 1991 the 86ft Barbarossa Vanished with a crew of six,
investigation
A partner boat reported seeing the pacesetter roll from side to side,The coast guard findings on the Pacesetter was that the vessel was overloaded with crab pots. Matt had loaded the boat with pots in dutch harbor to the boats supposed maximum, he then left dutch and then picked up an estimated 22 more bait pots on his way to the grounds. There was a few witnesses who saw the boat on it's way to fish opies night the boat was rolling so hard you could see the rolling chalks on the bottom of the boat. The testimony of the crews from other boats and the records from the pot yard that brought them their pots, the coast guard ruled the vessel was overloaded and traveling in adverse weather conditions it then healed rolled and sank
The Northwest Mariner
A year earlier on January 15 another Seattle Based Crab boat named the NORTHWEST MARINER Was found Capsized the boat had six crew members, a liferaft was found next to the inverted boat with two unconscious crew members all attempts were useless the two were presumed dead by hypothermia four others were missing.
references
News articles: http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19960201&slug=2311820 http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Ioo1AAAAIBAJ&sjid=QiEGAAAAIBAJ&pg=5547,2995459&dq=crab+boat+pacesetter&hl=en http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=M_xfAAAAIBAJ&sjid=CFgMAAAAIBAJ&pg=5129,2693929&dq=crab+boat+pacesetter&hl=en http://shipindex.org/ships/coastal_glacier http://shipindex.org/ships/pacesetter