Deadliest Sea (32 page)

C
HAPTER
S
EVEN

The actions of Indio Sol and Chris Cossich are based on their own Marine Board testimony, and on the recollections of other men on the boat. Neither Sol nor Cossich responded to requests for interviews. The Joshua Esa scene is written from the perspective of Eric Haynes. The scene with Evan Holmes and P. Ton is written from Evan’s perspective.

The Coast Guard’s investigative report on the
Alaska 1
sinking was obtained through FOIA. Head investigator Alan Blume, now retired from the Coast Guard, provided additional insight and clarification after I reviewed his report.

Charlie Medlicott was one of the inspectors on the Coast Guard’s
Alaska Spirit
investigation. The NTSB also investigated that incident, and I drew details from the agency’s report, which is at http://www.ntsb.gov/Publictn/1996/mar9601.pdf.

I relied on the expertise of hypothermia and cold-water survival experts Dr. Martin Nemiroff and Dr. Alan Steinman, as well as on the fifth edition of the textbook
Wilderness Medicine
(Mosby, 2007). Both the Coast Guard and the National Marine Fisheries Service use the 1-10-1 rule in their training, and I drew on written training materials from the two groups. The “skinfold thickness” study is described in more detail on page 170 of
Wilderness Medicine,
in a chapter coauthored by Dr. Steinman.

Coast Guard Public Affairs Specialist Sara Francis shared her own memories of the
Selendang Ayu
crash, and I referred to Coast Guard press releases from the time. Several Coast Guard pilots described their “dunker” training. Navy Commander Mike Prevost, Lieutenant Commander Ellis Gayles, and Lieutenant John Mahoney at Air Station Miramar in San Diego, California, answered questions about the dunker training and allowed me to sit in on the two-day refresher course that every aircrew member periodically attends.

C
HAPTER
E
IGHT

Master Chief Dave Hoover, Master Chief Clay Hill, Chief John Hall, Chief Doug Lathrop, and Petty Officer Dustin Skarra provided expertise on the Coast Guard’s rescue swimmer program. Swimmers Wil Milam, Alex Major, Chuck Falante, and the entire November 10–15, 2008, class at the Advanced Helicopter Rescue School in Astoria, Oregon, shared additional insight into the training and mentality required to be an AST. Two books written
by former Coasties further helped to inform my understanding of the job of rescue swimmer:
Brotherhood of the Fin
by Gerald R. Hoover (Wheatmark, 2007) and
So Others May Live
by Martha J. LaGuardia-Kotite (The Lyons Press, 2006).

The radio exchange between the 60 Jayhawk and the C-130 recounted at the end of the chapter is from an audio recording that was made by
Alaska Warrior
Chief Engineer Ed Cook. Ed was in the
Warrior
’s wheelhouse at the time, where the crew was able to overhear the exchange between the two Coast Guard aircraft on the ship’s radio.

C
HAPTER
N
INE

Background information on the
Alaska Warrior
and the ship’s role in the rescue are based on interviews with Scott Krey and Ed Cook, and on the Marine Board testimony of FCA officers Scott Krey, Raymond Falante, Albert Larson, and Bill McGill. The descriptions of the
Warrior
’s poor repair are exclusively from Ed Cook, who shared photographs and videos from his time on the ship.

The radio exchange between Jayhawk pilot Brian McLaughlin and
Warrior
Captain Scott Krey is also from the audio recording made by Ed Cook.

C
HAPTER
T
EN

The crew of the 65 Dolphin, Lieutenant Commander TJ Schmitz, Lieutenant Greg Gedemer, flight mechanic Al Musgrave, and rescue swimmer Abram Heller, each described their deployment on the cutter
Munro,
as well as the play-by-play of the rescue. Each man wrote his own statement about the events of the rescue soon after the case. I relied on those documents,
as well as subsequent interviews, to re-create Byron Carrillo’s fall from the basket. The perspective of
Alaska Ranger
engineer Jim Madruga was also valuable. Like rescue swimmer Heller, Madruga saw Byron Carrillo rise, apparently safe inside the basket, and did not realize there was a problem until he was inside the helo himself.

To lose a survivor from a rescue basket during a hoist is an extremely unusual occurrence in the Coast Guard. I asked a number of veteran rescuers if they had ever heard of it happening before, and identified only one other incident, also in Alaska, in 1998. In that case, a rescue of crew from a sunken fishing boat called the
La Conte,
the weather was more treacherous than in the
Alaska Ranger
case, and the rescue swimmer was not deployed. The flight mechanic lowered the rescue basket to the water and two men attempted to climb in together. One of them never got fully inside and fell to his death as the basket reached the helicopter. Two books were written about this sinking and both recount the incident:
The Last Run
by Todd Lewan (HarperCollins, 2004), and
Coming Back Alive
by Spike Walker (St. Martins Press, 2001).

C
HAPTER
E
LEVEN

In addition to the survivors’ own accounts of their medical care on the
Munro,
Corpsmen Chuck Weiss and Blake Mitchell Castillo, and Petty Officer Kelly Stearns detailed the crew’s preparations to receive survivors.

C
HAPTER
T
WELVE

In addition to my interviews with Eric Haynes and his Marine Board testimony, I had the benefit of Eric’s own detailed and
descriptive ten-page statement titled “Recollections of the Sinking of the
Alaska Ranger
.”

Much of the dialogue in the
Warrior
’s wheelhouse, including the rescued crew members’ explanations of what happened to the
Alaska Ranger,
is transcribed from Ed Cook’s personal recording.

The actions of Samasoni Fa’aulu and Mark Hagerman are as recounted by Julio Morales, Abram Heller, and the rest of the Jayhawk crew. I was unable to contact either Fa’aulu or Hagerman, and neither was called to testify before the Marine Board.

C
HAPTER
T
HIRTEEN

The rescue swimmers did not attempt CPR on David Silveira after he was pulled into the Jayhawk because at the time they believed there were still additional people to rescue. For the previous couple of hours, they’d been pulling people out of the water one after the other, and the expectation was that that pace would continue. Technically, Coast Guard rescuers are not required to commence CPR if they are more than an hour from advanced care, or if the victim has obvious physical signs that he or she has been deceased for a long period of time. When brought into the helicopter, Silveira was exhibiting early signs of rigor mortis, evidence that it was too late to help him. In retrospect, however, both rescue swimmers felt some regret that they had not attempted CPR on the fisherman.

Jennifer Lubrani and Dr. Jeffrey Pellegrino of the American Red Cross provided additional perspective on CPR standards and methods.

Paul Webb, a civilian search and rescue expert in Juneau, demonstrated the Coast Guard’s modeling program and explained the factors that play into long-term survival in Alaskan waters. Chief of Response Mike Inman, Chief of Incident
Management Todd Trimpert, and watch standers Mike Glinksi, Jeremy Dawkins, and Nate Johnson in Juneau recounted the role District Command played in coordinating the rescue, including the recognition of the miscount. Public Affairs Officer Eric Eggen helped to coordinate my visit. Admiral Gene Brooks provided appreciated insight into the unique scope and challenge of the
Alaska Ranger
rescue.

Ryan Shuck’s girlfriend, Kami Ottmar, shared the e-mail she received at her apartment in Spokane, Washington, on the evening of March 23, 2008.

C
HAPTER
F
OURTEEN

Coast Guard Public Affairs Specialist Sara Francis wrote a series of wonderfully clear and detailed press releases about the first days of the Marine Board hearings into the
Alaska Ranger
case. Meagan Krupa attended the Anchorage hearing on my behalf and took copious notes. I attended most of the Seattle hearings myself, and later acquired transcripts of all of the Marine Board’s interviews.

Brian McLaughlin kindly agreed to allow me to reprint his e-mail to Jimmy Terrell, which was first forwarded to me by Captain Craig Lloyd.

Jennifer Lincoln provided a copy of a document titled “
Alaska Ranger
Investigation Survival Factors,” which summarized the findings from her early interviews with the crew members.

Coast Guard Marine Architects Brian Thomas and Steven McGee explained the stability factors that led to the loss of the
Ranger
in much greater detail than is relayed in this book. Their detailed report, as well as numerous other documents relevant to the Marine Board’s investigation can be accessed at http://www.ntsb.gov/Dockets/Marine/DCA08MM015/default.htm.

The NTSB’s full eighty-three-page report on the disaster can be downloaded at http://www.ntsb.gov/Publictn/2009/MAR0905.pdf.

The Coast Guard issued two Marine Safety Alerts in reaction to the loss of the
Alaska Ranger
. The first, on “Maintaining Vessel Watertight Integrity” can be viewed at http://www.uscg.mil/d9/msuchicago/docs/Safety%20Alert%201%2008.pdf.

The second, “Controllable Pitch Propeller Systems and Situational Awareness,” is at http://www.marineexchangesea.com/AlertsAndBulletins/03-08%20re%20Controllable%20Pitch%20Propeller%20Systems%20….pdf.

As of early March 2010, the Coast Guard had still not released its own Marine Board report on the incident.

E
PILOGUE

For more background on Seattle’s Fishermen’s Memorial and a link to similar monuments, see: http://www.seattlefishermensmemorial.org/.

NOAA lawyer Susan Auer and NOAA criminal investigator Nathan Lagerwey provided context on the environmental and observer-related fines levied against FCA. NOAA’s press release on the $449,700 fine is at http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2008/20081125_alaskafisheries.html.

The assault on board the
Juris
, the ice-related accident on the
Victory,
and the summer 2009 man overboard death on the
Warrior
are a matter of Coast Guard record.

Updated information and additional links are at www.deadliestsea.com.

I
n the early days of reporting this book I felt that there was great luck behind the fact that every one of the Coast Guard rescuers was remarkably open, articulate, and thoughtful about the dramatic events of March 23, 2008. As I continued my research, I discovered that these attributes are typical of the Coast Guard culture.

Between April 2008 and October 2009 I spent time with the Coast Guard in Seattle, Oregon, Washington, D.C., and throughout Alaska. Every place I visited, I was greeted with friendliness, candor, and an eagerness to share knowledge of the Coast Guard’s philosophy and mission. I owe thanks to every Coastie mentioned in this book, though I’d like to single out Greg Gedemer, Todd Troup, Crystal Hudak, Al Musgrave, Sara Francis, and Brian and Amy McLaughlin for their repeated assistance and—in several cases—incredible personal hospitality.

Charlie Medlicott, Chris Woodley, and Jennifer Lincoln explained and reexplained issues related to safety trends in Alaska’s fishing industry—and the remaining hazards that continue to make commercial fishing such a dangerous profession. Their
dedication to improving safety in the fishing fleet is nothing less than heroic.

I am ever thankful to all the
Alaska Ranger
fishermen who recounted the details of their ordeal, as well as so many other stories of their lives. Special thanks are due to Ryan Shuck and David Hull, the first
Alaska Ranger
survivors I met, who introduced me to the world of head-and-gut fishing. Julio Morales spent many hours with me and shared memories of his cousin, Byron. Eric Haynes, Evan Holmes, Kenny Smith, Alex Olivarez, and Jeremy Freitag provided further perspective from their time working in Alaska.

In the process of researching this book, I also had the pleasure of getting to know Karen, Billy, and Jennifer Jacobsen, Ed and Cindy Cook, and Celeste Silveira, who recounted the proud seafaring history of each of their families.

Rachel Levin, Elizabeth Bryer, Kathy Weiss, Maraya Cornell, and Jennifer Alessi provided invaluable feedback on early drafts of these chapters.

Thanks also to Angela Hirsch, Melissa Lasher, Meredith Lloyd Rice, Dawn MacKeen, Steve Byers, and James Vlahos, who listened to me obsess about this story and offered trusted advice and support.

David Schulte meticulously transcribed dozens of hours of interviews, and offered more than a few insights along the way. Alison Kelman and Greer Schott supplied fact-checking help. Caroline Hirsch expertly assisted in pulling together the photographs.

Thanks to my fantastic agent Laurie Liss and her team at Sterling Lord. My editor at William Morrow, Henry Ferris, and his assistant, Danny Goldstein, offered many excellent suggestions that helped to make this a much, much better book.

I am endlessly grateful to James Meigs and his talented team at
Popular Mechanics,
most of all Jennifer Bogo, David Dunbar, and Allyson Torrisi. Their fascination and enthusiasm for the story told in the original magazine piece continued through the writing of this book, and both inspired and invigorated me every step of the way.

Finally, thank you to my ever-supportive family and most of all to my wonderful husband, Dan Koeppel, for his endless patience, wisdom, and love.