On July 13, a couple fishing in the in the Nushagak Bay off Clarks Point had a miraculous escape after their gillnetter was crushed between cargo ship and processor.
What happened?
The husband and wife team, Jan Medhaug and Breeden, were fishing the flood tide with deckhand Kyle Brojakowski in Nushagak Bay off Clarks Point. Shortly after midnight, the 32-foot aluminum boat ‘F/V Kristi’ when it lost power.
Her husband and the deckhand were taking efforts to restore the vessel and Bredeen was involved in hanging a protective buoy off the stern. She had a shock of her life when she noticed a 400-foot cargo ship ‘Sohoh’ and the 330-foot processing boat ‘Gordon Jensen’ about 15 feet apart.
Vessel adrift
Since their boat was out of power, it was reportedly drifting at about 5 knots, or about 500 feet per minute. Soon after the buoy was hung over the stern of the boat, their gillnetter struck the processor. The gillnetter became lodged between the cargo vessel and the processor, while the three escaped from being crushed by a whisker.
Lucky escape
Medhaug told, “As Jan was stepping off the bow, the stern was taking on all the water and starting to curl under. So two seconds later and he probably wouldn’t have been able to get off. We started to violently smash between the two vessels”.
The processor boat crew responded to a radio call from Medhaug and lifted Breeden in a basket. Medhaug and Brojakowski remained on the Kristi for about another 20 minutes, hoping to get her situated to get through the tide so they could get her away from the fender at slack tide and out of the steel ship alleyway.
Gillnetter sinks
Breeden observed that water was building up in the stern picking area and the two men escaped onto the fender with one last screech of twisting metal just before the gillnetter flipped bow over stern and sank in a flash.
Investigation launched
The U.S. Coast Guard have initiated an investigation to determine the sequence of events and working with Medhaug on a salvage plan.
Fortunately, no one was injured during the incident and no damages to the vessel was reported.
Disclaimer: This video is intended for informational purpose only. This may not be construed as a news item or advice of any sort. Please consult the experts in that field for the authenticity of the presentations.
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Source: National Fisherman
