F/V "Cape Elizabeth" Sinks

[dougpine]

The F/V "Cape Elizabeth", formerly the F/V "Tradition" sank last night and is now at the bottom of the sea. The fire had started in the galley and consumed the whole boat within 24 hours. She was a tuna purse seiner fishing in the Western Pacific Ocean. All aboard were safely evacuated according to accounts from witnesses.

[CaptAndrew]

Was she related to your old company?

[dougpine]

Was she related to your old company?

No, different:

CAPE ELIZABETH FISHING LP
10500 NE 8TH STREET SUITE 1888
BELLEVUE, WA 98004

[cali]

This boat belonged to TriMarine company built in 1976 of 1516 GRT.
Does anybody knows some more details of the incident, as who was the current skipper and in which area of the western pacific sunk?

[dougpine]

From Eddie DaCosta, former C/E on the "Cape Elizabeth":

"The Boat was built by J.M. Martinac Shipbuilding in Tacoma, Washington as the TRADITION for Manuel Silva Inc in San Diego in 1980. Hull# 220, she was 225 feet long, about 1100 gross tons, carried about 1100 short tons. She was bought by Chen Family in Taiwan and they operated it for a few years and sold it to Tri-Marine. It was currently owned and operated by Tri-Marine Group. Tri-Marine has several US Vessels it operates out of Am. Samoa and is based in Seattle. She finally sank last night. It's sad, it was really a nice boat. That design has proven to have been one of the most successful tuna purse seiner designs ever built. They think the fire started in the ice maker in the galley, then the insulation in the walls and overhead started burning and it spread through the whole boat. The captain told me that the Tawainese purse siener Koos 108 was running by him and he tried to call him for help on VHF 16 but he he didn't answer so he tried to run to him because the main engine was still running but shortly after the the pilot house filled with smoke so they jumped the skiff. The captain told me that some of the crew's shoes were melting from the heat of the deck as they were waiting to get into the skiff. They were picked up by another one of their company boats, CAPE BRETON, It's too bad, she was a great ship, extremely well built.
Regards, Eddie"

[cali]

From Eddie DaCosta, former C/E on the "Cape Elizabeth":

"The Boat was built by J.M. Martinac Shipbuilding in Tacoma, Washington as the TRADITION for Manuel Silva Inc in San Diego in 1980. Hull# 220, she was 225 feet long, about 1100 gross tons, carried about 1100 short tons. She was bought by Chen Family in Taiwan and they operated it for a few years and sold it to Tri-Marine. It was currently owned and operated by Tri-Marine Group. Tri-Marine has several US Vessels it operates out of Am. Samoa and is based in Seattle. She finally sank last night. It's sad, it was really a nice boat. That design has proven to have been one of the most successful tuna purse seiner designs ever built. They think the fire started in the ice maker in the galley, then the insulation in the walls and overhead started burning and it spread through the whole boat. The captain told me that the Tawainese purse siener Koos 108 was running by him and he tried to call him for help on VHF 16 but he he didn't answer so he tried to run to him because the main engine was still running but shortly after the the pilot house filled with smoke so they jumped the skiff. The captain told me that some of the crew's shoes were melting from the heat of the deck as they were waiting to get into the skiff. They were picked up by another one of their company boats, CAPE BRETON, It's too bad, she was a great ship, extremely well built.
Regards, Eddie"

Doug:
Indeed it was a great boat!, thank you for your quick response, I reproduce this news in http://tunaseiners.com/blog/2009/12/fv-cape-elizabeth-sank/

Regards

Calidro

[dougpine]

Weird, but this doesn't seem to have caught the mainstream media's attention.

[dougpine]

From: 14th District Public Information Site
Date: Tue, Dec 22, 2009 at 13:52
Subject: (14th District Public Information Site) Inquiry Response (175527)
To: Doug Pine


The following inquiry was submitted to 14th District Public Information
Site on 12/22/09 05:39 (175527):
From : Michael DeNyse
Date : 12/22/09 11:52

Sir,

Good morning and thank you for your inquiry. U.S. Coast Guard Sector
Honolulu and Marine Safety Detachment American Samoa have the lead for
the investigation of the F/V Cape Elizabeth marine casualty.

It was reported to the 14th Coast Guard District command center that
the F/V Cape Elizabeth, a 238ft commercial fishing vessel, sunk 750
miles north of American Samoa in approximately 2900 fathoms, Dec. 20,
2009.

There was a fire reported onboard the vessel; however, all 22
crewmembers got off the vessel safely. They were transported back to
American Samoa by their sister vessel, F/V Cape Breton. At the time of
incident, Cape Elizabeth had approximately 50,000 gallons of diesel
onboard, but there is no visible sheen in the area.

Coast Guard personnel will continue to monitor the situation from
Honolulu and investigate from MSD America Samoa. We need to rely
primarily on crew's interviews to ascertain what happened, because the
vessel sunk in very deep water. The cause of the incident is currently
under investigation.

Please submit a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) form
http://www.uscis.gov/files/form/g-639.pdf for any other details and/or
investigation results regarding this case. I hope this information was
helpful. Please have a great day.

Very Respectfully,

PA3 Mike De Nyse
Public Affairs Specialist
14th Coast Guard District
Honolulu, Hawaii
808-535-3235