Northern Belle Fishing Boat Sinks in Gulf of Alaska: Three Saved

by Amy Judd | April 21, 2010 at 12:21 pm

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The Seattle-Based Northern Belle Fishing Boat Sank in Gulf of Alaska April 20

Three of the four crew members of the Northern Belle that sunk in the Gulf of Alaska on the night of April 20 had to be airlifted to safety according to the Juneau Empire. The captain of the Belle did not survive the sinking and died as the boat was going down. The captain also tried to save his dog Baxter, a cocker spaniel, but the dog did not survive.

The U.S Coast Guard responded to a distress call at about 5:30 pm from one of the crew members saying the Northern Belle was sinking and all crew were abandoning ship.

Ten minutes later a rescue helicopter and a HC-130 Hercules aircraft left the Coast Guard base and arrived at about 7:30 pm where the four crew were in the water wearing their survival suits. They got in to a life raft that was dropped by the helicopter and were airlifted to safety by 8:20 pm.

One of the crew members, Robert Jack, told the Seattle Times that he was praying for a miracle while freezing in the Alaska waters:

"I prayed to God that I would be able to see my daughter again," Jack said Wednesday morning from a hospital bed in Anchorage. "If you go into 30 degree water and leaking from your survival suit and waves are overtaking you, I thought I was dead."

Robert Jack said that the captain hit his head when he slid in to the water and drowned. Jack said he was sucked under the boat and sprained his ankle trying to pull out of the current.

The crew had just eaten dinner when the boat began to list as the waves grew bigger and finally it became clear the boat was going to go down.