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TSB Report: Insufficient training and vessel maintenance contributed to the deaths in ship loss

Insufficient training and vessel maintenance contributed to the deaths of two crew members of the 'Arctic Fox II' that sank on Aug 11, 2020, off Bamfield, according to a Transportation Safety Board investigation. The ship sank while fishing for tuna about 77 nautical miles offshore. The skipperTom Lindberg, 76, of Cobble Hill, and a unnamed deckhand drowned. One survivor made it to a life raft and was rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard. The TSB said in its report on Nov 8, 2022, that lack of maintenance on the 1947-built vessel and the absence of regulatory surveillance on the boat contributed to ship taking on water in the early-morning hours and eventually sinking, highlighting the need for Transport Canada to provide more surveillance and monitoring to effectively ensure that vessel owners and authorized representatives take ownership of their safety responsibilities and comply with regulatory requirements. The skipper of the vessel held an expired Fishing Master, Fourth Class certificate issued in 2001. New vessel stability education and medical certificates have been required by Transport Canada since 2007, and the master had no formal training on how to properly prepare new crew members in procedures, drills and familiarization. The two crew members responded to a job ad for experienced crew members for tuna fishing, but neither had experience. The 'Arctic Fox II' had sufficient life-saving equipment on board, but the master hadn’t received any new training in nearly two decades, and both crew members had no formal training at all. Although the master gave ­informal instructions on how to don their immersion suits — designed to protect mariners from cold water and provide buoyancy — all were ­improperly worn when the survivor and deceased were found, noted the report. The master of the vessel and the owner of the ship, the Teague Fishing Corp., believed that the risks of the fishing operation had been addressed sufficiently. As the skipper attempted to deal with the sinking ship and other safety protocols, he ordered the two crew members to prepare to abandon ship. but they were unfamiliar with the instructions for deploying the life raft and, in their efforts to deploy the raft, its painter line was disconnected from the vessel. Moments later, the skipper and one of the crew members entered the water with their immersion suits only partially zipped and with ankle straps unsecured. They were exposed to the elements and eventually drowned.

Second person found dead

A second person has been found dead after the sinking of the 'Arctic Fox II' off Washington state. The identities of the victims have not been released. The investigation will seek to determine the cause of the accident 135 kilometers from Cape Flattery in the Salish Sea. The US Coast Guard had deployed a helicopter from Oregon and a plane from California to locate the crew on Aug 11 after a distress call.

Only one survivor rescued

The US Coast Guard rescued one fisherman from a lifeboat in the early morning of Aug 11, 2020, after the 'Arttic Fox II began to take on water about 85 miles offshore of Cape Flattery with three crew members aboard. Watchstanders at multiple Coast Guard units received a VHF radio hail for help at about 2 a.m. from the fishing vessel which was taking on water. The crew planned to abandon ship. The fisherman were wearing survival suits. An MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew from Coast Guard Sector Columbia River and an HC-27J Spartan medium-range surveillance SAR aircrew from Coast Guard Air Station Sacramento in McClellan, California, deployed to search for the castaways. Once on scene, Coast Guard aircrews immediately spotted a lifeboat with one survivor inside and hoisted him into the helicopter. Canadian search and rescue aircrews with Joint Rescue Coordination Centre Victoria joined the search effort for the other two men which could not be found alive.