The crew of the Bering Sea trawler Aleutian No. 1 arrived safely under Coast Guard tow at Adak, Alaska, on New Year’s Day morning after it was disabled 575 miles southwest of Dutch Harbor, Coast Guard officials said.
The eight crew members of the 127-foot Aleutian No. 1 were drifting near Amchitka Island, with the vessel’s propeller fouled by a line, when the captain contacted watchstanders at the Coast Guard 17th District command center in Juneau around 5:57 a.m. Thursday.
The crew was unable to make repairs, and with the Aleutian No. 1 drifting, the Alex Haley, a 282-foot medium endurance cutter, was recalled from a mid-patrol break and transited 575 miles in the Being Sea to assist the fishing vessel.
At the scene as the Alex Haley crew passed a tow line to the Aleutian No. 1 around 1 a.m. Dec. 31 conditions were 30-40-mph winds, 10-15-foot seas, periodic snow, sleet and blizzard conditions, with air and water temperatures of 34 degrees, according to the Coast Guard.
After the tow to Adak, the cutter crew transferred the Aleutian No. 1 tow to another fishing vessel the Erla-N. The Erla-N then towed the disabled vessel into Adak where it was moored at the pier at 11:30 a.m. with the help of Alex Haley’s cutter boats, according to the Coast Guard.
“As an Alaska-homeported cutter, we’re proud to support Alaskan fishermen and, in this case, tow the vessel to safe harbor to effect necessary repairs and avoid a more serious incident,” Lt. Cmdr. Matthew Lynne, Alex Haley's operations officer, said in a narrative of the rescue from the Coast Guard. “We train hard to ensure we’re able to provide such assistance when the occasion arises, and our crew executed this mission flawlessly in challenging Bering Sea conditions.”
