The mate stood a solo watch for a few hours in the evening. At 1700, Footnote 8 the vessel departed for the overnight voyage. At this time, the mate donned a personal flotation device (PFD), and continued to wear it for the duration of the trip. On 02 September, before the vessel departed for the fishing grounds, the crew set and retrieved the trawl once for practice. The forward and aft fish holds were topped up with seawater, and the centre fish holds contained only ice. While waiting for another crew member, Footnote 7 who joined the vessel on 02 September,the crew loaded 34 tons of ice, distributing it among the 6 fish holds. On 31 August, the mate joined the vessel and became familiarized with the location of the safety equipment on board. The regular master and one of the deckhands then left the vessel and the other deckhand, who had been on the groundfish fishing trip, took over as the vessel's engineer.
Nootka sound fishing report 2012 full#
The centre holds were to be half full of seawater prior to adding the hake. The master then explained that the loading sequence was to equally fill the 2 forward holds, then the 2 aft holds, and finally the 2 centre holds with fish. The master described the vessel's departure condition, explaining that the 2 forward fish holds and the 2 aft fish holds were to be filled with seawater and that 2 tons of ice (no seawater) were to be stowed in each centre hold. The handover briefing focused on loading practices for hake. They topped up the fuel and water tanks to the predetermined levels and the regular master Footnote 6 gave a brief handover to the engineer, who was taking over as master. On 27 August 2015, after the Caledonian had returned to Port Hardy, British Columbia, following a groundfish fishing trip, the crew began preparing the vessel to switch fisheries from groundfish to hake. Regular maintenance consisted of cleaning and painting the hull, and servicing the rudder stock, steering gear, variable-pitch propeller system, tail shaft, and through-hull fittings. The vessel had been regularly serviced in 20. The vessel was reported to be in good condition. In 2012, the vessel had been surveyed by an independent marine surveyor to ascertain the overall condition of the hull, bilges, and machinery, and the deck and fishing gear. Two trawl winches were also mounted on the middle deck. There were 2 net drums Footnote 5 at the stern and 2 sets of trawl doors. It provided access to each of the 6 fish holds, which were designed to carry a mixture of fish and refrigerated seawater. Footnote 4Ī trawlway located on the centreline spanned the length of the working deck. The wheelhouse was equipped with navigation and communications equipment that included very high frequency/digital selective calling (VHF/DSC) radiotelephones, an automatic identification system (AIS), Footnote 3 and a watch alarm. The deckhouse contained the galley, accommodations for 8 people, the entrance to the engine room, and the stairs to the wheelhouse. The 2 fuel tanks below the forward fish holds were no longer used, and the 2 fuel tanks below the centre fish holds were used to store fuel for the 2 fuel tanks at the stern, which were the only tanks used to supply the main engine with fuel (Appendix A). International Maritime Organization numberġ974, Benson Brothers Shipbuilding Company (1960) Ltd.ĭiesel engine (634 kW) driving a single variable-pitch propellerĪpproximately 244 tons Footnote 1 of hake Footnote 2 and seawaterĬaledonian Holdings Inc., North Vancouver, British ColumbiaĪt some point prior to 1998, the tank configuration was changed, and the fuel tanks in the engine room were converted to freshwater tanks. 1.0 Factual information 1.1 Particulars of the vessel This report is also available in English. The Canadian Coast Guard subsequently rescued the mate and recovered the bodies of the master and the 2 other crew members. When the vessel eventually sank, the master and mate abandoned it, and the mate swam toward and boarded the life raft. Following the capsizing, the master and mate climbed onto the overturned hull and remained there for several hours. At the time, the vessel was trawling for hake with 4 crew members on board. On 05 September 2015, at approximately 1530 Pacific Daylight Time, the fishing vessel Caledonian capsized 20 nautical miles west of Nootka Sound, British Columbia.