Newport Crab Boat Crew Tells of Sinking and Coast Guard Rescue

Kelly Madden, captain of the F/V Blazer at a press conference this morning recalled the harrowing hours his crew spent in the Pacific Ocean when the ship sank early Saturday morning. Madden, who suffered a black eye during the rescue credits a Coast Guard helicopter with saving the crew. (Photo by Larry Coonrod)

By Larry Coonrod

NEWPORT— Luke Carson, an oilfield worker from Oklahoma, had never been on a boat until he stepped aboard the F/V Blazer just before midnight on Nov. 29. Four hours later the greenhorn found himself wiggling into a survival suit and preparing to abandon ship into the dark waters of the Pacific Ocean.

Carson and fellow crewmembers held a press conference in Newport Monday where they described the sinking of their 75-foot crab boat eight miles west of Siletz Bay Saturday morning.

No Saving Ship

Ship’s captain Kelly Madden said the Blazer left Yaquina Bay just after midnight with himself and a crew of four to set crab pots in anticipation of the Dec. 1 Dungeness crab opener. Four hours later it began taking on water and listing to starboard. With 40 years of experience behind him, Madden realized his vessel might capsize and woke the crew up to begin jettisoning crab pots over the side in hopes of righting the stricken craft.
 
“These guys just had their clothes on, no rain gear, no boots,” he said. 

As the situation worsened and the Blazer rolled further on its side, Madden switched gears from saving the boat to saving his four-man crew. The men struggled to don survival suits in the crowded wheelhouse, made all the more difficult by the steep list.. 
 
The captain sent out a distress call at 4:27 a.m. saying the crew were putting on survival suits and deploying a life raft. It would be the last communication sent from the Blazer. As the generator died and the boat lay at an 80-degree angle, standing on the normally submerged hull, the crew leapt one by one into a life raft followed by Madden. 

Their fates now in the hands of unseen rescuers, the men waited in the darkness.

“The only thing I was really scared about was my family dealing with me not being there anymore,” said crewmember Justin Haggart. “I have a little nephew that’s about to be 9 years old. I don’t know what it would do to him.”

At 4:41 a.m., a 47-foot motor lifeboat from Station Depoe Bay steamed out of the harbor toward the Blazer's last known position. At 4:45 a.m., a Coast Guard MH-65 Dolphin search and rescue helicopter lifted off from the Newport airport. Nineteen minutes later it arrived above the life raft.

“The greatest sound I ever heard was the rotors of a helicopter, and I knew we were going to get out of there,” Haggart said.

Unable to communicate with the men in the raft, the helo flew a search of the immediate area looking for anyone else in the water before dropping a rescue swimmer at 5:20 a.m. 

“He comes swimming up to the raft and opens the door and is like, ‘Hey guys, I’m Matt. How’s it going in here? I’m here to rescue you,’” Madden recalled. 

Carson, the greenhorn, was the first one lifted aboard the helicopter, followed by crewmembers Matthew O’Neil and Richard McDonald. 

“They basically roll you off the raft and now you’re at the mercy of this extraordinary man who is swimming around in the open ocean,” Madden said. “You’re relying on him to get you where you need to be.”

Depoe Bay Motor Lifeboat Arrives

At 6 a.m., the Depoe Bay motor lifeboat reached the raft and took Haggart and Madden aboard. Madden suffered a black eye and a minor shoulder injury when a wave slammed the raft into the motor lifeboat as the crew prepared to bring them aboard. The Blazer sank in 420-feet of water. The cause of the sinking is still under investigation.

Helicopter Credited

During Monday’s press conference, four of the crew (McDonald is already aboard another fishing vessel) credited the helicopter crew with saving their lives by quickly locating the tiny life raft in a vast ocean. By the time they were rescued, the fishermen were feeling the onset of hypothermia. 

“If the helicopter had not pinpointed our location, the other rescue vessel that came to save us would have had to spend more time looking for us,” Madden said. 

As harrowing as the situation became, O’Neil said he knew once the crew was out on the deck and releasing the life raft that they would survive. 

“I’d seen that sign “Save Our Helo,” he said. “I knew that helicopter was going to be there.”

Newport Helicopter Base Closing Dec. 15

Admiral Paul Zukunft, Coast Guard Commandant, has ordered the Newport Air Station to close Dec. 15 as a cost-cutting measure. 

The Newport Fishermen’s Wives last week filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court to stop the move. A federal judge plans to hear their request for an immediate injunction stopping the decommissioning on Dec. 11.
The Wives say the hour it takes helicopters to arrive in Newport from Astoria or North Bend is a hour mariners and others in distress along the coast do not have. 

Since the Coast Guard announced the closing on Oct. 2, Newport helicopter crews have airlifted 10 people to safety.
“Without the (Newport) helicopter, you aren’t going to have these survival stories,” said Fishermen’s Wives President Jennifer Stevenson. 

Harsh Words for Commandant

The crew of the Blazer vowed to do their part to support the Fishermen’s Wives’ effort. Madden, choking with emotion while describing the rescue and response of his crew, became angry at the idea of the Newport air station closing.

“What man signed the paper that says it’s ok not to be safe?” he asked. “I’d like to meet him. I’d like to look in his eyes for a couple of minutes to see what kind of a man he is. Because in my opinion, he’s not much of a man.”