The two crew members aboard the F/V Valor III were rescued by the Coast Guard Sunday morning after the vessel sank while dumping crab pots in preparation for the season opener Tuesday. (Photo courtesy of Yale Fogerty)
By GARRET JAROS/Lincoln Chronicle
Two Newport commercial crabbers are home safe after their fishing boat sank Sunday 3½ miles west of the Yaquina Bay entrance.
The U.S. Coast Guard Station Yaquina Bay received a radio distress call from the F/V Valor III at 9:40 a.m. saying that the boat was taking on water and at risk of capsizing.
Two 47-foot motor lifeboats were enroute when a second distress call came in about 10 minutes later from the Valor III to report it was beginning to capsize and that the men were deploying a life raft, said Yaquina’s Chief Warrant Officer Jason McCommons.
McCommons“Both individuals had donned their survival suits, deployed their life raft and were in the water when our boat arrived on scene 20 minutes after receiving the first call,” McCommons told the Lincoln Chronicle on Monday. “The boat had already sunk. We recovered (them) from the water immediately and treated them for hypothermia and then brought them back to the Coast Guard station where EMS was waiting to assess their condition.”
The two men on the boat were captain and owner Robert Clark and deckhand Gary Davis, both of Newport.
The ocean commercial Dungeness crab season opens Tuesday along the central and southern Oregon coasts and crabbers began setting pots Saturday before returning to pull them — if conditions allow — Tuesday.
“The stream of events happened extremely quickly,” McCommons said. “And highlights the importance of calling on the VHF radio – the emergency channel 16 – to let the Coast Guard know when you are in distress. And then the importance of your survival equipment. In this case the life raft and or their immersion or survival suits probably saved their lives.”
A crew member from the F/V Valor III floats in his survival suit Sunday shortly before being pulled to safety by a Coast Guard motor lifeboat. (U.S. Coast Guard photo)Chris Wright, owner and operator of Newport-based F/V Rylayla, was first on the scene after hearing the distress call. He shared his observations on social media Sunday and then talked with the Chronicle on Monday.
“I watched the boat capsize in about 30 seconds after I arrived on scene,” Wright wrote on Facebook. “Both men were in their survival suits and (the) Coast Guard pulled up and got them as we were about to retrieve the men. I couldn’t believe how fast it went down after it looked to be sitting in the water just fine. This reminded me how important it is to have your gear ready and be prepared.”
Wright told the Chronicle he was headed back to port when he heard what sounded like a serious distress call so he locked in the Valor’s coordinates and raced to help.
“I was there probably within about five minutes after his mayday call,” Wright said. “In the first couple minutes after I got there the boat sat there just fine and the next thing you know it was sinking like a rock. It went down pretty darn quickly.”
The boat still had a full stack of crab pots on board, Wright said.
“The boat went down and they went in the water and I went after one guy and the two Coast Guard boats pulled up right then so I was pretty relieved because they can get them on the boat a lot easier than I could,” Wright said.
“They were there in less than 15 minutes right as they entered the water,” Wright wrote on Facebook in praise of the Coast Guard. “I turned around and they came flying through the fog. True heroes.”
Wright said the first distress call sounded like Clark was just asking for a pump because he was taking on a little water and then suddenly they were preparing the life raft and abandoning ship.
ClarkWright said he knew Clark vaguely from seeing him on the docks.
“I actually ran into him today and gave him a hundred bucks to get a cell phone …” Wright said. “I feel horrible for the guy. I mean it’s a horrible way to start a season. I think that was probably his last load of pots too and now he’s screwed.”
Wright shrugged off his efforts during the emergency.
“It’s our code when someone needs help,” he said. “We all battle for the crab but when it’s time to help someone that’s what we do.”
The Valor III is a historic wooden vessel built in 1944. The Chronicle reached out to Clark, but he posted on his roommate’s Facebook page that the boat started rolling over just before the Coast Guard arrived.
“Gary Davis and I lost everything,” he wrote. “Gary was living on my boat. When we got in, he didn’t have any shoes.”
- Garret Jaros covers the communities of Yachats, Waldport, south Lincoln County and natural resources issues for Lincoln Chronicle and can be reached at [email protected]
Is there a gofundme yet?
I remember a similar situation when a single crab fisherman went overboard (without a survival suit) on Valentines day . He was in the water for hours and was rescued just as the sun was setting. He was in Newport Hospital’s ICU overnight and then went home.