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 Alaska Wildlife Trooper Sgt. Greg Garcia said troopers' interviews with members of the ship's sister vessel, the Alaska Warrior, which assisted in the rescue efforts, indicate that the captain likely took care of others before himself in the Sunday disaster.
The four who died of hypothermia -- including captain Eric Peter Jacobsen
-- spent up to six hours in the frigid water, apparently unable to make it to life rafts, he said.
"I don't know if there wasn't enough room in the rafts or not for them, but it sounds to me that the hierarchy wanted to assure everybody else is saved," he said.
Word of her father's efforts slowly made their way from Alaska to Hingham, Mass., to Karen Jacobsen, the captain's daughter. Jacobsen said her father was known as "Capt. Pete," a man who put his crew before himself.
"If anything ever happened, he would make sure everyone would be safely off the boat," said Karen Jacobsen, 43. "He would be the last one off the ship."
Karen Jacobsen said she learned of her father's death from her stepbrother Scott Jacobsen in Seattle.
"He said, 'dad's ship went down.' I think I knew, but I asked anyway,
'is he OK?' His voice was cracking and he said, 'no,' then he told me what happened."
As of Monday night, the Coast Guard still was searching for the lone missing crew man, identified as Satashi Konno of Japan.
Konno, whose age was unknown, was wearing a survival suit, but even so, water temperatures are a dangerous 36 degrees, said Chief Petty Officer Barry Lane.
"It's not a pleasant state," Lane said on Monday. "We are trying to find him as quickly as possible."
Konno perhaps fell into the water from a rescue basket, and officials were investigating. It was not clear whether that person might have been Konno, officials said.
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When the ship sank, waves up to 20 feet and winds of nearly 30 mph
were reported, Lane said, revising earlier estimates of 8-foot
waves.
The ship's owner, Seattle-based Fishing Company of Alaska,
identified the other victims as chief engineer Daniel Cook, hometown
unknown; mate David Silveira of San Diego; and crewman Byron
Carrillo, believed to be from Seattle.
Problems began early Sunday when the ship's rudder room began
taking on water. A distress call went out just before 3 a.m.
Richard Canty, now a tug boat operator in New York, captained the
Alaska Ranger 12 years ago.
"There were a lot of rudder problems on that boat," Canty said.
"It was a very unstable boat."
The company did not return numerous phone calls for comment on
the incident or Canty's comments.
The Coast Guard dispatched and investigation team late Monday to
Dutch Harbor, from where the boat left for a mackerel fishing
grounds before taking in water about 120 miles off shore.
Whatever, the team finds, Karen Jacobsen says that family can
begin pursuing closure knowing her father's body was retrieved.
"At least we'll be able to have his body back," she said. "If
anything, it's going to be just nice to have him, to see him."
[Associated
Press; By STEVE QUINN]
Copyright 2008 The Associated
Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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