Crab boat that sank on New Year's Eve, leaving 5 presumed dead, was headed into area under gale warning
ANCHORAGE, Alaska _ As the crabbing vessel Scandies Rose headed into an area under warnings of high winds and icing southwest of Kodiak on New Year's Eve, the captain called a friend.
Within two hours, a mayday call would come from the vessel before it capsized, leaving five men missing and two rescued from the frigid, heaving waters of the Gulf of Alaska.
But Capt. Gary Cobban Jr., 61, didn't sound concerned on the phone despite the foul weather he encountered, his ex-girlfriend said Thursday.
Cobban, calling on the boat phone at 8 p.m. in Alaska, wished her a happy new year at her home in North Carolina, where it was already midnight, Jeri Lynn Smith said. They talked for maybe 15 minutes, she said.
"When I talked to him he told me the boat was icing and it had a list to it but he didn't sound alarmed. He didn't sound scared," Smith said. "The boat ices. The boat ices every winter. It's just something they deal with. I didn't worry about it."
Two crew members survived for several hours in a life raft before rescuers battling high swells and frigid cold pulled them out early Wednesday morning. But the Coast Guard late Wednesday suspended the search for the five remaining men aboard the vessel.
The Coast Guard, which is investigating the sinking, is not releasing the names of the skipper and crew. On Thursday morning, Coast Guard District 17 spokeswoman Melissa McKenzie said the Coast Guard will investigate the cause of the sinking and will release a final report. That process could take up to a year, she said.
Also aboard was Cobban's 30-year-old son, David, according to Smith.
_ Alaska Dispatch News, Anchorage
