Overlooked & Overloaded: The Loss of FV Northern Belle
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- Опубліковано 6 чер 2024
- On Tuesday April 20, 2010 The Fishing Vessel Northern Belle sank suddenly in the Gulf of Alaska. The US Coast Guard, Kodiak Alaska received the Captain's Mayday call and were able to mount a harrowing rescue. Sadly, the Captain and his dog, Baxter were lost.
▶REFERENCES, SOURCES & FEATURED MEDIA: pastebin.com/Q0Vhwiar
*Views presented are my own and the appearance of U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), NTSB & any other entities' visual information does not imply nor constitute their endorsement.
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▶Timestamps:
00:00 Mayday, Mayday, Mayday!
01:44 Northern Belle Vessel Origins
03:11 Incident Largely Overshadowed - April 20, 2010
04:45 The Aleutian Trade Act and "Grandfathered" Fishing Vessels Turned Freighters
06:48 Fishing Fleet Tenders & Northern Belle's Unique Configuration
09:20 Vessel Stability Overview
12:52 FV Northern Belle Gets Underway from Snopac Products - Seattle
15:18 The Northern Belle Transits the Gulf of Alaska - The Situation Deteriorates Rapidly
19:51 US Coast Guard Launches Air Assets Towards the Captain's Mayday Coordinates
23:15 US Coast Guard Findings, Recommendations and Discussion
31:32 Brick Immortar Op-Ed
35:09 In Memoriam...
35:22 End Credits
▶ A B O U T
Hey, I'm Sam! Full Time Parent & Creator. With a background in Workplace Safety Instruction, Logistics/Supply Chain Management & Industrial Robotics Programming/Engineering... Raising Awareness, Critical Thinking and Training are vital!
Your Safety Matters.
#Alaska #USCG #YourSafetyMatters - Розваги
▶MORE MARITIME:
Tampa Bay, Cutter Blackthorn: ua-cam.com/video/II7jld-SS84/v-deo.html
Bering Sea, Scandies Rose: ua-cam.com/video/KFevuP5ua_8/v-deo.html
Atlantic, El Faro: ua-cam.com/video/-BNDub3h2_I/v-deo.html
North Atlantic, Ocean Ranger: ua-cam.com/video/cyNFhthQ97Q/v-deo.html
Gulf of Maine, Emmy Rose: ua-cam.com/video/BGtkMAoE-z4/v-deo.html
You're doing a fantastic job man. The quality of your videos is second to none.
I've only recently come to know and watch your channel in the past couple months, but even going through old videos I can really see the efforts you put in to constantly improving your production through time and it translates so well to elevating what is already a fantastic series. Looking forward to whats in store for 2023 from what has very quickly become my favorite channel. Thank you, Sam!
My dear friend Brick Immortar. I'm a longtime viewer of the channel over here in Europe. You've covered some subjects I've heard about, some I know about, and such as this one today, one that passed me by.
Your thorough but respectful coverage is a style I find compelling - something I might not *want* to know about, but something I *must* know about. Your presentation is always excellent, measured tone, and while you're always there with the facts, you never shy away from disclosing the human cost too.
As the channel moves into 2023, I'll repeat myself from earlier comments. May your audience grow, may your future subjects be as compelling viewing - even if they cause a lump in the throat, and I wish you and your team good health and safe lives. Goddess Bless you and all you do. Thank you for your hard work.
With fraternal greetings from Europe, all the very best my friend.
Excellent video. When you said the name "nan sea" I almost thought you said something different. Lets just say something that rhymes with "not sea". Bit of an unfortunate similarity there for them.
I wish you worked for the FAA and could go poke your nose around a boeing factory. Better yet, get a job as Q.A. and go under cover for a year.
As a former Bering Sea crab fisherman I have seen boats that were scary to even look at. I applauded the work the Coast Guard did in the 80's and 90's to bring fishing boats into compliance regarding safety while at the same time a lot of fishermen hated the Coast Guard for it. I was lucky to be on a vessel that stressed safety and made it a routine. The owners went so far as to send all crew to safety classes including medical emergencies, stability, firefighting, general watch standing and navigation. I never once felt unsafe during fishing operations even during the worst weather and conditions.
They were good bosses in that respect
@@jkdbuck7670 The best kind of bosses are the ones that actually give a damn about those under their command.
When people complain about safety regs I point out that those regs are written in blood.
I only know about that area from Discovery Channel. So, i take your word for it.
I also worked on a fishing boat off New England and we would have a in water inspection one year and a out of water inspection the next year and those coast guard inspectors were meticulous. I didn’t know what the captain meant by meticulous till I was required to be there and watch it. Our boat was a 55ft custom sport fish built by a sailboat builder, was the only boat built by the company that wasn’t a sailboat all wood which is almost unheard of these days, but it was a beautiful piece of basically craftsmanship, the fleet would always make fun of us on that wooden boat but it handled great and cut through the sea effortlessly unlike the other fiberglass or metal boats. The only downside was that it could & would sometimes develop rot in certain areas. And the coast guard inspectors would have these little metal tools kind of like a tuning fork and would walk around and tap the boat listening for the sound of rotten wood. I mean almost every inch of the boat he did this. Meanwhile the captain was sweating profusely watching. Then for in water inspection they would throw a life size dummy overboard and we would have to rescue it. Him at the wheel and me guiding him then I had to be able to get the 100lb cpr type dummy out of the water and over the rail. That was stressful cause I probably weighed 140 soaking wet. But adrenaline kicked in and I got it over the rail. After that particular inspection was completed the coast guard invited us to take a ride on their new high speed rescue boat that could actually do a full roll and then right itself after. Like 40/50 footer. We jumped at the opportunity and strapped the 5 point seatbelt on and took off. But I can see why captains have disdain for the inspectors. Every problem is dollar signs for the captain before you can even start making money they have to be completed. So some inspector ass kissing was always a good idea. I couldn’t believe how minuscule of a issue they would be looking for and concerned about. And my captain was a safety fanatic and in my rookie years it was annoying but after some time on the water I came to realize why he would be so concerned about me constantly making sure the boat was properly balanced. He was one of the fishing boats that came to the aid of the fishing boat pelican. Which overturned off Montauk killing40-50 people. I can’t remember exactly. But it rolled cause everyone was on one side of boat cause cold spray was blowing over the starboard side. Anyway those inspectors are critical and they might cause a captain money to fix things but it’s worth it in the long run. I became just as Saftey conscious as my old man captain was. And when his eyes got big like saucers I knew to be prepared. Anyway I wouldn’t have changed my time on the boat. It still contributes to who I am today. And u get a free great tan.
These shipwreck stories always make me a little emotional. My Dad was a crabber in Alaska. He went down in the Gulf of Alaska on the Pacific Surf in 77. They were unable to send a mayday and jumped Into survival suits and just piled into a life raft that soon began leaking. The next day they all jumped out to try and fix the raft and my Dad apparently had a heart attack and died. They tied his body to the raft but seas got rough and they had to cut him loose. He was 52. It was his fifth fishing accident. After drifting for 3 more days the survivors spotted a tanker and fired a flare. The Overseas Chicago saw the flare, took eight miles to stop, turn around and pick up the survivors.
Must have been a difficult decision for the other survivors to make in an already traumatic situation! It sounds like they were very lucky to survive at all and to be able to tell you what happened to your dad. My mom did data collection up in the Chukchi Sea in Alaska and I was always so nervous for her, so I'm sorry to hear about your dad.
His 5th "accident", as in sinking event??
@@Veldtian1 if I'm not mistaken accident can encompass anything from a sinking event to coming into dock a bit too hot and bumping it. But the average fisherman probably wouldn't call that an accident, so I'm guessing they were somewhat more serious events
@@Veldtian1 yeah. A couple were running aground on reefs etc. Norwegians. Some of them liked a drink on wheel watch if you get my drift
@@ThePopopotatoes 3 sinkings two running aground, only one of those was serious
Coast guard rescue swimmers are hard-core, not very many people have the intestinal fortitude to do what they do. Much respect
Agreed.Thank you for your service
@@dcpack Did a rescue swimmer kick your dog or summin?
@@dcpack wait, you flew 20 years and never deployed the swimmer? That’s really surprising, I’d think you guys would employ them regularly. By extension…does that mean swimmers rarely, if ever, get in the water on an actual rescue during their career? That must be brutally frustrating for them, like being a navy seal that never gets to go down range.
@@HE-162 thats kinda the reality of most of these Jobs. most active duty military and first responders never do the more hardcore side of there jobs because statistically these are once in a life time once per city kind of events.
in the military you can increase your likelihood of seeing combat by requesting to join up with certain people like 10th mountain or by going to jump school and becoming a paratrooper but as a cop or a navy rescue swimmer theres really nothing you can do except wait for something to happen close enough for you to help.
the US Coast Guard service college has an acceptance rate of 6%. Which makes is more selective than Brown University, Boston College, Harvey Mudd, and Williams and Mary... only the best of the best are accepted. respect indeed!
Rest easy Baxter. You and the captain stayed together until the end.
Tha captain had nads of steele and if it wasn't for him nobody would have been saved he made that radio call with only second before they went down those guys are just built different.
RIP to that captain (kudos to him sending out that distress signal before the ship sank) and Baxter.
Yeah, Baxter hit me hard. Probably coz he had no choice in being there and was chanceless, once things went wrong.
Spoiler
@@LaurensPP Maybe don't go digging through the comments before you've watched the video?
I don't know. That just makes sense to me.
Did what he should and put his crew first.
@@dfuher968 Me too.
That sign off of yours, "Your Safety Matters". Its so deeply impactful.
I heard a story once, of someone learning various labor laws for the first time. They had a chuckle at something like "Moving toxic materials is hazardous" or something of the like. An older co worker turned to them and said "These laws were written in blood".
And I think, after all this time, with protections being rolled back and times changing, now more than ever, everyone deserves to hear that their safety matters.
As an Alaska mariner I really appreciate these videos. Thank you for shedding light on some of these disasters where most do not. 🙏
And I would just like to express my thanks for your work upon the seas for the rest of us. May you continue to be able to safely return to dry land!
I hope you have your own EPIRB.
They are only $500 bucks for fuc*S sakes.
And a decent strobe.
As someone who’s done marine emergency response, that last monologue you did hit deep. The sheer difference between the standards I’ve seen between our safety standards and those I’ve seen on other commercial vessels is staggering sometimes.
@@lolbuster01 wise response but … “shits built differently these days”…
I work on a river dinner cruise boat on the Columbia River. I've been on board for 3 years we've had 6 different captains and this is the first one we have ever done man over board and fire drills with.
The Captain really helped save them, rest in peace to him.
Also you are absolutely right. I work in a field that is seen as a dangerous one but we don’t skimp on safety and making sure each of us gets back safely home at the end of our shift. We do all sorts of checks to make sure ever detail is spelled out to not take risk, even monitoring our rest schedules. So thank you for saying this, these men and women deserve to come home without that shrugging stigma. They have a right to safe passage and working equipment that can safe their lives. It’s outrageous how these feelings are normalized. Even to those of us who work in this industry. I’ve had to check coworkers at times for being complacent. We have these systems let’s all be safer and USE EM! I don’t care what work you do at the end of the day you have a life to live outside of that so make sure you’re doing what you need to to protect yourself and those around you. Complacency kills!
We live in a society that stresses productivity over everything. I left my last job because I looked around and saw the safety culture I wanted just wasn't there, and efforts to change that always seemed a day late and a dollar short. My safety matters, and I will walk off a job where I feel it isn't the top priority (and where it's not just a corporate mantra.)
@@smilingearth5181 will never forget working at a plastic injection molding plant, and there was scorched power outlets at every machine, puddles of hydraulic on the floor right by bare wires, and every time it rained everyone would have to run around getting buckets, pots, plastic containers, essentially anything due to the fact that the roof over the production area had more holes than swiss cheese.
Being 18 and naive I never reported a damn thing. Now I know that if I'm ever working somewhere like there again to document, document, document! And report the issues!
(Still have some scars from where I burned myself on the molds themselves because they wouldn't eject properly, so you had to manually grab them out. Of course, out of the 6 truck sized AC units, only 1 worked and it was only for the offices. So the production area was a cool 80 degrees on a cold day, so you literally couldn't wear long sleeves without getting dehydrated.)
@@MommyKhaos that sounds horrible and could have truly messed up your life at such a young age depending on a bad accident. These places really eat up their workers and have no care at all. Profits/productivity over the all smh
@@smilingearth5181 you’re absolutely right and if more ppl decided to quit and report those jobs they would either be forced to change or go out of business. If you can’t care about the little guy doing the tough jobs then you shouldn’t be in that business. They truly put ppl in the grinder and then when something happens to you and your family morns losing you they’ll quickly look for your replacement. You really gotta look out for yourself sometimes.
He literally made the radio call with seconds to spare and stayed with the ship until the end and Baxter for standing by his side. If he wouldn't't have made that radio call nobody would have been saved.
As a flag state surveyor, I use Northern Belle in my country as a case study on the importance of water tight divisions (especially in small craft), liferaft float free arrangements, EPIRBS on smaller craft, and the danger of fishing vessels moonlighting as add hock cargo ships when they are ultimately not fit for purpose. I may make use of your video here to save my voice next time I'm leading training. You closing remarks are very poignant, the amount of times I have had to sit down with owners and captains and explain how vessels stability works is shocking (or it was when I first started, now its par for the course). The responses are often the same "I know my boat and what it can take" or "well I have always done it this way and I've never gotten into any trouble out here", I now carry around a little binder with the examples of how these boats get loaded down with gear and modifications (like those stupid wings that guys think increase the boats stability when in actuality it makes it worse) and become unstable and are lost. They often end up saying "wait this can happen!?", yes and it happens all the time to people who think it will never happen to them.
The industry needs to shift away from this idea that suffering and high risk need to be part of the trade and that going out in unsafe craft should somehow be the norm. No getting yourself and your crew killed in way that are easily preventable doesn't make you a hero, it just makes you a statistic in my little book.
Little wings? Are you talking about bilge keels, stabilizer fins, or birds (paravanes, on outriggers)
@@jaysonlima7196 i think they mean the outriggers
@@Gantradiesthey definitely don’t mean the outriggers
@@jaysonlima7196stabilizer fins
Fishing. Farming. Minimg. Easy ways for a child to lose a parent.
The culture of these industries needs to change. Every tragedy needs to be examined and changes made to the regulations. AND grandfathering in needs to become something that's supervised, not handwaved or phoned in. The fixes are obvious, but cost money.
It's hard to tell someone 'I can't approve your boat', especially when the boat is the only income for several families. I suspect that that's often the cause of tragedy for those families.
May the Captain and Baxter rest in peace. May whatever comes next for them show them the kindness they deserve.
ouch that silence after he asked the make and size hurts
I grew up on my father's 85' long line sword boat ...he was adamant about the 24 hr inspection...bulk heads, door seals, bildge pumps, hydraulics, generator and main engine fuel filters and oil, life suits, raft ,EPIRB, fresh water supplies...I thought he was a bit crazy about this...I didn't get it...until we were caught in a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico for 36 hours...40' seas.
I worked on a fishi mg boat off New England and when I was a rookie I would get so frustrated with the captain constantly drilling into my head “BALANCE THE BOAT “. I didn’t think the 55ft could be effected by passengers weight and their position. Then I was instructed to read the boat “the pelican” about the head boat that capsized just off montauk with a most likely too crowded boat and November bow wind spray caused them to all huddle on the port side and a bigger swell than usual rolled them. Kike 40 people died and my captain who was 82 at the time was one of the boats that came to the aid of the doomed pelican. The infamous frank mundus was also there to help. I assume I know who he is. Anyway. Now it’s instilled in me. And I get to hassle the mate now.
To quote my grandfather, an old New England Navy man and fisherman, "You give the sea your respect, or the sea will take it."
I can't even fathom what 40' waves would have looked and felt like - your old man has a good head on his shoulders!
To this day the closest I've ever come to dying was getting caught by a freak outside set while surfing on a day waves were double overhead (like 10-12') - and I've had cancer and a motorcycle accident. No idea how big it was, definitely under 20', but I failed to dive deep enough and got sucked over the falls. I was under for what seemed eternity; it felt like I was an ant in a washing machine, or a giant had picked me up and was shaking me like dice before throwing me onto a craps table. The thought "this might be it" finally crossed my mind, which had never happened before during years of surfing, and then by the grace of God it released me and I broke the surface gasping for air.
That ended up being longer than expected, hadn't thought about that in ages. The sea is a beautiful, magical, and deadly place. Thanks for sharing that, hope you're doing well!
Hey Sam, just feel a need to voice my love of the content you've been producing. I think its admirable how much effort you put into not only researching these video topics, but animating helpful visuals and delivering the information in a manner that gives respect to the gravity and seriousness of the matter at hand. Though I'm sure the UA-cam algorithm would reward it, you don't sensationalize tragedy like so many other channels out there, you give the most informed, informative, and enlightening overview of a subject that you can and emphasize the significance of the things which could have been done to mitigate or prevent disasters in the case being studied as well as in the future.
I could (and would like to) go on about how amazing I find your channel and videos to be, but for the sake of brevity I'll just say this: While I'm not currently in a financial position to do so, once I am I will happily become a financial supporter of you and your videos. I know being a content creator for a fairly niche genre is difficult and not particularly well paying, but I cannot stress enough how much I believe you deserve the support required to continue. Please continue to make the content you want to see being made, I will happily be here to watch and support you as I can. Thank you for all your efforts!
Couldn't put it any better!
For me this is one of the worst parts about being a broke old man
excellent comment - excellent You Tube content
Very well said 👏
Thank you for witnessing for Baxter. He may not have been human but he was a soul on board and obviously the Captain loved him. I've just discovered your channel tonight and the way you treat those that were lost is with thoughtfulness and dignity. Subscribed.
Something you said near the end struck me.
So many people forgo taking care of themselves because they think being selfless is the top priority for them.
My best friend, for example, always wants to do things for his coworkers, even if it's not in his job description or if they don't ask. He seriously burns himself out and gets nothing in return.
But you can't take care of others if you don't take care of yourself. Prioritize your own safety and well-being. For you, and for them.
sadly though, people all too often use this mantra as the justification to put themselves first in all circumstances . where they make sure that they get what they want and "to hell" with anyone else.
You have to put on your own oxygen mask first before you can help others with theirs.
It's so important to take care of ourselves first, really great that he said this. As with other rescue professions, the rule in lifeguarding water safety is: Never rush in to save someone else before assessing conditions, the situation, and your options. (Reach, Throw, Row, Go.) Or else, the victim in a panic could pull the rescuer under water, for example, and then you have a double-drowning. The reason I mention this is because it always made such an impression on me that I've come to think of this now also as a metaphor for how to live a compassionate life - without giving more than I have for myself.
@laurat1129 , that's a great guideline for setting personal boundaries. You don't climb into a hole to get someone out of a hole. Your best off working from the top... and having help, too.
I had a Cocker Spaniel growing up so this video especially made me sad. Poor Baxter and the poor captain. :( I wish this accident had never happened. Thank you for putting their stories out there and advocating for improved safety.
You & both bud. I’ve lived in a house full of Cockers my whole life, so hearing about Baxter was like a stab to my heart 😭
R.I.P. to the Captain and Baxter. 🥺
I have an extreme fear of open water and won’t see myself on a boat anytime soon. But I really enjoy watching this kind of content. So happy I found your channel. One of the best!
Yep, i went out on a small salmon boat once. Everything was ok till a storm rolled in… spent 11 hrs trying to keep the boat pointed into the waves, absolutely terrifying! I will NEVER go over open water again
I'm not gonna lie... after the captain said they are getting into the life raft and the coast guard asked for for the make and length and color of the boat when they clearly are in survival mode is pretty frustrating to hear... I'm sure there is protocol and things they do and ask that we don't understand but you would think the coast guard has the ability to pre plan and be able to pull that information up from a database
God save the Coast Guard, well done on the rescue.
Former Bristol Bay fisherman here. Good video.
Good point about the lack of reserve buoyancy. Low freeboard tenders are spooky and can go down shockingly fast from lazaret leaks or equipment failures even in benign weather conditions.
An old family friend once rescued the crew of one unlucky (or very lucky) tender in Southeast Alaska that went down too fast to even get a distress call out. The tender was running in good conditions with the hold tanked down (flooded). It’s worth noting that fish are close to the density of water so it’s common for some vessels to almost always operate in a tanked down state for comfort/stability and therefore have very little reserve buoyancy aft. In this story, whatever failed happened so fast that the tender crew was in the water with no survival suits or radio transmission. Luckily for them, our friend was running his gillnetter through the same area, saw the tender flounder as it went down, and pulled the crew out of the water a few minutes later.
As a general comment, I understand the appeal of low working decks, but I’ve never really felt comfortable with how they’re implemented most of the time. Too many rapid sinkings. In contrast, the gillnet fleet doesn’t generally loose boats with no warning like that due to proportionally higher reserve boyancy.
Thank you for this channel and bringing awareness to workplace safety. My husband is a blue collar factory worker. He's in a fairly safe factory now but he spent a year working at a cast iron foundry when we first moved here. I was scared for him every day. The foundry is notoriously unsafe (they actually had a small explosion a few months ago and a fatal accident last year) and he had many close calls, one within literal inches. No one does anything about it because the economy here fully relies on the foundry as it supplies raw materials for every other factory in the region. Obviously that means the warehouses rely on it too. The only way to not be working down the line from the foundry here locally is to work fast food or retail, but the wages there are unsustainable. People will willingly risk their lives. The price is $18/hr. Even back home in Illinois the local ADM plant is joked to stand for Another Dead Man. Blue collar workers deserve to work in as safe an environment as possible.
The Captain here was the polar opposite of the one aboard Stretch Duck 7. Quick, concise action that gave his crew the best chance for survival.
I've been following you for about a year now and I've been so incredibly happy seeing your growth and the direction you've taken the channel. Your content is without question the best in the genre on the platform because of the insane amount of work you put into it. Keep it up, I'm excited to see what's next!
My wife was rescued by the Coast Guard helicopter crew and they are the best! I was a search and rescue pilot and ground search deputy and in the USAF and I hold the Coasties at the top of the list. Great job!
I think about this event once in a while and how Baxter the dog was last seen hiding somewhere because he was scared by the commotion. It makes me sad to think about.
Once again a fantastic video, Sam. You're doing much needed work to protect workers from inexperience, complacancy, indifference and consequently potential death.
As a life long 5th generation commercial fisherman, I really appreciate the time and research you put into figuring out every detail you can about the vessels and the situations. Anything related to boats and water I’ll be watching every one man
Thanks for the video, you did a nice job with it. I have been involved in the fishing industry my whole life including 44 years in Alaska, 28 as a captain. I was an acquaintance of the owner and had been around this vessel for years while tending in Alaska. The vessel construction was typical of a utility boat from the gulf, absolutely zero shear or crown built into the vessel, I.E. a curve built into the deck at the bow and stern to provide more stability if the deck becomes flooded in heavy weather. Almost all West coast fishing vessels are, or were, built with crown and shear to promote rapid clearing of the deck. The crown sends the water towards the scuppers or freeing ports along the bulwarks and the raised stern clears the water forward to those ports as well, getting the water off the deck helping maintain stability. I saw this vessel loaded many times in Bristol Bay and Togiak and she was always stern down when tanked down or full of fish. Consensus in the industry was that the lazarette flooded and when that happened there would have been no reserve buoyancy at the stern. Not sure if they were carrying cargo in the fish holds or had them flooded for stability but if he was carrying cargo in them and the hatches were not water tight from the top there could have been down flooding on the one side leading to more instability and capsizing. If they were flooded with water for ballast and were pumping them and the pump quit the water would back flow out the sea chest and cause free surface leading to listing, or, if they flooded them, shut the pump off and locked the sea chest down, the rolling action of the vessel in weather combined with leaky hatches could create free surface effect and exacerbate the instability.
Tendering in Alaska has been one of the safest parts of the industry, deaths from vessel loss are considerably lower than any other use of vessels in the industry. Regulation would not have helped in this case as the vessel is under 79 feet which is the cutoff for the stability requirements. You cannot regulate bad decisions. Mr. Royer made a very bad decision in overloading his vessel, if his alarms had have been working he may have avoided the outcome and as in most vessel losses, it is usually more than one thing that is to blame but in the end it is always human error and more regulation will never be able to alleviate that. One thing that the regulators fail to grasp is that the vast majority of vessels that are tending in Alaska are very stable and the majority of those seldom carry large deck loads of freight so if you look at risk benefit you really aren't gaining a whole lot here. Far more people die in recreational boating accidents every year than in the commercial industry yet the national media rarely covers it as they are treated like an automobile wreck, every day news but when a fishing vessel goes down it makes for sensational headlines. According to the CDC, 43 fishermen die per year on average and in recreational boating in 2021 were 658, from CG records from 2000 to 2019 there were 878 total deaths in fishing and from 2001 to 2020 13,596 died in recreational accidents. If you look at a graph of the recreational deaths they have remained static while fishing fatalities have dropped. The largest number of fishing related deaths in Alaska according to NIOSH is gillnetting followed by pot cod, sole trawl and setnetting, they accounted for 41% of deaths from 2000 to 2019. The biggest reduction to crab fishing fatalities was due to much needed stability checks and the rationalization of the fishery. Education of stability and checks before the season greatly improved the numbers as did the number of vessels that were reduced due to permit stacking and you didn't have to compete in a derby style fishery which the fisheries managers opened on a set day regardless of weather. My point is this vessel would have fallen through the cracks of the present act as he would not have had to have a stability letter if the boat was converted to tending before the act was signed but the act is just now starting to be implemented so he would not have had to comply at the time of the accident. Some of the requirements that are to be implemented are adopted from more profitable sectors of the industry like trawling and factory long lining and will unduly affect tender operators financially to the point of getting out of the business and the travesty of it is that if the boat fishes as well as tenders they are to be exempt from the scheme, as I understand it. All deaths are tragic and common sense regulation is a necessary part of trying to limit them but as always there seems to be an unfortunate side effect of regulating the small guy out of business and as the one CG officer once told me, "Bankrupting a fishery would be worth it if we save just one life". RIP Rob.
As a longtime Alaskan, well, simply said!
The two most important rules I've picked up when I entered the manufacturing industry and still remains with me today are:
1. Safety regulations are written in blood
2. It's the "normal" things that will kill you
I'm not the safety guy (I used to be the process guy of the company) but this has been something I've tried my best to instill to all of the new hires we got back in my former company, no matter their position or their work location. I've lost count of the number of times I'd gotten in arguments behind closed doors with supervisors about there being too much dust in their site or have too much unsegregated scrap. I've had to make too many incident recreations and reports to ever let minor things become "normal"
I hope your channel brings this sort of thing more into the mainstream
Thanks for what ya do. I am involved in boat repair in Florida. Couple thoughts. Considering marine casualties, almost always, the people are dead before they cast off. They just don’t know it. It takes three issues compounded to cause a casualty. Things are getting worse because our country has no mechanics these days. And, I try as hard as I can to get it right. I pray I never hurt anyone. Caring goes unappreciated, in fact it gets criticized. That’s what I got to say about that.
“Keep on keeping on”
Thank-you fir your care and compassion.
That is our purpose on this planet: Service to others. 🍀👍🏼🙏🏼
You examine all of these tragedies meticulously but also with the utmost sensitivity.
The footage, photographs and graphics are enthralling and complimented by a wealth of information and topnotch editing.
Thank you for your efforts.
Like others have expressed, one of the reasons this channel impresses me so much is in how respectful you are in talking about the incidents you cover. Sensationalizing would be easy, but disrespectful, and I cannot say how much I appreciate a channel that treats these horrible incidents with such care.
As for this specific incident, that initial mayday call was so clear, so informative. One of the most difficult things in an emergency is staying calm to impart crucial information. It's one of the reasons my workplace does regular drills and training for what to do in an emergency. It's tragic that the captain didn't make it but thank goodness he had the time and presence of mind to make that call.
Thank you, for mentioning the Captains dog, Baxter.
I know someone who served on the Northern Bell 3 years before she went down. He only spent one season on her fishing and then he went for a season on a large processing ship. Then came back to Washington. He is a writer and did it to get back ground about a character he was writing about who was sort of a sea monster werewolf. He needed to know what working a fishing boat and processor was to write intelligent about it.
Discovery's Deadliest Catch has highlighted how dangerous it can be on the Bering Sea, what is often forgotten is the Gulf of Alaska can be equally as dangerous. Extremely cold waters with frequent severe storms year round means every boat that goes into these waters needs to have safety procedures worked out before departing port, crew trained in the procedures and as many communication systems as possible.
Every boat includes pleasure boats since these waters are part of the Pacific Northwest Cruising area.
Can’t wait for these uploads, I don’t know how you don’t have 10x the subs. Love the videos!
I hear you!! I love this channel
not like he has 5k subs
You nail the atmosphere of these videos. I'm always most excited for them. A gem to have in the world of UA-cam
Check out Morbid Midnight’s channel for a similar tone. He covers disasters and expeditions/adventures gone wrong. All his stuff is great.
I don’t really know about boats, or regulations. I don’t even live near the ocean. But I am captivated by harrowing stories. The more I watch videos like this, the more I learn that tragedy don’t just happen, they start over a period of time.
I had the pleasure of meeting 2 of the captains from the Deadly Catch show in 2010 in Australia after my partner and I went to see them at a show the same night we happened to be staying in the same place. It was interesting to be able to hear about their lives and understand a little about what they faced on a daily basis. Very brave men indeed
YES have met the Deadly Catch Captain and crew of the (Northwestern) At Construction and work boats shows. Edger Hanson works for ( Delo Oil products) at their Booths. We have framed a picture of the Edger and my wife on the wall. He is a very humble and down to earth guy. He has lots of body pains, from years of working the waters of Alaska. I have listened to the Captain of the (Wizard) do a group teaching Lesson at one of these shows. There are many classes put on at these shows about SAFETY at Sea, stabilize vessels. My Humble opinion is they do LOTS of seminar classes on this very topic of this video. So the Education is out there. But I think like everything else in the Alaska fishing industry. It's up to Captain and OWNERS of vessels to make sure crew and vessels are SAFE. Can't stress it enough that the crew should INVEST their OWN money if the company won't at LEAST get an
Automatic signal device for the survival suits. I have even seen these new types of survival suits, that a guy sits in ICE filled water for HOURS at the shows to demonstrate the anti hypothermia added protection of these new suits. The booth put on demonstration of how fast it was to put on. YES there must be more done to make sure the vessel is Seaworthy, especially the Alaska water and Bering Sea areas of operations. I don't know if you knew this (Wizard) is WW-2 Oiler conversation to Alaska King Crab fishing vessel where the (Northwestern) is a special built for Alaskan king crab fishing. Some of the vessels fishing or supporting the Alaska waters were NEVER really built for those waters, and like this vessel they pay the price.
I am currently fixing a 100yo wooden sailing cutter to use it for leisure sailing along the coast eventually. Apart of the knowledge from my training and courses, your videos are gonna cost me SO much on all the rescue equipement I am gonna buy before ever leaving port. We are not required to have a liferaft on this vessel, but its Norway we are talking about, so...yeah.. imma getting a raft. Deck space my ass. And personal epirbs, absolutely.
It's people like you who think ahead that will end up alive
Can I come with you?
I would love to sail
I grew up in Clatsop County, OR and we had a number of Bering Sea boats and fishermen either retired or moored for the summers as well as tons of other fishing boats. Quite a few memorials and plaques to fishermen that never came back and the sense of "normal" that brought was very real. Even now having not lived there in 10 years, I see loss of fishermen as a "toll or tithe" for the industry. The headline you showed of 1st year without a casualty is actually amazing to me. I can't imagine how nice it would be for fishing to be as safe as flying. Or at least in the ballpark.
I can't imagine the short moment of relief someone would feel in a situation like that knowing that despite everything someone is coming to risk their life to rescue you
At the 28 minute mark, I come to realize why you have so much knowledge of ships and what drives you. Thank you for the hard work you put into these videos.
Hi Sam - this might be the most left field comment ever. You caring about seafarers and the incredible sincerity you tell us we matter really helped me just now. It's been a dark few weeks for me. I'll accept and appreciate every lifeline thrown my way to keep me wanting to go on another day, another step further.
Anyhow, I never faced danger at sea, but I took training more seriously than any of my shipmates when I was in the US Navy. I'm agast at how much everyday people take safety for granted. It sometimes seems almost suicidal. 😢
Thanks again for somehow creating light via such dark content.
Wild to see the northern bell on this one. They were our tender for several years in my childhood. Probably late 90s. Have some pics of me sorting fish and being pretty young musta been 97 or 98.
Remember it sinking, I was several hundred miles away but heard comsta kodiak responding.
Another gulf rig goes down with loss.... story repeats itself over and over and over. The amount of neglected gulf built boats that piled up over the last 50 years.... could keep you making videos for years. Usually they sink stern first from rotten steel or hatches in the laz.
I fished on one.... once. Cured me of that.
I have tears in my eyes. I have had a fire onboard while underway on a charter. Luckily we had other boats near by. The Capt did a wonderful job here of getting his info outnb location location location and bodies.
Liking before i even start heading a single word in the video. That's because i already know it's going to be perfectly edited, narrated, illustrated and researched.
Thanks BrickImmortar!
Rest in Peace to the Captain and his dog, it saddens me greatly that their live's were lost.
'Psh, they're heroes' reminds me strongly of a general attitude towards front line and health workers, especially nurses, who are working too hard for too little in this pandemic era.
I love the amount of effort and time put into the content that we are able to see. I haven't been able to find anyone else on this website who does it like you, and if it similar, they don't have the literal grit and passion that goes along with it. I look everyday to see if you post anything new, and today you have. Thank you for your hard work.
Sailors going down is a tragic tale as old as time. But the dog too?! That's not okay man.
Thank you so much for keeping your videos free and accessible. Your hard work is so very appreciated and important.
There is so much that I love about your videos. But something that is, I think, life changing, is how I recognize as I watch and re-watch each one how little I know about very fundamental things. So then I go out and learn more. Thank you.
Dude, I’ve been a subscriber for many years and I just want you to know that your research and eloquent narration is top notch! I’ve been in the trades and industrial environments all my life. You do accident/negligent actors/structural investigation and breakdown justice!
Thanks again friend. Learning how the professionals break down these problems with you has been a real help in life. Amazing how the Knowlage can be applied.
The beginning of the video gives me absolute chills and the end of the video is 100% right in terms of the normalization of “accidents” in a dangerous industry. I’v been working in the mining industry for the past 7 years, majority underground but also some surface experience. The mining industry is very reactive when it comes to health and safety standards. What I mean by this, and assume it applies to naval or any other dangerous industry, is it takes a HUGE disaster for it to be a “wake up call” for safety standards to be reviewed and then implemented. The latter portion of your video really hits home with me is what im on about.
I applaud you for being a safety instructor. Thank you for your in depth videos and hope you keep them coming!
Hey Sam, I've been listening/watching for quite some time, I listen to your stuff just about every day. Your information and story telling is extremely immersive and inspiring. These events like any history can be very good lessons and make you look at our infrastructure in a completely different light. I ALWAYS look forward to your content, thanks for all of your hard work!
I would just like to say that I really appreciate the work you do. I have begun to have a great interest in maritime safety largely in part to your channel, and I think the points you raise in all of your videos are crucial to the normalization of safety in this industry. I have been inspired to do further research and in my own life I consider how to avoid accidents and improve safety. Thank you for your work.
I'm Canadian and I spent many years as a civilian on a Research/Defense Research Vessel and other Canadian Navy support Vessels and I just wanted to Thank You for these videos and for a job well done. Cheers
The amount of work and research you put into each video is impressive, this is by far some of the most professional documentaries I've seen, UA-cam or otherwise. Your maritime content is simply amazing and I for one thank you not just for the informative part but also to spread safety awareness.
I can't overstate how much I enjoy these fishing vessel stories. Another great video.
This channel always provides remarkable insight of the chain of events that result in a disaster situation. I come away feeling almost like I have just attended a symposium focused on the analysis of every known detail and aspect of the "event cascade" that leads, inevitably, to the final outcome. Well done.
Phenomenal work as usual. I come from the airline world but find these marine incidents incredibly fascinating. Always lessons to be learned. Your presentation is great!
Same background here, @Terry Macintosh. I wouldn't find myself anywhere near the open sea on a crab boat, but I find the stories riveting.
These videos are hands down some of the best, most well researched, well delivered, and impactful videos on UA-cam. Good job and keep up the outstanding work!
One my all time favorite channels. Incredible research, wonderful atmosphere, and no silly sensationalism. Please keep up the good work!
Counting down the minutes! Love your channel great watch while I'm driving to work. My new favorite UA-camr for sure
Love your channel great watch while I'm flying my helicopter.
@@samharper242 thanks man I'm a pilot now
I appreciate the layer of OHS observations made in the video. Educational. Informative. Shows respect for the tragedy being discussed.
I greatly appreciate your excellent work. Your high standards for the correct ambience and tone put you in the upper echelon of video creators. I’m super exited for more! Thank you.
The fact-based narrative of this channel is outstanding. May the Captain RIP. Despite the apparent lapses, the Captain is an example of the meaning of duty.
Nice sendup for the Northern Belle. As typical a small ship as can be found in Alaska / Seattle waters. I spent time in Adak and Kodiak myself. Dreary and cold, chipping ice off deck. I loved every minute.
I'd so love to see this channel cover the sinking of Gulf Livestock 1 in September 2020.
I absolutely love your content bud. Your knowledge of the subjects you cover is unsurpassed. Thankyou.
That honesty of the safety co-ordinator is very refreshing, even through his words I can tell his regrets and diligence towards saftey, sadly they did not get a follow up test for 6 years. (2004-2010)
Love all the content, super stoked I caught the premiere today! I'm always excited for a new BI upload
The conclusion of this video is incredible. I really believe that each of us contributes to a culture that we create. We CAN make the world safer. People deserve it.
The opinion you voiced in this video at the end always puts a lump in my throat. I grew up in a heavily-industrialized area full of steel, coal, chemical, all other manner of the same kind of plant in the Tri-State area. We had a lot of railroad activity, too. My grandpa wore an asbestos suit and stood next to a pool of molten steel every day. Air pollution at the steel factory my Dad worked at was so bad that most of the people drove junk cars to work. If you took the nice car to work, the pollution would take the paint off your car in short order. My Dad raised me in a culture of safety all my life. I told you all this because I can't say thank you enough for discussing these incidents with compassion. People do these dangerous and necessary jobs over hundreds of industries and they don't always get to dictate the terms of their safety. These courageous people do these jobs not just to make a necessary living. They do it because it's in their family history. They do it because it needs doing and they step up to doing it.
Thank you for stepping up to be the voice of reckoning for those we lose.
REALLY appreciated your industry culture analysis at the end, and your plea for those in it to have their survival chances maximized! My impression is that a similar "*shrug* it's dangerous" attitude also largely prevailed in mining & forestry until well into the modern era, and tbh we still sometimes have to keep combating it on an individual or company level, though not so much an industry-wide one? (In this country at least). Sounds like the maritime space could learn some valuable stuff from other indistries...
My warmest thanks to yourself & the other failure/disaster analysis UA-camrs who try to help promote ongoing learnings from such tragedies without any disrespectful sensationalisation. Greatly appreciated, and hope that it helps the survivors, friends & families too.
The high quality level of your Content is worth the wait between episodes. I’d like to ask for more frequent uploads, but I understand how much work goes into these, so just keep them coming definitely in my top five favourite creators on UA-cam.!
Of all of the videos I've seen on maritime disasters, this is one of the few cases I've seen where all procedures were followed correctly and immediately, and abandoned immediately instead of trying to save an unsaveable ship.
I appreciate your efforts to research and catalog all you do.
Because there’s an alarming lack of info for a ship sunk 13 years ago.
Just leaving a comment to say how much i love the work you do. It's well researched, Well executed, without being sensationalist. Good Job.
Another brilliant video!
Rest in peace Royer and Baxter.
I am addicted to your maritime content especially. Thanks for the effort you put in to this.
23:11
Where men cried
Thanks for the vid, you always manage to give through and informative videos, keep it up!
Great video as always sir. Thank you for keeping us safe.
I just have to share:
If you do a video once more information comes out from the NTSB on the Rail Accident and associated ongoing clean up operation in East Palestine OH that it will be well received.
This incident regarding the Northern Belle is chilling to watch. Your quality is superb in sharing this story.
You tell us all the time that our safety matters, just want to let you know that to us your work matters.
Kind regards.
The Northern Belle… broke my heart when it happened and still hits me like a brick to the chest.
Thank you for another excellent video. And as always, thanks for reminding me that my safety matters. That's a critical thing I need to keep in the back of my mind at my job.
Oh man i’m only 30 seconds in and already have chills. Love your content as always, hope 2023 is treating you well!!!
Mr. Brick Immortar, I've worked over 50 years, and about 3/4 of it was in " unsafe conditions ". I'm now subscribing to your channel as I've seen too many "accidents " that cost injuries or death that should not have happened!
Im a car guy, dont even like boats at all, still have watched a ton of these vids. Very well developed and with tons of context and comparisons for ppl like me. Thanks for the content.
Your channel is amazing! Especially the boat/marine videos. I am a full time captain, I have made my crew watch a bunch of your videos. Keep it up you do great work!
The mayday calls at the beginning of the episodes are always haunting, can’t even begin to imagine.
Great video. Thank you for recognizing the USCG search and rescue team.
Great stuff. Thank you. Such great perspective on how different industries carry different cultural attitudes. I very much enjoy your productions.
Thank you for a very thorough insightful video. Life has taken for granted until it’s lost.
And just when life’s getting bad. Sam saves the day with awesome content
I really enjoyed this one, very nice job on the story that didn’t have as much background as you would’ve liked. I was in the Navy for many years, spent a lot of time at sea, was stationed in Adak, Ak. out on the Aleutians for a few years, and spent a lot of time on a halibut boat out there. Lots of respect for any who work on that water in the Bearing Sea.
I stumbled across wour work this morning with the Stretch Duck 7.
Thank you for your extraordinarily thorough coverage and fantastic illustrations.
I know this may appear to be an inside comment organised by yourself, but I am Adam and I've never seen your work previously and I'm from down under.
I'm subscribing and I look forward to watching more of relative content.
Taa m8. Awesome job!!!.