Coast Guard Sinks Abandoned North Pacific Fishing Vessel
SEAFOODNEWS.COM [Bristol Bay Times] by Jim Paulin January 6, 2018
Two old fishing boats that spent a few years going nowhere at the Dutch Harbor Spit Dock finally left together last month, one towing the other to a scrap yard in Mexico. The Alaska Patriot didn't reach its final destination. The Coast Guard shot it full of holes and sank it on Dec. 20, after it twice broke loose from the sister ship, Alaska Pioneer.
Both vessels were freezer longliners owned by the former Fishing Company of Alaska, with an unfortunate history of factory trawlers sinking in the Bering Sea. At least nobody was on board when the Alaska Patriot was sunk, in the Gulf of Alaska, by gunfire from the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Sherman, 220 nautical miles south-southeast of Chirikof Island.
"The intentional scuttling of the Alaska Patriot by the Coast Guard limited the potential for devastating damage and loss of life ..
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