An Alaskan fish tender transiting Chiniak Bay to dump fish byproduct sank in part because the vessel’s watertight doors in the engine room and companionway spaces remained open, the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said recently.
The industrial vessel Cape Douglas was operating as fish tender on November 6, 2024, near Kodiak when it began to flood below deck.
The captain and the crewmember were unable to control the flooding and abandoned the vessel into a towed skiff. They were rescued by a Good Samaritan vessel.
The 80-year-old Cape Douglas sank with an estimated 400 to 600 gallons (1,500 to 2,300 litres) of diesel fuel on board. The vessel was not recovered and declared a total loss valued at US$250,000.
Investigators found that the flooding might have been contained if the watertight doors were secured.
“Maintaining watertight integrity of a vessel is a fundamental principle of safe operations on water,” the NTSB report said. “Within the hull, watertight bulkheads and watertight doors are designed to prevent progressive flooding by containing any incoming water to the compromised space.”
The NTSB said the captain observed flooding about 15 minutes after opening the inlet valve for the seawater pump. The crew was intending to use the vessel’s deck washdown system to loosen fish byproduct and wash it overboard.
The investigation found that the flooding was likely caused by a system piping or component failure of the washdown system, which was at least 25 years old and had not been used or tested for at least two years before the sinking, according to the captain’s statements.
The NTSB said that, before the sinking, the vessel had visual signs of rust and deterioration, and, along with documented hull wastage, suggested a general degradation of the vessel and onboard systems, such as the deck washdown system.
About seven months before the sinking, the City of Kodiak harbormaster raised concerns about the vessel’s condition.
Cape Douglas was originally built in 1944 as LCT-1443, a US Navy tank landing craft (LCT), the NTSB report stated. The LCT was in service during the final months of World War II but was already decommissioned by 1947.
Marine investigation report 25-22 is available online.