Tillamook County Sheriff's Office, Oregon - Press Release 03-08-2006
http://www.tillamooksheriff.org
Sheriff's report gives chronology in Feb. 7 sinking
Published: March 14, 2006
BY NAN NELSON
Headlight-Herald Staff
TILLAMOOK — The Tillamook County Sheriff's Office has officially closed its investigation into the capsizing of the Catherine M, a commercial crabbing vessel that sank Feb. 7 near the south jetty at the mouth of Tillamook Bay, killing all three men aboard.
A report released Monday by Marine Deputy Paul Fournier detailed the events surrounding the 1:24 a.m. accident that took the lives of the boat's skipper and two deckhands, but made no attempt to determine the cause or fix any blame for it.
The report mentioned, but did not comment on the results of toxicology tests performed on the bodies of the three victims that were released last week by the State Medical Examiner's Office. The results showed that the Catherine M's skipper, Craig Larsen of Warrenton, as well as deckhands Jeffrey King of Garibaldi and Trona Griffin of Rockaway Beach all tested positive for methamphetamines in their systems. All three also tested "presumptive positive" for the presence of marijuana. Larsen's blood alcohol level was .02 percent and Griffin's was .01 percent.
The U.S. Coast Guard's investigation is still in progress.
According to Fournier's report, he was first notified of the incident in a telephone call from a sheriff's sergeant at about 3:30 a.m. with a report of flares spotted in the area off Bay Ocean Spit.
According to Fournier, Tillamook 9-1-1 was notified of the accident by the Coast Guard's Tillamook Bay station at 2:24 a.m. His report said two deputies and personnel from the Tillamook Fire Department were on scene when Fournier arrived and set up a command post in the parking lot at Bay Ocean Spit.
The only information he had at the time came from the fishing vessel Kilchis, which radioed in about seeing two flares fired in the area near the mouth of the Bay. The Kilchis also reported seeing debris washing up on the spit.
Fournier said the Coast Guard reported that the Catherine M was supposed to be heading into the bay from the Warrenton area with possibly two people aboard.
The Tillamook County Search and Rescue team was activated and Tillamook
fire personnel made their way north on the beach by foot. At 4:04 a.m., Fournier said, the body of a man, later identified as King, was found lying face down at the water line.
Searchers also found an inflatable life raft on the beach near the jetty and three survival suits on the beach among the debris. According
to Fournier's report, the amount of debris led to the conclusion the boat had completely broken apart.
Fournier said he called Oregon State Police Fish and Game officers to learn more about who might have been aboard the vessel at the same time crew members' relatives were calling 9-1-1 looking for information.
He said Travis Nolen of the Coast Guard's Marine Safety Office in Portland arrived at the command post and said he would be acting as lead investigator in the incident. According to Fournier, Nolan made arrangements for the collection of evidence from the scene and sheriff's deputies assisted as needed.
According to Fournier, the search for victims continued until nightfall Feb. 7 and again the following day. The search "included areas south of the south jetty and north of the north jetty and the shores of the bay because the location of where the boat capsized was believed to be unknown," Fournier reported.
Fournier said he spoke on Feb. 9 with Ann and Roland Barkholtz of Barview, who told The Oregonian newspaper that they saw the flares and subsequent sinking of the Catherine M from their home, which overlooks the mouth of the bay.
Ann Barkholtz said she could clearly see a large fishing boat "in the wrong place" on the south side of the south jetty. By her description, Fournier said, the boat was in the surf line, roughly 200 yards south of the south jetty.
Barkholtz said the vessel's work lights were on, which made it easy to see the waves breaking over the sides and back of the boat. When she first saw the boat, its bow was facing toward the shore of Bay Ocean Spit.
At what she estimated to be about 1:25 a.m. she saw "two flares for sure, maybe three" fired from the boat. She alerted her husband who
called the Coast Guard.
On the phone with Coast Guard officials, Barkholtz reported the boat appeared to be anchored because it did not seem to be moving. She said the boat shifted direction and was facing north when it then "slapped" up and
down three times and then "went straight down" into the water.
Fournier said he asked Investigator Nolen why county law enforcement and rescue officials had not been informed of the boat's exact location. He said Nolen replied that the logs from the Tillamook Bay and Astoria stations made no mention of an eyewitness knowing the exact location of the boat or that anyone had witnessed the boat going under.
Tillamook County Sheriff Todd Anderson told the Headlight-Herald Monday that inclusion of this information in Fournier's report was not intended as a criticism of the Coast Guard.
Fournier also said Nolen told him he learned of the eyewitness account by reading about it in The Oregonian.
The bodies of Larsen and Griffin were discovered in the days following the sinking.