Trawler was ‘very safe’ ship

BOSTON – The head of a firm that performed engineering work on a fishing trawler that sank in the Bering Sea, killing five crew members, told investigators Wednesday that the Alaska Ranger had a design feature that should have protected the vessel in case its hull was punctured.

The Seattle-based ship went down March 23 while it was on its way to mackerel grounds in the Bering Sea, killing five . The Coast Guard and a nearby ship rescued 42 crew members.

Herbert Roeser told a federal panel he received a 3 a.m. phone call from the ship’s owner as the imperiled vessel was taking on water in the rudder room, which Roeser called an unlikely location.

“It’s very surprising the water came in that way, because it has double-wall construction in that area,” said Roeser, owner of Seattle-based Trans Marine Propulsion Systems Inc., which upgraded systems on the Alaska Ranger in the late 1980s and early 1990s, including the addition of a backup hull wall.

Roeser called the vessel “very safe,” testifying he was unaware of any design shortcomings or problems turning up in inspections to indicate how water reached the rudder room.

Roeser testified in a Boston session focusing on the vessel’s design before a five-member panel called by the Coast Guard and National Transportation Safety Board. Earlier panels in Alaska and Seattle heard testimony from surviving crew members.

The panel’s inquiry to find out why the Alaska Ranger took on water is focusing in part on the hull because of testimony that the vessel had gone through pack ice that could have weakened the hull in trips preceding the fatal voyage.

Roeser said the ship, which entered service in 1988, had typically undergone hull inspections by divers three to four times per year. He said he was unaware of problems found in those inspections or when the vessel was inspected during dry-dock work in 2007.

Upgrades to the Alaska Ranger’s propeller and steering systems performed in the 1990s also don’t point to any obvious design problems to explain the sinking, Roeser said.

He said work to increase the strength of the vessel’s stern, including the addition of a second backup hull wall, cost the owner, Seattle-based Fishing Co. of Alaska, about $1.2 million.

In previous hearings, crew members testified water was seen in or near the rudder room several days before the sinking. They also testified the ship had operated in broken pack ice on four trips in January and February.

Several witnesses also reported drinking on board, despite the ship owner’s zero-tolerance policy on drugs and alcohol.