Arctic Rose owner testifies

Associated Press

SEATTLE – The owner of the Arctic Rose, the 92-foot factory trawler that went down in Alaska’s Bering Sea last spring with all 15 men on board, choked up Wednesday as he testified before a Coast Guard panel investigating the accident.

“I know and worked side by side with the 15 men who were lost April 2,” said Dave Olney of Seattle, who was aboard the boat from January until March. “On a vessel such as the Arctic Rose, you get to know your crew well. They were quality men, all of them. … Every one touched me in ways I will always remember.”

Olney, whose brother Mike Olney was the vessel’s engineer and among those lost, grew increasingly emotional as he spoke, choking back tears and pausing often to regain his composure.

Addressing relatives and friends of the men who died, Olney said: “I want you to know I grieve with you. … The crew members of the Arctic Rose will never be forgotten and will always live in my heart.”

Olney sobbed as he left the room during a short break in the proceeding. Some relatives of crew members in the audience wiped their eyes with tissues.

It was Olney’s first appearance before the Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigations looking into the accident, the worst in the Northwest fishery in decades. He has been granted immunity from prosecution.

He told the panel he had fished for about 31 years, starting when he was 17, in the waters of Puget Sound and Alaska. Olney said he bought his first fishing boat when he was 18.

As owner of Arctic Sole Seafoods, which pursued sole and other bottom fish off Alaska, he operated two vessels – the Alaskan Rose, acquired in 1994, and the smaller Arctic Rose.

Olney said he spotted the Arctic Rose at the Seattle Fishermen’s Terminal in 1998. It had been neglected, he said, but he felt it had potential. He bought it in 1999 and began modifying it to serve as a factory trawler.

Olney did extensive work on the Arctic Rose, from rebuilding engines to putting new linoleum and appliances in the galley. He didn’t recall any major problems on the boat, even in rough weather.

“The vessel handled really well,” Olney said. “It rode like a little duck.”

Capt. Ron Morris, head of the Coast Guard panel, repeatedly questioned Olney on safety procedures on the Arctic Rose. Olney said crew members received instructions for safety, loading and fueling by “word of mouth,” rather than from a manual.

Jensen Maritime Consultants of Seattle had prepared stability calculations, with certain guidelines, for the Arctic Rose in the spring and summer of 1999. But the crew had changed the way it handled fueling since those were done, and Olney said he had not had Jensen redo the calculations.

Morris also questioned Olney about a door from the trawl deck to the processing area that was supposed to be kept closed so that water didn’t get in and threaten the vessel’s stability. Underwater video revealed that the door was open.

Olney said crew members knew they were required to keep the door shut, but they often asked to open it on hot days.

David Rundall of Seattle, father of the skipper who died, said he’s glad that Olney could finally testify. His son, former Everett resident David Rundall, worked with Olney for 10 to 12 years.

“He’s an honest man,” Rundall said. “In that business, you’re only as good as your work.”

But Olney’s testimony did not answer all the questions of David Meincke, of Lacey, whose son Jeff, 20, was a deckhand and processor on the Arctic Rose.

“I think what happened here is we’re getting the abridged version of what we wanted to hear, not what really happened,” Meincke said.

Olney was scheduled to continue testifying through Friday to end a fourth round of Coast Guard hearings. Earlier hearings took place in Seattle and Anchorage.