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Burst pipe may have caused sinking

Coast Guard investigators think a burst pipe and a failed bilge alarm system may have led to the demise of the "Alaska Juris". Chief Engineer Eddie Hernandez peered into the wamped engine room. The cold seawater was waist-deep, and more was bubbling up from a leak, possibly from a busted pipe on the starboard side of the trawler. Hernandez was a key witness for Coast Guard officials seeking to unravel the mystery of the "Alaska Juris"’ sinking on a calm, summer day. Officials also are investigating the tangled operations of the vessel’s owner, Fishing Company of Alaska, which teams with a Japanese fish buyer and still operates three factory trawlers whose large crews in remote North Pacific locations net, process and freeze the catch. The report on the Alaska Juris isn’t expected for months. The hearings offered a gritty look at conditions aboard the vessel, which had benefitted from millions of dollars in investments in maintenance — yet still appeared so unsafe, one engineer said, that he quit this year after spending just a day at port. The "Alaska Juris" was insured for $4.3 million, far below what it would cost for a replacement ship. Although the Coast Guard felt obligated to look at the deliberate scuttling of the vessel as one possible scenario, this was not a major focus of the investigation. Instead, Coast Guard officials believed the leak that sunk the "Alaska Juris" likely resulted from a failure in the piping that brings seawater in for tasks such as engine cooling. The leak could have resulted from a burst pipe, or one of the other parts of the system, such as a strainer that filters the incoming water. The performance of the bilge alarms remains under investigation. The alarms may have been turned off deliberatively to prevent them from sounding false alerts, which would have posed a significant safety risk. Another factor that likely led to the sinking was the lack of a viable pumping system. When Hernandez finally realized the water was rushing in, he chose not to try to start up bilge pumps because, they were hard to operate, worn out and probably wouldn’t do much good. Just before the crew abandoned ship, there was a brief attempt to deploy another emergency pump. But the crew didn’t set it up right, and it, too, wouldn’t have done much good even if properly positioned, according to Hernandez. During the hearings, Fishing Company of Alaska officials testified the "Alaska Juris" underwent extensive repairs over the years for work on the hull and to replace equipment, including aging pipes. The captain, Paul Jopling, testified that he thought the ship was on the upswing after a difficult past that included problems with crew members who violated company policies to drink alcohol aboard the vessel. Jopling also said he got the support he needed from shoreside officials. He described a vessel that lacked ventilation, had an unruly crew and serious maintenance problems. “I/we are holding it all together, and in my opinion, hanging on by a shoestring at best,” wrote Hernandez in an email to Fishing Company of Alaska officials on July 18, just eight days before the boat went down. One item he cited for repair during the next port stop — “if we can hang on that long” — was a 30-foot section of rotted-out pipe that carried seawater into the vessel. Hernandez and Jopling also were at odds on the power of Japanese fishmasters hired by the Japanese company that buys the company’s catch. They are supposed to help the crew find and process fish, and are forbidden under U.S. maritime law from assuming command of the vessel. Jopling, in his testimony, acknowledged he had battled with a Japanese fishmaster over safety issues, such as storing too much gear on deck, a concern Jopling had threatened to quit over. Hernandez perceived the Japanese fishmaster as the most powerful person aboard the "Alaska Juris". He was definitely the guy in charge, telling the captain what course to follow. The Japanese crew members also had their own quarters, with a lock the U.S. crew had no key to open. That was a safety issue that resulted in a citation issued by the Coast Guard during an inspection. Coast Guard officials, when their final report is released in the months ahead, are expected to look at the role of Anyo’s Japanese crew and also will review the Coast Guard program launched in 2006 to improve the safety of vessels, such as the Juris.

Testimony regarding alarm and repairs

The Coast Guard wants to know why a siren failed to go off as water flooded the engine room of the "Alaska Juris". When water first began flooding into the ship on July 26, a network of bilge alarms should have unleashed a cacophony of sound to alert the crew that something was wrong. “The siren can wake the dead. Anywhere on the vessel you can hear the alarm,” said Ben Eche, an electrician who did shore-side work on that alert system, in testimony Tuesday during Coast Guard hearings in Seattle into the sinking of the vessel. But crew testified the alarm did not go off, a troubling development that prompted Coast Guard officials to question Eche about how the system operated. Eche said he had tested the alarm system while the Alaska Juris was in port, and it worked properly. Eche speculated, in his testimony, that it may have malfunctioned because someone deliberatively disabled the system. That might have happened because someone didn’t want to be bothered to respond to the alarm if small amounts of water frequently entered the bilge. But Eche didn’t venture to state a possible motive. Word-of-mouth ended up serving as the alarm once the engine room flooded, and everyone was able to assemble on deck, don survival suits, evacuate into life rafts and make it safely to shore. Coast Guard investigators are trying to determine, during two weeks of hearings that began on Dec 5, what caused the seawater to rush into this below deck area. On Dec 6, an Alaska-based welder testified about repairs to the "Alaska Juris", an aging vessel built in the 1970s that had a patchwork network of below-deck piping. Some of it was thin-walled pipe from Japan, according to the testimony. Though some had been replaced, Ian Bagley, of Alpha Welding, confirmed in testimony that the vessel’s chief engineer had put in a request for a major overhaul of the piping system. Bagley said he felt it was safe to go out on. But he described the boat as pretty average, “probably a bit dirtier but there are a lot of old factory trawlers out there."

Hearings have commenced

The Coast Guard started two weeks of hearings on Dec 5 into what caused the flooding that sank the "Alaska Juris" off Alaska, forcing the evacuation of its crew of 46 on July 26. What caused the flooding and sinking of the "Alaska Juris" on a relatively calm summer day in the Bering Sea has not been determined, and will be investigated in Seattle. The Coast Guard hopes to be able to pinpoint factors that contributed to the sinking, and use the findings to improve safety in the fleet and prevent future high-seas mishaps. More than three dozen other people are expected to be called to testify, including crew, Coast Guard inspectors and shore-side personnel involved in maintaining the "Alaska Juris". The hearing will be held in the Henry M. Jackson Federal Building in downtown Seattle, and will be livestreamed.