July 27, 2017 — The captain of a fishing boat “didn’t hesitate” and jumped into choppy, 47-degree water to save a crewman after their commercial vessel capsized off the coast of Alaska.
Amid 17-mph winds and 5-foot seas in the Kupreanof Strait near Raspberry Island — about 250 miles southwest of Anchorage — the captain, Christian Trosvig, and three crew members aboard the Grayling starting taking on water at about 3:30 p.m. Monday, according to a statement released Tuesday by the Coast Guard.
A nearby vessel, the Calista Marie, spotted the Grayling in trouble and notified Coast Guard officials — who were nearby on a training mission and arrived just in time to see Trosvig leap into the perilous waters to help an overboard crewman.
“That fisherman didn’t hesitate,” said Lt. Kevin Riley, an MH-60 Jayhawk pilot. “It is a testament to how tough those fishermen are and how far they will go to help fellow Alaskans.”
The captain of the Calista Marie, Dale Pruitt, told the Alaska Dispatch News that he noticed “something was wrong with the Grayling” when its stern sunk below the water’s surface.