A U.S. Coast Guard team spent the past year reconstructing the Awakin's final trip, trying to learn what befell the boat and the five people on board.
Morgan Robidou poses with the charter boat Awakin, in October 2022. Robidou and his four passengers died when the boat sank near Sitka in May 2023. that killed five people last year, saying the boat likely capsized after it was hit by a wave.
“We determined, based on all the evidence before us and an analysis, that the initiating event of the Awakin’s casualty was a sudden flooding of Awakin’s well deck by a large swell,” said Cmdr. Nate Menefee, who led the Coast Guard’s investigative team. On a good day, the shore of Low Island can be treacherous. The bottom is irregular – formed by lava from the Mount Edgecumbe volcano thousands of years ago – and ocean swells can suddenly heave and break, especially at low tide.
Safety aboard a charter boat – officially called an uninspected passenger vessel, and unofficially known as a six-pack – is heavily dependent on the master. The Awakin was well-equipped with safety gear, including two “digital selective calling” radios that would have sent an SOS and the boat’s position, if only someone had known to push the button.
“There were five outgoing calls to 911 on Passenger One’s phone made between 15:01 and 15:12,” a narrator said during a slide presentation. “Data showed all five attempts to call 911 as not answered.” — Awakin’s anchor was found fouled on the bottom near Low island, but investigators concluded that it slipped from the bow roller after the boat capsized.
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