The following inquiry was submitted to 14th District Public Information

Site on 12/22/09 05:39 (175527):
From : Michael DeNyse
Date : 12/22/09 11:52

Sir,

Good morning and thank you for your inquiry. U.S. Coast Guard Sector Honolulu and Marine Safety Detachment American Samoa have the lead for the investigation of the F/V Cape Elizabeth marine casualty.

It was reported to the 14th Coast Guard District command center that the F/V Cape Elizabeth, a 238ft commercial fishing vessel, sunk 750 miles north of American Samoa in approximately 2900 fathoms, Dec. 20, 2009.

There was a fire reported onboard the vessel; however, all 22 crewmembers got off the vessel safely. They were transported back to American Samoa by their sister vessel, F/V Cape Breton. At the time of incident, Cape Elizabeth had approximately 50,000 gallons of diesel onboard, but there is no visible sheen in the area.

Coast Guard personnel will continue to monitor the situation from Honolulu and investigate from MSD America Samoa. We need to rely primarily on crew’s interviews to ascertain what happened, because the vessel sunk in very deep water. The cause of the incident is currently under investigation.

Please submit a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) form http://www.uscis.gov/files/form/g-639.pdf for any other details and/or investigation results regarding this case. I hope this information was helpful. Please have a great day.

Very Respectfully,

PA3 Mike De Nyse

Public Affairs Specialist
14th Coast Guard District
Honolulu, Hawaii808-535-3235

Source: gCaptain.com