A 52-foot seiner, the Jaci Grace, sank on June 30, just south of Metlakatla.
The Jaci Grace was on its second set of the fishing season and the crew were hauling gear near Canoe Cove, about a mile from the western shore of Annette Island. That’s when the boat’s captain, Josh Marsden, noticed the boat was sitting lower in the water than usual.
He ran down to the engine room. The bilge was dry. It didn’t make any sense.
“Before I knew it, the boat was — the stern was down so far. There was no saving it, and so I had everybody jump in the skiff,” Marsden said.
The small skiff was tied to the Jaci Grace, which was taking on water fast, but they didn’t know from where. Then things took a turn for the worse. They released the skiff, but:
“The skiff line got caught on the stern, and everybody was in the skiff, and the boat started rolling over,” Marsden remembered. “Your skiff is your lifeboat. But when that gets caught on your boat when it goes down, you’re in trouble.”
TJ Jackson, who was running a boat that was fishing nearby, saw the whole thing. He acted fast and cut his skiff loose as the Jaci Grace listed to one side.
The Jaci Grace was built in 1945. She was a beautiful wooden seiner that went by three names in her life – previously the Shelby Dawn and the Esperanza. Marsden renamed the boat after his daughter Jaci, who was in the skiff with her dad and three other crew members when Jackson pulled them aboard.
TJ Jackson came over with his skiff and just got everybody off the boat safely before everything went down.
Terrifyingly, after the crew was pulled to safety, the Jaci Grace was pulled under, dragging the still-tethered skiff down with it. Marsden said the whole thing lasted two minutes max.
“It just happened so fast that there’s no time to get your survival suits on or anything when something like that happens,” he said. “I was fully prepared. I have everything on the boat, every survival suit, and we go through the drills and everything, but there’s no drill for that one, you know?”
Nothing came afloat but a couple jerry jugs and a cooler.
Marsden has been a skipper for 16 years and has been on a boat all his life. He said what he thinks happened was a plank popped in the rear of the old wooden boat – maybe the rudder post. With how quickly the Jaci Grace took on water, he said a large piece of wood coming dislodged is the only explanation. He’d prepared the boat for the fishing season, and tried to cover every base. But some things you can’t prepare for.
Marsden said if Jackson wasn’t nearby and hadn’t acted so quickly, what could’ve happened is unimaginable.
“Everything is replaceable but your life,” he said
But still, the Jaci Grace was Marsden’s pride and joy. He said when it sank 45 fathoms – or about 270 feet – it took everything he’s ever worked for with it.
“I did lose everything I owned on that boat,” he said.
The Triton, a Metlakatla search and rescue boat captained by Metlakatla Fire Chief Desmond King, responded after to take the rescued crew to shore. The U.S. Coast Guard followed them in and took a report.
In the aftermath, Marsden’s family and community mourn the loss of that old wooden seiner, the Jaci Grace, but are thankful people acted quickly to prevent a greater loss.
