Three Fishermen Killed When Boat Pitch-Poles Trying To Cross a Stormy Bar in Oregon
Three commercial fishermen on an old wooden 42-foot crabbing boat were killed when they tried to cross the Yaquina Bay Bar near Newport, Oregon, at night in breaking seas even as a Coast Guard motor lifeboat tried to lead them to safety. In a harrowing account, the Coast Guard said it tried to warn Stephen Biernacki, 50, the skipper of the Mary B II crabbing boat that he was drifting outside the channel, exposing it to 16-foot breakers. The Mary B II was among a group of crab boats that tried to cross the bar about 10 at night to escape a…