I woke up with a smile. Today was the halibut derby tagging day. I was going to go fishing.

Everyone met at the Central (Charter Booking Agency) to see who went on which boat. I got 10 passengers plus my office lady and a deckhand making it 13 people in all. We all got aboard the Halibut Endeavor, a 39-foot inspected boat. Everyone was happy to get out fishing. I gave a safety meeting before departure as I routinely do. I told everyone about all of the safety features required on an inspected boat including the location of the life raft and life vests; not knowing or even thinking about even using them.

We left the harbor and headed out to one of my favorite fishing spots. In an hour and a half we were fishing. Everything was normal and no problems except we had only caught one halibut in over an hour. I decided we needed to move. We moved about a mile and a half southwest and anchored up again. Within a half hour we had caught 10 or 15 cod. Everything was still normal and no problems whatsoever. We had finally found some fish. We caught, tagged and turned loose a dozen fish then proceeded to catch a limit for the volunteers. Upon catching our limit we pulled anchor and headed for home. I turned on all three bilge pumps as I always do after fishing and the deckhand verified they were all working. At this time everything was still normal.

I throttled up to 10 knots and remained there while the guys filleted the fish. The seas were two or three feet with an occasional four-footer and a 10-knot wind. Thirty or 40 minutes later Jack gave me the high sign that they were through filleting and I could speed up and go home. About five minutes later Jack said that the rear deck appeared to be quite wet and I should check it out. I opened the cabin door and looked back. There was some water streaking intermittently across the deck. Nothing had changed so I told the deckhand, Jack, that I would slow down if we could open the lazeret to see if it was filling with water. As I slowed down to about five knots the water began running through the scuppers and across the deck and out the back.

At this point I knew I could not open the hatch. With the seas as they were, each time the boat went through a wave the water streaked across the deck. If we opened the hatch it would certainly fill the lazeret. At this point I realized our time was limited. We had two choices. First, we could stop and deploy the life raft that would take several minutes and with the boat being unstable could possibly roll over and put everyone in the water. I elected not to take that chance. There were a couple of passengers that I didn't feel that would survive any time at all in the water.

I throttled up to maintain as much control as I could and had everyone put on lifejackets and move out of the cabin and out on the bow to help me keep the boat level and as much weight as we could off the rear of the boat. I called the Coast Guard and told them our situation, then pointed towards Seldovia on the beach. The Coast Guard Auxiliary and the cutter Roanoke (Island) were in the bay doing training exercises. They both responded and headed to our position. I kept them informed of our condition and position. As soon as the auxiliary boat told me they could see us I turned directly toward them. After everyone except myself and Jack were off the boat it died and rolled over. The auxiliary rescue boat pulled back up to us before we sank and picked up Jack and I.

After the Endeavor sank the life raft opened and the EPIRB (Emergency Position-Indicating Radio Beacon) was working. Of course then we were rescued. I was thankful that I had the group of people on board that I did. Everyone was great. They helped a tremendous amount and no one panicked. There were several boats that responded that I want to thank also. The Coast Guard Auxiliary did a fantastic job and (was) very professional. I also appreciate all the calls from everyone that were concerned and supportive.

Weldon Chivers was captain aboard the 39-foot Halibut Endeavor, owned and operated by Halibut King Charters.