On November 6, 2024, about 1255 local time, the industrial vessel Cape Douglas was transiting Chiniak Bay, about 4 miles southeast of Kodiak, Alaska, when the captain observed flooding in the engine room. Unable to control the flooding, the captain and crewmember abandoned the vessel into a towed skiff and were rescued by a Good Samaritan vessel. There were no injuries. The vessel later sank with an estimated 400–600 gallons of diesel fuel on board. The vessel was not recovered and was a total loss, valued at $250,000.
We determined that the probable cause of the sinking of the industrial vessel Cape Douglas was flooding of a below-deck passageway or the pump room from an undetermined failure in the vessel’s deck washdown system. Contributing to the sinking were open watertight doors, which allowed progressive flooding into the engine room and other below-deck spaces.
