On Friday night, the Coast Guard Communication Station in Kodiak received a MayDay call from a tender 52 miles southeast of Cordova. The message was relayed by the fishing vessel Heidi Linea at 9:20 pm.

The message relayed reported that the tender had lost steering in 20 foot seas. Watchstanders at Anchorage Sector issued an urgent marine information broadcast and directed the launch of an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter drew from Cordova to respond.

“The helicopter crew arrived on scene at 11 p.m. and after discussing the situation with the master it was decided it was unsafe to the leave the crew aboard in 20-foot seas,” said Petty Officer Jacques Castro, a search and rescue controller with Coast Guard Sector Anchorage. “All five crewmembers were safely hoisted and taken to Cordova.”

Th Coast Guard and the owner of the fishing tender St Joseph began working together to respond to the grounding of the vessel Saturday.

“We are working diligently with the owner of the vessel to develop salvage and response plans to recover the St. Joseph from the beach,” said Lt. Doreen McCarthy, command duty officer of Marine Safety Unit Valdez. “At this time there is no reported pollution.”

It was confirmed that the vessel grounded between 9 and 10 am Saturday morning between Yakutat and Kayak Island in the Gulf of Alaska. A Coast Guard overflight confirmed that the vessel was on the beach and the vehicle and portable storage tank that were ondeck had been dislodged and were now on the beach.

Even though there were 1,400 gallons of diesel aboard, the were no signs or reports of pollution near the site.

The Coast Guard will conduct further overflights of the vessel utilizing a Coast Guard MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew forward deployed from Kodiak to Cordova. In addition to developing salvage and response plans, personnel from MSU Valdez are working with the owner to determine the cause of the steering casualty.