It was on Thursday afternoon that the 24-foot "Tanya Faith" left Sitka traveling to Redfish Bay to fish for Sockeye salmon. Two of the fishermen aboard the vessel would not return to Sitka alive.

The three men, 46-year-old Dennis Moore and Fred Swenson, both from Montesano, Washington and 44-year-old Sitka resident John Reid were to meet up with more fishing/hunting buddies before continuing to the destination in the borrowed aluminum 24 foot drop-bow recreational vessel.

Realizing that they had missed their meeting point, the three men turned around in the vessel into the weather.

It was not long before the strong winds and large waves proved too much for the small vessel the three men headed for shore and safety. The trip to shore would fail however and 100 fathoms from shore, the boat swamped and quickly sank as the three men made it into a raft.

The weather would prove too much for the raft as well and the three men were tossed into the cold Gulf Coast waters. Wearing life preservers, the three attempted to make their way to shore. Two of the men would gain purchase of a rock about halfway to shore. The third was swept away out of sight in the weather.

The refuge on the rock was only temporary, as the tide began rising, the rock began to disappear below the surface. The remaining two men decided to try for shore. Only one, Dennis Monroe, would make it, the other was claimed by the sea.

Monroe spent the night on the beach wearing only a tank top and jeans and his life jacket. The following day he found a discarded fishing lure with a reflective surface. He used the lure to attract the attention of the crew on the fishing vessel “Otter,” he was picked up, an alert to the Coast Guard was dispatched, and Monroe was transported back to Sitka.

Five fishing boats would take up the search for the missing boaters on Friday along with an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew. The Coast Guard Cutter Chandeleur and a Canadian DeHavilland Dash 8 aircraft also joined the search.

One of the missing boaters was found unresponsive in the water by one of the searching vessels on Saturday. He was picked up by the vessel and transferred to Jayhawk helicopter where he was taken to Sitka. When found, Reid’s remains were seven miles offshore of the southern trip of Baranof Island.

Although the debris field of the vessel was found, the third missing boater remained lost. After no further success, the search was called off on Saturday night. The search had covered 1,224 square miles of the area before coming to a close.