September 4 or 5, 1956 ~ November 19, 1996
Coast Guard Gives Up Search for Missing Crabbers
By Jim Doyle, Chronicle North Bay Bureau Nov 21, 1996
The Coast Guard abandoned its search yesterday for the bodies of two men whose crabbing boat capsized near Point Bonita on Tuesday.
A helicopter search was curtailed yesterday afternoon because of fog and low visibility.
Rescue vessels continued to search off the Marin headlands until nightfall, but found no trace of the two crabbers.
“The search was called off at sunset, pending further developments,” said Coast Guard spokeswoman Shelly Freier.
She said that Don Thielan, Andrew King and James Anderson were aboard the 48-foot New Florie S. The boat capsized about 1:45 p.m. Tuesday about a mile offshore.
Anderson swam to shore at Rodeo Beach. He was treated for hypothermia at Marin General Hospital and released. Thielan and King have not been found.
Search and rescue personnel encountered winds blowing at 35 miles per hour, breaking waves of 15 to 20 feet and water temperatures of about 52 degrees.
The three did not appear to have paid attention to a small craft advisory warning that the National Weather Service had begun posting a day before the incident.
The boat departed from Channel Marina in Richmond at about 6 a.m. Tuesday and motored outside the Golden Gate to Double Point — two miles south of Stinson Beach.
None of the men aboard the boat were wearing a flotation device or survival suit. Without a survival suit, the average person could survive a maximum of eight hours in the water chill.
However, an emergency positioning indicating radio beacon (EPIRB), was automatically activated when the boat capsized — making it easier for rescuers. “We got the alarm on the EPIRB before we were notified by phone,” Freier said.
Frank Tallericko, the owner of the vessel, could not be reached for comment.
“I don’t know if this was a professional crabbing boat, or a boat for hire. I just know that they went out to go crabbing,” Freier said. “Anderson said that his last sight of them was that they were clinging to crab pots.”
