Unalaska, AK – The 59-foot F/V Carly Renee capsized late Friday afternoon about 22 miles from Unalaska. All four crew members were safely rescued.

The Carly Renee left Akutan around 12:30 pm on Friday with 2,000 gallons of diesel, 20 gallons of hydraulic oil, and 30 pots on board to fish for cod in Beaver Inlet on Unalaska Island. Coast Guard Lt. Karen Denny said that around 4 pm the boat began to list, or lean, to the starboard side. The crew said they checked for flooding multiple times and found none.

"When the vessel got to 60 degrees starboard list, the captain made a mayday call and instructed the crew to abandon ship," Denny said. "All crew members put on their emersion suits, deployed their life raft, got in the water, and were able to get into the life raft. The vessel then continued to have its extreme starboard list and eventually overturned."

They were soon rescued by the F/V Guardian, which had heard the mayday call on the radio.

"The fishing vessel Guardian came back; they doubled back. They were on their way home. They finished their [crab] quota already and they were on their way home. But they heard the mayday call and turned around and steamed right over."

They got all four crew members safely on board, a Coast Guard medic from the Cutter Monroe checked them out and found they had no injuries, and the Guardian took them back to Unalaska.

Magone Marine worked with the vessel owners and the Coast Guard to try to move the vessel from where it had drifted on Egg Island to a safe haven in Beaver Inlet, where it could be salvaged. On Sunday they pumped the Carley Renee full of air to float it and towed it at about two knots toward Beaver Inlet. The currents pushed the bow of the boat down into the water.

"The vessel Carly Renee burped some air, which was its buoyancy, and it ended up sinking in about 120 fathoms of water, which is about 700 feet of water," Denny said.

The vessel may not be recoverable in that depth of water. It released some oil before when it was near Egg Island and again at the sinking site, but Denny said it should not cause any environmental damage, and the oil sheen was too thin to be cleaned up.

"Eventually a sheen came out of that which was a half mile long and two miles wide. But it was a really thin rainbow sheen and not a big slick. It was like in patches, if you will."

The Coast Guard is still investigating what caused the sinking. "There was no indication that there was any kind of hull breach or anything like that. It wasn't necessarily taking on water. There was no indication based on the interviews or anything that we could see that it flooded," she said.

The boat was owned by Sandra Moeller and her brother, John, the governor's chief adviser on rural issues.