Top Vancouver Fishing Charter company took to social media on June 28 to brag about how its two vessels had gone out together and would head back to port with a haul of fish.
“This is what makes fishing in Vancouver so addictive — every trip brings a surprise, and we always head home with a full haul,” read the post on Chinese-language social media platform Red Note, posted at 12:24 p.m. with a video showing happy scenes from the company’s 11-metre sport fishing boat.
But the company’s other boat, the nine-metre Top Ocean, had sunk two hours earlier.
Six people were lost at sea — now feared drowned — and a rescue operation was underway that saved four others, including a Chinese woman who later died in hospital.
The last signal sent from the Top Ocean by its automatic identification system went out at 10:35 a.m.
Ashley Lin is the mother of Chen Ming, the 22-year-old captain of the Top Ocean, who is among those presumed drowned.
She wanted to know how it was possible that the charter operator, who was aboard the bigger boat, did not realize sooner that the Top Ocean had sunk in the Strait of Georgia.
She said in an interview that she encountered the operator on the docks in Steveston, B.C., around 7 p.m. on the day of the sinking, more than eight hours after the Top Ocean went down.
By that time, a massive search for the vessel and those aboard was well underway involving military aircraft, police and other rescuers. Lin said the operator, who she knows as “Rocky,” was unloading a group of clients for the firm’s larger boat.
That vessel was ordered detained by Transport Canada on Thursday, citing violations or safety deficiencies, including that it was a pleasure craft being operated as a commercial passenger vessel, and that it was not registered or marked properly.
Lin said he told her that two boats had headed out together, “no more than five minutes” apart.
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“The owner of the company told us the second boat left right after the first one, and he was on the second one,” Lin said.
She said the sequence of events left her not only heartbroken but also in shock.
“As a boat operator, if you can’t get in touch with the other boat, you should at least drop off the clients and then check on the boat immediately, that’s what you should do.”
The first mayday about the sinking was received at 11:45 a.m. by the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre; police estimated the victims had been in the water for about an hour by then.
The emergency radio call came from sailor Angus Stauffer, who was on a passing sailboat with wife Dorothy Stauffer, when they were stunned to see five people in the water without life-jackets. They said they managed to pick up three, while a fourth was saved later by others.
But Lin said she was told by the owner that he called RCMP immediately after losing contact with the other boat.
BC Emergency Health Services said it received a call at 12:16 p.m. about the sinking, and that ambulances picked up the survivors from the Coast Guard dock at Vancouver International Airport.
The Top Ocean now lies on the sea floor near Roberts Bank, southwest of Vancouver, in 153 metres of water. It was located Monday by an underwater drone, although RCMP said there was no sign of the six missing, who came from B.C., Ontario and Washington state, and were aged 22 to 33.
The post on Red Note has now been deleted, but it was seen by The Canadian Press and saved as a screenshot.
“Two boats headed out today, and the haul was off the charts. Big fish all day, live prawns, meaty crabs — you name it, and we caught it. Fish, prawns, and crabs all in one trip,” it said.
The accompanying video showed happy people reeling in fish.
Top Vancouver Fishing Charter’s 11-metre boat, made by Axopar, remained moored at Steveston’s docks on Thursday, in a space reserved for the Top Ocean, identified by its official number, C34952BC.
The Transport Canada detention notice was pasted to the Axopar’s window.
The Top Ocean’s registration shows it was owned by Lihe Yin and Shengnan Song, who give the same residential address, a 930-square-metre mansion in Richmond, B.C., while Transport Canada identified Yin as the owner of the larger vessel.
Lin and Chen’s girlfriend told The Canadian Press last week that Chen had complained of a broken side door on the Top Ocean.
Girlfriend Hailey Lee said she was on the boat with Chen two days before the sinking and there was a close call when the door sprang open and the boat filled with water.
RCMP said on Wednesday that investigators were examining whether the operation of the vessel played a role in the sinking.
Lin said she did not know if her son, who she called a “responsible child,” was properly licensed to captain a charter boat.
“Investigators continue to identify and engage with additional individuals who may possess relevant information regarding previous voyages involving the vessel,” police said.
Calls to Top Vancouver Fishing Charter were answered by someone who identified himself as “Rocky,” but he has repeatedly declined to comment. He did not pick up on Thursday.