SEATTLE -- Family members say it was likely Eric Jacobsen, the ship's captain, who made the radio call for help as the Seattle-based Alaska Ranger began taking on water early Sunday morning.

"Mayday, mayday, mayday! We are flooding -- taking on water in our rudder room," a crew member is heard saying in a recording released by the Coast Guard.

Rescue aircraft rushed to the scene 120 miles west of Dutch Harbor and saved 42 crew members of the Seattle-based fishing vessel Alaska Ranger, who were floating in the open ocean or in life rafts. Four men, including captain Eric Jacobsen, of Lynnwood, died. A fifth man remains missing.

Jennifer Jacobsen says she hasn't slept since learning of her uncle's death.

"He was the most awesome person I think I've ever known in my life," she said. "It just doesn't feel like it's real. I see all the pictures and it's hard to take."

Eric Jacobsen

Jennifer said her uncle was likely the one who gave the order to abandon the ship.

"No doubt in my mind that he thought of everyone else first and got everybody off," she said. "And it's unfortunate that I lost my uncle but he's a hero now so. I'm proud of him.

"I don't even know of anyone who could compare. He was pure and he loved everybody, and he would do anything to make everybody happy."

Eric's son Scott added that Eric was not the usual captain of the ship -- that he was just filling in for a while.

Scott also wondered how long Eric had to wait out floating in the sea to be rescued after making sure the rest of the crew got off the ship.

"I think it just points out the fact that he was an honorable man," Scott Jacobsen said.

Search Continues For Missing Crew Member

The Coast Guard continued to search on Monday for the missing crew member off Alaska's Aleutian Islands. The missing man was identified Monday as Satoshi Konno, a Japanese citizen.

Initially, family members of the victims told KOMO 4 News that Konno's body had been recovered. But the Coast Guard said that information was incorrect, and their search is ongoing.

During the initial rescue response, one person fell into the water from a helicopter rescue basket as it was being lifted into a rescue helicopter, Coast Guard Lt. Eric Eggan said. It was not immediately clear if this was the missing crew member.

"It could be, but we're not sure," he said.

The helicopter was low on fuel and could not perform an immediate search, Eggan said. The incident is under investigation.

Cause Of Deaths Was Hypothermia

A preliminary investigation shows the four of the crewmembers did not make it to life rafts and died of hypothermia, said Alaska Wildlife Troopers Sgt. Greg Garcia.

"It appears they were in the water for about six hours, and as you may know the Bering Sea is phenomenally cold," Garcia said.

"I don't know if there wasn't enough room in the rafts or not for them, but it sounds to me that the hierarchy wanted to assure everybody else is saved," he said, based upon the troopers' interviews with members of the Rangers' sister vessel, the Alaska Warrior, which assisted in rescue efforts.

Two Colorado brothers who had considered working on the Alaska Ranger this year saw the short list of victims and were relieved to see that none of their friends were among the missing or deceased.

Will and Doug Sterner of Pueblo received updates from a friend on the ship, whom they declined to identify because the company insists crew members not speak publicly about the sinking, the Sterners said.

"They said the ship went down fast once it started going, about 15 minutes," said 22-year-old Doug Sterner, who did one three-month stint last year on the Alaska Ranger.

"They said the captain had been very brave about the whole thing," he said. "He was one of the last, if not the last, to abandon ship. That might have been the result of him not making it."

13 Survivors Not In Life Boats

When the ship sank, waves up to 20 feet and winds of nearly 30 mph were reported, Lane said, revising earlier estimates of 8-foot waves.

Coast Guard swimmers plucked several crew members - most of whom were able to pull on survival suits - either out of the sea or from life boats onto helicopters during a rescue operation that began about 2½ hours after the mayday call was received.

At least 13 survivors spread out over a mile were not in life boats, but were in the open water.

"Saving 42 people in Bering Sea in the winter is an incredible accomplishment," Coast Guard Cmdr. Todd Trimpert said in a prepared statement.

The Alaska Warrior delivered 22 survivors and three of the dead crew members to Dutch Harbor, about 120 miles to the east. The ship went into a private dock, where there was no public access to survivors.

The remaining 20 survivors and the fourth dead crew member were still on a Coast Guard cutter assisting in the search.

The company identified the rest of the fatailites as Chief Engineer Daniel Cook; Mate David Silveira of San Diego, and crewman Byron Carrillo, believed to be from Seattle. The company did not give the ages of Cook, Silveira or Carrillo.

"They were incredibly brave, hard working men. Our hearts are broken," the company said in a statement.

Daniel Cook

Many families began leaving flowers at Seattle's Fisherman's Terminal Memorial after learning of the ship's sinking.

Among those leaving flowers Sunday was Amy Roman, whose uncle was Daniel Cook.
 
"Ultimately he died how he wanted to," she said. "If you're a true fisherman, this is how you want to go."

Roman knows about the dangers faced every day by those who fish the cold, unpredictable waters off the Alaskan coast.

"My whole family is in the fishing industry... It's what they do," she said.

Former Captain Claims Boat Had Problems

Problems began early Sunday when the ship's rudder room began taking on water. A distress call went out just before 3 a.m.

Richard Canty, now a tug boat operator in New York, captained the Alaska Ranger 12 years ago.

"There were a lot of rudder problems on that boat," Canty said. "It was a very unstable boat."

The vessel used to be in the Gulf of Mexico as an oil field services ship but had been converted for fishing, Canty said.

"It was a mess," he said. "It was a top-heavy boat. It was unstable."

Canty told the Anchorage Daily News that one time, he even returned to port, refusing to fish after the rudder froze up on him.

But Jakub Janowski, who has worked on the Ranger's engine twice before, told KOMO 4 News: "I think the vessel is definitely seaworthy and is a good vessel - I don't think there's anything wrong with it."

He doesn't think the crew did anything to damage the rudder.

"It's probably only a few inches thick - but, it sits right behind the prop and anything could have hit it - ice.. .Whatever it was - I'm not sure," he said.

The ship's owner said in a statement that it did "not have sufficient information to determine why the vessel foundered.

Oil Sheen Seen In Area

State environmental regulators were notified that the ship was carrying 145,000 gallons of diesel when it sank in deep seas, according to Leslie Pearson, emergency response manager for the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation.

According to initial reports, an oil sheen covered an area of a quarter mile by a half mile, Coast Guard spokesman Ray Dwyer said. The strong winds made any cleanup effort unlikely, but those conditions would disperse a spill much more quickly than calm weather, Pearson said.

In December, an engine fire damaged another of the company's ships, the Alaska Patriot, while it was docked near Dutch Harbor. No one was injured in the blaze.

In 2006, the Fishing Company of Alaska, the owner of a catcher-processor ship it managed and the ship's captains were fined a combined $254,500. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Fisheries Service said the company - as well as the ship's owner, Alaska Juris Inc., and its captains - committed numerous violations, such as tampering with or destroying equipment used by industry observers and failing to provide observers a safe work area.

Federal officials said the case stemmed from a multiyear investigation that documented a range of federal violations, including keeping inaccurate information on required reports and fishing contrary to seasonal closures.