Carbon Monoxide Death

kamloops · 05-09-2005, 07:36 AM

One of my employees Father in Law passed away this weekend
while shrimping in Puget Sound. Reported he was fishing alone in his 26' Striper and passed away due to carbon monoxide gas. He had a full enclosure and was proly just trying to stay warm and keep the rain out.
His boat washed ashore Late Sat. night around Mukilteo, he launched up at Dagmar Landing North of Everett.

Rules to follow are beware of being in an enclosed confined area while operating internal combustion engines and have working carbon monoxide warning devices places in all confined liveable spaces. Take someone/1st mate along with ya too.

ron m · 05-09-2005, 09:49 AM

Tragic and very sad. Besides being careful with engines, I bet heaters cause carbon monoxide problems too, especially since they tend to be used in confined spaces.
ron m

Fishinnut · 05-09-2005, 03:23 PM

I am running short on time to leave town for Coastal halibut fishing here in Washington. My buddy Murphy forwarded this post. I don't have time to rewrite it so here it is. I cut and pasted it from another BB that I already put this on. The weather was very nice up here and the sun shining. There was no rain. This will explain the situation. I believe Stan's boat was a 21' Striper.
Thanks
Ron Garner
Puget Sound Anglers
Sno-King Chapter Pres

Three of us went out. We started in Everett along with other friends. First pull of four pots yielded 12 shrimp. Headed for Edmonds. We did better there. We got our three limits. We put down one pot way north of the others and hit it big. We should have thrown the rest of the pots at the same place. Others from Everett came down too.

On the way back after shrimping was closed, we ran across a shrimp buoy standing straight up. We figured the guy lost it in the tide change. The rope was really tight and one buoy was under. We called the name on the buoy. I talked to the guys wife who said her husband had left at 7:00 in the morning by himself. She was worried about him. I told her shrimping was closed for the day and we would pull the pot and get it back to him as there were no boats within miles. She said he spent a lot of money on the gear and to go ahead and pull it. I gave her my phone numbers. I asked her to call me when she heard from him. She thanked us for being so honest.

We pulled his pot and low and behold he had about 150-160 huge shrimp! Not a small one in the bunch. To bad we had our limits and it was closed. We had to get rid of them. I did keep his octopus though. This made two octopus for the day for next weeks bait for Lapush.

The guy's name was Stan. He had a lung scarring disease and was on oxygen at 57 years old. He left Camano Island and picked up his boat at Dagmars. He was going shrimping with his new gear and ling codding on Possession. The bad thing was he only had 5 hours of oxygen when he left. He left his cell phone behind and no way to get a hold of him. We thought that was odd to try and pull shrimp pots on oxygen. Even if he had a puller, it is a lot of work to pull enough slack in the line to get it into the puller.

When I got home I called her back again. She was crying and Stan had passed away out there. When we called it was her alert to start calling around, Dagmars, Coast Guard etc. He would not have left his gear out and follows the regulations religiously. He had friends around and they started looking too. His boat had washed ashore on Mukilteo at about noon and no one checked it. She was thankful his body was still in it or she would never know what happened. He died from Carbon Monoxide poisoning. She said at least he died happy and doing what he loved. She had been telling her friends how honest we were in calling her. (Probably to keep from thinking about what was possibly to come.) She said she was thankful for us calling as she did not know what to do. She knew he was still out there somewhere and our call got her started. She told me to keep the gear as a thank you and no one else fishes in the family. I told her to keep my number and she could have it back at any time in case she changes her mind. I will call her back after things settle down. She was a very nice lady.

What a different day it was. In one way I felt weird, but on the other hand I was happy for Stan going the way he wanted to. Never take life for granted and live each day to its fullest.

wthr4d · 05-09-2005, 03:31 PM

Here's to Stan!!

May he have passed without worry of leaving his loved ones behind. May his loved ones find comfort in knowing he died doing what he loved best.

Paul

kamloops · 05-09-2005, 04:34 PM

Ron

Thank you very much for your kind actions. I know Mark and his wifes family were very gratefull. It's a good lesson as to why you need to label your floats with your phone number and address.

I know when my time is up I hope I am also doing something
I love, 200 miles due West.

WildHawg · 05-09-2005, 06:12 PM

It is very refreshing to know that folks are still "willing to get involved".
You did everything you could for Stan and his loved ones.
God bless Stan, his family, and you!
Take care,
Charlie

Fishinnut · 05-09-2005, 06:21 PM

Kamloops, Thank you. I have had a lot of thanks but I don't think I have done anything anyone else would not have done. If Mark and his family shrimps, I would gladly give them the pot. They can contact me at rgarner755@aol.com. Otherwise Stan and I are now shrimping partners. I thought about selling it and donating the money, but that kind of goes against his wifes wishes. I do not want to let her down. She was a very sweet lady. I feel bad for her.

kamloops · 05-09-2005, 06:43 PM

Ron

Thanks for the offer, I'll let Mark know in the a.m.
It's a tough thing for a young couple.

KeyWest · 05-09-2005, 06:55 PM

Thanks Tom - I can tell you that I personally had to spend a day in an oxygen chamber due to CO posioning. I was lucky in that others were on-board detected what was going on. This is a real threat - one that folks should not take too lightly. There are good CO monitors on the market that are VERY inexpensive. Any inclosed space should have one.

I now have a center console with an outboard. I think I'm pretty safe unless I put my mouth up to the exhaust ports!

kamloops · 05-09-2005, 07:20 PM

Dean

I've been there also, years ago fishing Tillamook Bay in the fall. Went below to take a nap, awoke with one heck of a headache and sick to my stomach.
Scarry thing was, I did not know what was happening at the time. We did have sense enough to get me off the boat and back at the hotel room.
I have three different C.D. monitors on my boat, could use another one in the head.