ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) – Dylan Hatfield got one last chance to see his brother and five other crewmen on the Destination, a 98-foot crab boat missing and presumed sunk in the Bering Sea.
The Destination was tied up Thursday in the Aleutian Islands port of Dutch Harbor, preparing to leave. Hatfield, 29, had just come in from the Bering Sea on a different boat. He had worked on the Destination off and on for seven years, and when he left, his older brother, 36-year-old Darrik Seibold, replaced him.
“We went down to the boat, brought a case of beer, said hello to everybody, gave everybody big hugs, told stories and had laughs,” Hatfield said. Afterward, they all went out for pizza at the Norwegian Rat Saloon.”
“I got to tell the fellas I loved them, I got to hug my brother and tell him that I loved him, and then they left,” Hatfield said.
Early Friday, the Destination left for St. Paul Island, one of the tiny Pribilof Islands in the vast Bering Sea.