After searching for a day and a half for a missing boater, the Coast Guard suspended its search Monday night, according to a press release.
The missing man, whom the Alaska State Troopers and the Sitka Fire Department identified as 45-year-old Sitka man Sean Poffenbarger (the Coast Guard spelled his last name as Paffenbarger), had been missing since Sunday morning. Poffenbarger was believed to be the second boater along with Sitka man Sean Elliot, 49, who was found deceased on a beach on Baranof Island on Sunday.
Sitka Fire Chief Dave Miller said Tuesday that Sitka Mountain Rescue — which is part of the fire department — was still actively searching. The troopers are still running the search, Miller said, and SMR will continue searching until the troopers call off the search. Troopers spokesperson Megan Peters said Tuesday that the troopers’ search is still ongoing.
Miller said SMR has deployed an emergency response boat (ERB) in the area of Peril Strait. He said they’re using sonar technology to search the water, and hope to have divers in the water as well.
“They were up there yesterday but the seas were too rough to put divers in the water or do very much,” Miller said Tuesday. “Today it looks better.”
At about 8:25 a.m. Sunday, Juneau-based Troopers picked up a distress signal from a vessel in the area of Peril Strait between Baranof and Chicagof Islands, according to a Troopers dispatch.
Coast Guard responders discovered an 18-foot vessel that matched the description of the vessel in distress, according to a Coast Guard release, and they then found Elliot deceased on a beach in Goose Cove, according to the Troopers dispatch.
According to a Coast Guard release Monday night, a Coast Guard Air Station Sitka MH-60 helicopter crew, along with multiple boatcrews, searched a 77 square-mile area near the shoreline along Peril Strait for 35 hours while looking for Poffenbarger. There were 20 mile-per-hour winds, 2-foot seas and 10 miles of visibility with clear skies, according to the Coast Guard release.
“We canvassed the water and adjacent shoreline in Peril Strait with air, boat and ground crews for two days to find the missing man,” Lt. Matthew Spado, command duty officer for Sector Juneau, said in the release. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of Sean Paffenbarger during this difficult time.”
Peril Strait, which extends 45 miles from Salisburg Sound to Chatham Srait, got its name for an ill-fated expedition in 1799. According to Donald J. Orth’s “Dictionary of Alaska Place Names,” more than 100 Aleuts died in the area due to eating poisonous mussels in 1799.
Deadman Reach is a five-mile-long nearby reef that also carries its name because of the poisoned mussels, according to Orth. In her book “Alaska, The Great Country,” Ella Higginson writes that the area “is as perilous for its reefs as for its mussels.” Goose Cove, where Elliot was found, is at the south end of Deadman Reach. It’s located 32 miles north of Sitka.
• Contact reporter Alex McCarthy at 523-2271 or amccarthy@juneauempire.com. Follow him on Twitter at @akmccarthy.
