Published Oct. 30, 2026, in the Anchorage Daily News and reprinted with permission.
A Coast Guard helicopter crew early Thursday rescued five crew from the 58-foot Oracle, a fishing vessel that ran aground near False Pass in Southwest Alaska.
The crew, some of whom sustained minor injuries, were taken to a clinic in Cold Bay, according to a statement from the Coast Guard.
The Coast Guard received a distress report at 4:48 a.m. Thursday, and by 6:16 a.m., an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew — based in Kodiak and deployed to Cold Bay — was on scene. Coast Guard video shows surf breaking around the Oracle as a crew member is brought up in a rescue basket to the helicopter.
“We can’t thank them enough. They were very quick, and everybody’s fine,” said Buck Laukitis, a Homer fisherman who owns the Oracle. “We’re just trying to process everything.”
The Oracle was featured in an Anchorage Daily News story published in November of last year about longline fishing for halibut. The vessel also has been used in other harvests, including pot fishing for Pacific cod and black cod and tendering salmon.
Laukitis recently invested in a new ice system for the Oracle that produces a slurry of sea water and small ice crystals that quickly cool fish to preserve their quality. His daughters, Emma and Claire, describe the ice technology on the website of Salmon Sisters, their Homer-based business that markets Alaska fish, Xtratuf boots and other products.
Laukitis said Thursday evening that he was in contact with Resolve Marine about a potential salvage effort of the Oracle.
“You think of how many thousands and thousands and thousands of man hours go into a boat like that to keep it up,” Laukitis said. “It’s sad.”
In a letter to Air Station Kodiak’s commanding officer, Laukitis thanked the personnel who made Thursday’s rescue possible.
“Boats can be rebuilt,” he wrote in the letter. “My crew went home to their families because of your people, and we thank them from the bottom of our hearts.”
The Homer Independent Press reprinted this story with permission from ADN. Hal Bernton, a reporter at The Seattle Times from 2000 to 2023, is a Pacific Northwest-based journalist who has extensively covered fisheries, climate and energy issues. He was part of teams that have received Pulitzer Prizes at both The Seattle Times and the Anchorage Daily News.
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