U.S. Coast Guard Sector North Bend received a mayday call around midnight early Saturday morning from 68-year-old Mike Morgan from the 32-foot fishing vessel, White Swan III, reporting that the boat was sinking in the northern section of Heceta Banks fishing grounds with a female passenger on board approximately 35 miles offshore from Florence.
U.S. Coast Guard watchstanders immediately dispatched two MH-65 Dolphin rescue helicopter crews, two 47-foot Motor Lifeboat crews, as well as the 110-foot Coast Guard Cutter Orcas and crew to the location. The 47-foot Motor Lifeboat crew from Station Siuslaw River arrived on scene shortly after the initial distress call and located a debris field and an unresponsive female victim.
Coast Guard crews searched approximately 232 square-miles of search area over a 24-hour period but were unable to locate 68-year-old Mike Morgan. On Sunday, the U.S. Coast Guard suspended search efforts for Morgan and his 32-foot fishing vessel, and also confirmed one death after the unresponsive female victim, discovered to be a crew member of the boat, was recovered and pronounced deceased by local emergency crews.
