Wave Swamps Boat; 1 Dead, 9 Feared Lost

A giant wave capsized a 57-foot fishing boat off the Baja California coast, leaving one dead and nine presumed lost, according to U.S. Navy and Coast Guard officials who abandoned their search of the chilly waters at dusk Friday.

The only survivors of the shipwreck, which occurred Thursday shortly after noon, were 29-year-old Jim Sims of Riverside, who swam to safety, and Cathy Compton, the 36-year-old second officer, who stayed afloat on the ship’s lifeboats until Coast Guard aircraft spotted her.

Wept for Lost Friends

At his Riverside home Friday night, Sims wept as he told of losing sight of his friends one by one during their long, desperate swim, and of how 25-year-old Tim York of Huntington Beach sacrificed himself by giving a floating ice chest to George Stinson, 40, of Orange.

It was to no avail. Stinson’s body was found Friday.

‘Wall of Water’

Compton told San Diego television station KFMB Friday: “All of a sudden, we saw this wall of water coming. “You couldn’t even see the sky above it. It kept coming and coming. It was at least 20 feet (high), and I remember hanging on the poles that go down to the bunk room.

“And I hung on . . . and the boat rolled and rolled and rolled. Then I looked up and I saw (passenger) Kent (Springman of Riverside). . . . I said, ‘Kent, Kent, grab wood, it floats!’

“He had a gash out of his head, with no hair even, probably this big,” she said, holding her fingers three inches apart. “And he was bleeding pretty profusely.

“And he hung on and I helped him and helped him and helped him. . . . Then he slid down . . . and he’d come back up, and his eyes would roll back and he was in shock.”

Springman’s body was not recovered and neither were the remains of eight other men during an intensive search, which covered 150 square miles near the Baja California town of San Quintin, 150 miles southeast of San Diego.

“Their probability of being alive is very low at this point,” said Coast Guard Lt. Debra Harbaugh, adding that the marine accident was one of the worst she could remember. She said Coast Guard authorities would initiate the highest level investigation into the matter.

12 Were Aboard

Aboard the fishing boat Fish-n-Fool were three crew members and nine of their friends, Coast Guard authorities said. The $200,000, plywood and fiberglass ship was berthed in San Diego and its skipper, 45-year-old Gary Lamont of Spring Valley, was a veteran of several long fishing and research expeditions in waters around Alaska and Africa. He had made frequent trips to the San Quintin area.

Coast Guard officials said a huge wave came up about 12:30 p.m. Thursday and overturned the vessel, apparently too suddenly for anyone to scramble for life vests. Officials said that, according to accounts by the survivors, the wave apparently smashed the boat against a large submerged rock--known as Ben Rock.

Coast Guard officials said they picked up an electronic distress signal from the boat about 3:30 p.m. and dispatched a small airplane to search the area.

The plane found the boat’s bow sticking out of the water. Compton was found about 5:40 p.m., floating with all four of the vessel’s life rafts, which were still tied together. The plane sent for a helicopter, which flew from San Diego, picked up Compton at 8:20 p.m. and brought her to nearby San Quintin.

Tried to Lead Others

The only other survivor, Sims, grabbed a piece of wood and tried to lead others to nearby San Martin Island. He was in the water for about seven hours, and was finally pulled to shore by Mexican fishermen who heard him shouting for help in the darkness.

A Navy helicopter aiding in the search saw the men on the island and took Sims to San Diego. He was treated and released from Sharp Memorial Hospital, a Coast Guard official said.

After Friday’s search, Stinson’s body was returned to San Diego by Coast Guard boat. But that was all the search came up with, and by dusk Friday, Coast Guard officials called off the search.

Still missing late Friday were Lamont; Scott Milliron, 20, of Lakeside; Springman, 37, of Riverside; Ken Baldwin, 64, of Huntington Beach; York; Rusty Paxton of Riverside; Terry Milam, 39, of Norco; Max Pfost, 52, of Riverside, and Steve Rhoads, 25, of Costa Mesa.

In Riverside, Shirley Pfost told a reporter that Sims had been asking her husband, an insurance agent in San Bernardino, since December whether he wanted to join the fishing trip. It was Max Pfost’s second deep-sea fishing trip ever, she said. “He could swim . . . (but) it wasn’t his forte.”

Times staff writers Kathie Bozanich, Eric Malnic, Barry M. Horstman and Louis Sahagun contributed to this story.