Fish-n-Fool Survivor Tells of Bitter Ordeal : ‘The Galley Turned (Over) Completely, and It Rolled and Rolled and Rolled Over . . . It Just Kept Going’

One of two survivors of the fishing boat accident that killed 10 people off the Baja California coast a month ago told her story to an investigative panel for the first time Thursday.

Cathy Compton’s testimony was often emotional, rambling and contradictory, a result, her attorney said, of the trauma of watching her friends drown and her own ordeal of waiting eight hours in the sea before being rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard.

Her testimony is likely to raise more questions about what happened to the Fish-n-Fool in the minutes before and after a 20-foot wave capsized the 57-foot vessel on Feb. 5, about 150 miles southeast of San Diego. Moreover, her testimony will likely renew the criticism of the Coast Guard’s handling of the rescue operation.

Compton’s lawyer, Gary K. Green, admitted that the 38-year-old licensed ship operator had contradicted herself on several issues. He explained that Compton and Jim Sims, 29, a passenger and the only other survivor, have been going through a period of “post-traumatic stress” and may not be able to clearly explain the events surrounding the shipwreck.

On at least three points, Compton, who was wearing a neck brace and had her left arm in a sling, contradicted Sims.

The most conspicuous disparity involved the location of the accident.

She told the joint U.S. Coast Guard-National Transportation Safety Board panel that the Fish-n-Fool was about one mile from Ben’s Rock, a small outcropping, when the vessel capsized. Sims had testified that the craft was right next to the rock.

On this point, her testimony also differs from the views of other ocean observers who have described the waves near Ben’s Rock as having a white-water effect. Additionally, a Coast Guard pilot who had testified earlier said that he and his crew found Compton and the capsized vessel near the rock.

Compton also said she was inside the galley preparing for dinner when the rogue wave hit and she didn’t know where Sims was. Sims said he was he was just leaving the galley when the wave swamped the boat.

She also denied hearing skipper Gary LaMont say anything about the size of the waves. Sims testified that LaMont was astonished at the large waves near Ben’s Rock. “ ‘My God,

look at the swells at Ben’s Rock.’ I heard that, everybody heard that. Everybody stopped and looked,” Sims told the panel.

On a relatively minor point, she said large waves were approaching the vessel from the side, while Sims told the investigating board they were coming directly at the bow of the boat.

“They’re just not able to tell you exactly where the boat was,” Green said. “Both are suffering . . . they both absolutely believe they are telling the truth. She lost a very best friend, and she feels that they’re trying to blame him (LaMont).”

Green said he allowed Compton to testify while under heavy sedation because doctors advised it would be best for Compton to testify now in case she had an emotional relapse. He added that Compton had already been subpoenaed on four occasions.

Compton, at times breaking into tears, described in detail the moments before and after the shipwreck.

She told the panel that about five minutes prior to the accident she had been fishing, and then decided to go inside the galley and prepare dinner. She said was facing the oven and talking to Terry Milam, 39, of Norco, who was standing outside the galley door, when she turned to see the massive wave.

“It was six inches from the starboard rail,” she said. “As I looked out the door there was the wave.” Compton said she grabbed on to a rail inside the cabin as the boat began to capsize.

“The galley turned (over) completely, and it rolled and rolled and rolled over . . . It took forever and it just kept going. I noticed I was under water . . . I saw Max (Pfost) floating dead on his face.”

When asked by panelist Lt. J. Michael McCoy how she knew for sure if it was Pfost’s body, Compton briefly broke down and replied, “Because Max had a brown jacket.” She said she made her way to the surface, and grabbed on to the lip of a barrel. She then saw Ken Baldwin, 64, of Huntington Beach.

“I said, ‘Ken, grab the wood.’ When he got to me he had a gash on his head and it was gushing blood,” Compton testified. Diesel fuel had spilled onto the water and Baldwin had swallowed some, she said.

“Where are the life rafts?” Compton said Baldwin yelled. “He kept coming up and down, and the last time I came up to grab him, he never came up.’ She said she told Baldwin that help was on the way when she heard what appeared to be a jet flying overhead, but nothing came of it.

She shouted for help and heard a reply from the far side of the wreckage, Compton said, but she could not see anyone. As she was hanging on the barrel, Compton said, she saw the life rafts floating in the water.

“I saw the life rafts coming from the vessel and I prayed a lot. I prayed that the Lord would push me to the life rafts. It took me 45 minutes to an hour to get to the life rafts,” Compton said.

Compton said a trip line that connects the rafts to the boat was still tied on to the boat while it was sinking. “I wasn’t moving anywhere,” she said. “I pulled on it and it pulled me back into it. I chewed on the rope . . . “

She said she was finally able to free herself from the other end by using a nail file.

Compton told the panel that as the hours wore on, she could hear people as she drifted on one of the rafts, which she had tied to four others, but couldn’t see them. She said she finally heard a Coast Guard plane directly over her.

“It was 6 p.m., and I looked up and it was a Coast Guard jet,” Compton testified, her voice rising. “And I was glad to see him. He dropped a smoke flare.”

However, after the jet circled for several minutes and dropped another flare, it flew away. “The Coast Guard jet left. All I know is that it left me,” Compton said, adding that a rescue helicopter did not arrive until about two hours later.

After her testimony, her attorney Green angrily told a reporter, “What kept the rest from getting there? We could have driven a donkey there.”

Earlier in the day, Coast Guard Cmdr. Clinton Carter defended the Coast Guard’s rescue operations, saying that Coast Guard pilots violated Mexican airspace on four occasions as they tried to pinpoint the location of a distress signal.

Carter said one pilot, who was taking law enforcement equipment to La Paz, had violated Mexican air space by diverting his route in an effort to find the source of the signal. He was told, however, to continue on his scheduled route.

Carter said airspace violations are considered sensitive because flights over Mexico are governed by a 1935 treaty outlining when American aircraft can enter Mexican territory.

Carter added, however, that the Mexican government did not file a formal protest.

In a related matter, Lt. Lee Foresman retracted previous testimony that he did not know that a second aircraft sent to investigate the emergency signal had to first stop in San Diego to refuel. Based on record logs, Foresman told the panel that, in fact, he was aware the jet had to refuel.

After her testimony, Compton briefly talked to reporters. “I would like to just get it over with. Hopefully, it will be out of my mind,” she said. “I feel badly about it, I just want to go home.”

Compton is scheduled to resume her testimony today at the County Administration Building.