The State - News from Nov. 20, 1987

The former oil tanker captain accused of negligence in the Memorial Day, 1986, ramming of a fishing vessel that left three crewmen dead pleaded innocent in San Francisco federal court. David Hilger, 30, voluntarily returned from Boston, where he was attending Harvard University, to answer to the indictment. He was the captain of the 721-foot Golden Gate on May 26 when the tanker rammed the 73-foot trawler Jack Jr. in foggy waters north of San Francisco. Hilger is accused under a 1905 maritime law with misconduct, negligence and inattention to duty that “destroyed the life” of each of the three fishermen.