Brock Rainey Missing Person Case

Jan 07, 2020

May 06, 2024

Brock

Rainey

53

47

71 inches

190 lbs

White / Caucasian

Male

On the frigid night of December 31, 2019, 47-year-old Brock Rainey was aboard the commercial fishing vessel Scandies Rose, which was navigating the treacherous waters of the Gulf of Alaska. The 130-foot crab boat, homeported in Dutch Harbor, was en route from Kodiak to the Bering Sea to begin the crabbing season when it encountered severe weather conditions approximately 170 miles southwest of Kodiak. The vessel, with seven crew members on board, battled fierce winds exceeding 40 miles per hour and seas swelling to 15 to 20 feet, leading to a critical accumulation of ice on the vessel. At around 10 p.m., the dire situation prompted a mayday call as the Scandies Rose began to capsize and sink near Sutwik Island. The distress call triggered an immediate and extensive search and rescue operation coordinated by the U.S. Coast Guard out of Air Station Kodiak. Despite the perilous conditions, a Jayhawk helicopter crew managed to locate a life raft and hoist two survivors, Dean Gribble Jr. and John Lawler, to safety in the early hours of the new year. The rescued men, who were suffering from hypothermia, informed authorities that they were the only two who had made it into the life raft and were uncertain if the other crew members had been able to don their survival suits. A second life raft was found empty, compounding the fears for the five men who remained missing. The search for Brock Rainey and the other four crewmen—Gary Cobban Jr. (the ship's master), his son David Lee Cobban, Arthur Ganacias, and Seth Rousseau-Gano—spanned 20 hours and covered 1,400 square miles of the unforgiving Alaskan waters. After exhausting all leads and considering the low probability of survival in the frigid conditions, the Coast Guard made the difficult decision to suspend the active search. The five men, including Brock Rainey, were presumed dead. Investigations by the National Transportation Safety Board and the Coast Guard later revealed that inaccurate stability instructions for the vessel, combined with the extreme and asymmetric ice accumulation, were the probable cause of the tragedy. The loss of the Scandies Rose and its five crew members marked a devastating start to the new year and served as a somber reminder of the inherent dangers faced by those who make their living on the sea. The incident was the worst commercial fishing accident in Alaska since the 2017 sinking of the F/V Destination, which claimed the lives of all six of its crew members under similar icy conditions.

Dec 31, 2019

Kodiak

Alaska

Kodiak Island Borough

No

70663

Alaska State Troopers

Anchorage

Alaska

Anchorage Borough

99507

Malia Miller

Missing Persons Clearinghouse Manager

5700 East Tudor Road, Alaska

9072695511

State

Law Enforcement

AK20000206

2019-12-31

Alaska State Troopers

7677

Sandy

Blue

Blue

07/21/2026