Pierre Steenburg-Msg Boater

[awakening2lite]

Pierre Steenburg

Sailboat: Holo Ki Ki
Sailboat found adrift: May 25, 2008

Coast Guard Searching For Missing Boater
By air and by sea U.S. Coast Guard crews are scouring the seas off of West End, Bahamas for a missing man.

Sunday morning a good Samaritan contacted the U.S. Coast Guard station in Miami to report an unmanned sailboat, Holo Ki Ki, about 20 miles off West End. The boater said when they boarded the vessel it was empty but they could tell it had recently been occupied.

The Coast Guard traced the boat's registry to its Pierre Steenburg.

The Coast Guard Air Station Miami dispatched a Dolphin rescue chopper and a Falcon jet to assist in the search for Steenburg.

Anyone with information that could assist search and rescue coordinators in finding Steenburg are encouraged to contact Coast Guard Sector Miami at (305) 535-4472.

source: http://cbs4.com/local/coast.guard.boater.2.732499.html

[awakening2lite]

EXCERPT

The Coast Guard is now searching for Pierre Steenburg, who had been hired to take the boat, the Holo Ki Ki, to the Netherlands, said Petty Officer First Class Jennifer Johnson, a Coast Guard public affairs specialist. A helicopter crew and an HU-25 Falcon jet crew from Miami were searching the area for Steenburg but so far had found no trace of him, Johnson said.

''I don't think there's any reason to suspect foul play,'' she said.

The Holo Ki Ki was found about 9:30 a.m. Sunday by another boater, who contacted search and rescue coordinators at the Coast Guard's Miami sector.

There was food on the vessel that was ''in fresh order and it looked like someone was recently aboard, but there was nobody around,'' Johnson said.

source: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/breaking_news/story/547152.html

[awakening2lite]

EXCERPT

An empty sailboat was found Sunday about 20 miles north of West End, Bahamas. That is less than 100 miles from Florida, where the Coast Guard believes the boat left from Fort Lauderdale.

Another boater found the Danish passport of a man named Pierre Steenburg on the vessel.

Coast Guard spokeswoman Jennifer Johnson says the sailboat's owner later called authorities.

source: http://www.jacksonville.com/apnews/stories/052608/D90TER781.shtml

[packy]

Seems so strange to just disappear.

[awakening2lite]

May 27th, 2008

MIAMI - Coast Guard search and rescue coordinators at Sector Miami suspended search efforts for Peer Steenburg, the master of the 36-foot sailing vessel Holo Ki Ki, Sunday night.

Crews from the Coast Guard Cutter Bluefin, two HH-65 Dolphin helicopter aircrews from Air Station Miami, a HH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew from Air Station Clearwater deployed in support of Operations Bahamas Turks and Caicos (OPBAT), a C-130 Hercules fixed wing aircraft crew from Air Station Clearwater, an HH-65 helicopter crew from the Royal English Airship Lars Bay and crews from the Bahamas Air Sea Rescue Association exhausted a 628 square mile search area since Steenburg was reported unaccounted for at 9:30 a.m. Sunday.

A good Samaritan boater contacted search and rescue coordinators at Coast Guard Sector Miami Sunday requesting permission to board the unmanned sailing vessel Holo Ki Ki about 20 miles north of West End, Bahamas. Once aboard the Holo Ki Ki, the good Samaritan reported the vessel was empty but evidence aboard the vessel confirmed it had been recently occupied. Later that afternoon the owner of Holo Ki Ki contacted Sector Miami to report he had hired Steenburg to transport the sailing vessel from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., to the Netherlands.

“It is always difficult for search and rescue coordinators to make the decision to suspend search efforts for a person lost at sea,” said Petty Officer 1st Class Jennifer Johnson, a Coast Guard public affairs specialist in Miami. “Our thoughts and condolences are with family and friends who knew Peer Steenburg at this time.”

source: http://coastguardnews.com/coast-guard-suspends-search-for-missing-boater-off-bahamas/2008/05/27/

[awakening2lite]

Seems so strange to just disappear.

Two more oddities:

a. The man was sailing from Ft Lauderdale to the Netherlands alone. I find that just plain unusual.

b. It maybe the reporters have made a mistake, but it appears the owner registered the sailboat in the transporters name: Steenburg.

[packy]

Two more oddities:

a. The man was sailing from Ft Lauderdale to the Netherlands alone. I find that just plain unusual.

b. It maybe the reporters have made a mistake, but it appears the owner registered the sailboat in the transporters name: Steenburg.

I wondered about him being alone too. And yes that is odd if true that the owner registered it in Steenburg's name. Hmmmm.

[awakening2lite]

I wondered about him being alone too. And yes that is odd if true that the owner registered it in Steenburg's name. Hmmmm.

I should have said, 3 things, packy.

c. No report on when the man left Ft Lauderdale. We don't know how long the boat was adrift before being discovered.


Another note: Several boat thieves have been arrested for stealing expensive boats. This type of thievery may relate or may not.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida_keys/story/545242.html

[packy]

I should have said, 3 things, packy.

c. No report on when the man left Ft Lauderdale. We don't know how long the boat was adrift before being discovered.


Another note: Several boat thieves have been arrested for stealing expensive boats. This type of thievery may relate or may not.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida_keys/story/545242.html

Wow, I had no idea. How about that comment at the end of the article saying they believed them and that they should be released.

No Way!

[awakening2lite]

Wow, I had no idea. How about that comment at the end of the article saying they believed them and that they should be released.

No Way!


All I say is, Yo Ho Ho!

[awakening2lite]

If anyone has information that could assist search and rescue coordinators with locating Pierre Steenburg they are encouraged to contact Coast Guard Sector Miami at 305-535-4472.

[awakening2lite]

May 28, 2008

Authorities today identified three victims of a capsized boat found near the Bahamas over the weekend as a Jamaican man and a man and a woman from Haiti.

A fourth victim was snatched away by sharks before officials could retrieve and identify him, said Justin Snisky, chairman of the Bahamas Air Sea Rescue Association at Grand Bahama Island.

Bahamian authorities are trying to sort out how the fishing boat broke up and capsized, and what happened to the skipper of a sailboat en route to the Netherlands from Fort Lauderdale.

Both incidents occurred near Memory Rock, north of West End in the Bahamas, during a storm Saturday night that saw 45 mph winds and 12-foot seas.

The Coast Guard on Tuesday called off its search for Peer Steenburg, who apparently had fallen overboard while sailing the 36-foot Holo Ki Ki to the Netherlands. The boat suffered hull damage.

While looking for the Holo Ki Ki's captain on Sunday, Coast Guard aircraft spotted an overturned fishing boat near Memory Rock.

Jonathan Rose, captain of the 115-foot dive boat Gulfstream Eagle, was on the scene and offered to help.

Rose, 26, jumped into the water and approached the boat. What he thought were life jackets tangled in fishing line turned out to be two bodies. At least one had been attacked by sharks, and two 12-foot tiger sharks were still circling. The crew called to Rose.

"They started yelling at me to get out of the water," he recalled.

One crew mate dove into the water with a spear. He warded off the sharks while Rose swam beneath the stricken boat and discovered two more bodies. The crew secured the capsized 35-foot boat to the Gulfstream Eagle and notified authorities.

The episode left Rose, a veteran dive boat captain from Riviera Beach, shaken. "It was a pretty horrible sight," he said. "It's just not something you can get out of your brain."

The bodies of two men and a woman were recovered, that of a fourth man wasn't.

Bahamian officials are checking reports that a fifth person may have been on the boat.

The vessel, in water 8 to 22 feet deep, could have struck a reef and capsized during the storm, said Snisky.

"It was a major squall, anything could have happened," he said. "If you're not aware of it [the reef] at nighttime, it could easily have happened."

Bahamian investigators had trouble identifying the victims, and no one had reported them missing.

Snisky theorized they were smuggling migrants from Nassau to Florida in the Bahamian-registered vessel. He said the boat was carrying four extra containers of fuel, indicating it was prepared to make long runs.

The sailboat Holo Ki Ki was found about eight miles from the fatal wreck.

Though empty, nothing appeared amiss. Steenburg's Danish passport was on board. A fishing line could be a clue to his disappearance, Snisky said.

Bahamian officials are reviewing reports that the line had tangled in the sailboat's propeller, leading to speculation Steenburg may have dived in to clear it and somehow become injured or otherwise swept away from the boat. The Gulf Stream could have swiftly carried him north.

"He could have looked over the boat and could have been thrown over," Snisky said. "It could have been a combination of things."

source: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/services/newspaper/printedition/local/sfl-flbcapsize0528pnmay28,0,6539909.story

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/media/photo/2008-05/39332495.jpg
This is the capsized fishing boat rescuers found Sunday near the Bahamas.