On Saturday morning, September 12th, watchstanders directed the launch of a Coast Guard Station Humboldt Bay 47-foot Motor Lifeboat crew after crew members aboard the pleasure craft Wooden Mistress, a 52-foot motor vessel, contacted Coast Guard Sector Humboldt Bay command center just after 9:00am reporting their vessel was disabled.
After a 45 mile trip the boat crew arrived on scene 11 miles south of Petrolia at approximately 12:40pm Saturday afternoon, and put the Wooden Mistress in a stern tow back to Eureka.
After a few hours during the tow, the captain of the Wooden Mistress hailed the Motor Lifeboat crew indicating they were taking on water. The crew quickly dropped the tow and placed a U.S. Coast Guard crew member aboard to assess the damage.
After passing a p-6 pump to the vessel the flooding rate continued to increase during the dewatering and the coxswain made the decision to remove everyone from the vessel due to the rate of flooding.
Both crew members aboard the Wooden Mistress were rescued and safely taken back to Humboldt Bay before the vessel sank approximately 28 miles south of Eureka.