On the evening of December 31, 2019, 61-year-old fishing captain Gary Cobban, Jr. was aboard the 130-foot crab vessel Scandies Rose when it capsized about 2.75 miles southeast of Sutwik Island. The boat had left Kodiak for Bering Sea grounds and carried six other crew members. Severe weather with 45-knot winds, 20-foot seas, and heavy freezing spray led to a distress call around 10:00 PM and rapid sinking.

A large U.S. Coast Guard search covering more than 1,400 square miles involved helicopters, a Hercules airplane, and the Cutter Mellon. Two crew members were found alive in a life raft with hypothermia; five others, including Captain Cobban, his son David Lee Cobban, Arthur Ganacias, Brock Rainey, and Seth Rousseau-Gano, were never located and are presumed to have perished at sea. Survivors reported the captain was in the wheelhouse as the vessel went down.

An NTSB investigation determined the probable cause was inaccurate stability instructions that left the vessel with a low margin of stability, worsened by heavy, asymmetric ice accumulation estimated at 6 to 15 inches. The NTSB cleared the captain and crew of fault.