Bryon David Koesterman was 19 when he was lost at sea after the F/V Pacesetter capsized during a violent Bering Sea storm on January 27, 1996. He was one of seven crew members aboard the 127-foot steel-hulled crab boat; the others were Captain Matthew Pope, Stephen Mack, Richard Anderson, Michael Kirk Ericson, Elias Pena, and Stanley Eftestad. The EPIRB activated as the vessel went down about 60 to 65 miles from St. George Island, and the Coast Guard mounted a search covering 361 square miles with assistance from eleven private fishing boats.

Searchers found the beacon, two empty life rafts (one partially submerged and not inflated), and a buoy float bearing the Pacesetter’s name, but no survivors or bodies were recovered. The Coast Guard later concluded the probable cause was a combination of overloading with crab pots, the free surface effect in the forward hold, and severe weather that caused the vessel to heel, roll over, and sink. The loss was described as the worst sinking in the 1996 snow crab fishery.

Does anyone have memories of the Pacesetter or knew Bryon and the crewmembers that could help preserve their stories?