On January 15, 1995, 25-year-old Robert Charles Olson was aboard the F/V Northwest Mariner, a 106-foot crabbing and processing vessel, when it capsized about 120 miles northwest of Saint Paul Island during preparations for the opelio crab season. The boat sent a mayday at 2:12 PM while crews faced reported 40-knot winds, 24-foot seas and severe icing conditions.

Two crewmen, Bob Petersen and Troy Collins, were found in a life raft but died of hypothermia. The overturned hull of the Northwest Mariner was later located, while the bodies of Robert Olson, Bruce Forde, James Foster and Lawrence Johnston were never recovered and are presumed lost at sea. Investigators from the U.S. Coast Guard and NTSB examined the incident; ice accumulation, stacked crab pots and extreme weather were cited as possible factors in the rapid capsize.

If anyone sailed with Olson or was connected to the Northwest Mariner, did you know anything about the vessel’s condition or the crew’s activities that day?