In September 1993 the 58-foot crab boat Nettie H left King Cove, Alaska, bound for Saint Paul Island and never arrived. Peter Soileau, 35, of Dillingham was one of five people aboard; his brothers David and Daniel Soileau were crewmembers along with Blake Grinstein and Julie Mereness. The last known position of the Nettie H was about 10 miles north of Otter Point on Unimak Island.

The U.S. Coast Guard mounted an extensive search covering roughly 23,000 square miles of the Bering Sea but found no trace of the vessel or crew, and the official search was eventually suspended with the five presumed lost at sea. In May 1994 a life raft found near Cape Constantine contained the remains of Julie Mereness, confirming a fatal outcome for at least one person but not revealing what caused the Nettie H to founder.

The circumstances of the disappearance remain unknown.