The Barbarossa, a 98-foot steel crab fishing vessel, disappeared in the Bering Sea on February 10, 1991. A distress call reached the Coast Guard around 1:00 a.m., but 30-knot winds and 14-foot seas made search and rescue extremely difficult. The boat vanished about 30 miles west of St. George Island and was never found.

Thirty-year-old Timothy Joseph Schmitt of Dillingham, Alaska, was one of six men lost when the Barbarossa went down. The other victims were skipper George Brandenburg, 39; Dennis Olberding, 38; Darrell Gross, 36; Brian McPherson, 33; and Donald Bright, 31. The vessel was reportedly well-equipped with a self-deploying life raft, survival suits, and emergency beacons, but none were effective in this incident.

Reports say the Barbarossa was likely overloaded with crab pots and probably capsized and sank, but the exact circumstances remain unknown and searches by the U.S. Coast Guard turned up no sign of the boat or crew. If anyone knew Timothy, his crewmates, or has information about the Barbarossa’s final hours, please share what is known.