On February 14, 1985, 18-year-old Paul Rowe vanished from the fishing vessel Alert while it was navigating the Shelikof Straits en route to the shelter of Bumble Bay. Paul disappeared with four crewmates — skipper Melvin Wick, Shawn Heaney, Ray Basel, and Sveinn Adalsteinsson — during hazardous conditions described as the boat making ice, when freezing spray accumulates and adds dangerous weight to a vessel.

No wreckage or remains were ever recovered. The only reported clue was an oil slick; otherwise the waters between Uganik Bay and Alitak Bay yielded no physical evidence. The official record lists all five crew members as missing and lost to the waters off Kodiak Island. Heavy icing is cited in accounts as a significant contributing factor, but without any debris or a recovered hull there is no definitive explanation for what happened.

Does anyone who knew Paul or the Alert’s crew, or who worked in that area in 1985, have information about their last voyage or sightings on February 14?