Wife of Atlantic Charger crewman says husband in 'good spirits'

Iona Young of Virgin Arm received the long-awaited call from her husband Gerard Young early Tuesday morning, confirming he was safe following the partial sinking of the Atlantic Charger.

"We don't care what they lost, as long as we got them coming home," Iona Young told CBC News.

Gerard Young was one of nine men from Newfoundland and Labrador aboard the 21-metre fishing vessel when she began taking on water early Monday morning.

The turbot-laden vessel was fishing the frigid waters of Frobisher Bay near Resolution Island when they were forced to scramble into their immersion suits and then into a life-raft.

Many were still in their pyjamas, said Iona Young.

"They haven't got nothing left. Only the clothes on their back, that's all," she said.

Winds were high at the time, at about 70 knots.

They were rescued by a Danish ship Monday evening, and are expected to arrive home Friday or Saturday, said Iona Young.

A state-of-the-art fishing vessel

Meanwhile, the builder of the fishing vessel said his creation is state-of-the-art, but added there are many different scenarios that could have led to Monday's marine disaster.

Val Cull, owner of Northern Boat Repair in Port Saunders, said the 21-metre vessel had the latest technology available in terms of safety equipment, and was very sturdy and stable.

"I have no doubt about the structure of the vessel," Cull said in an interview Tuesday with the St. John's Morning Show.

• Atlantic Charger's crew rescued from life-raft in Frobisher Bay

The vessel, crewed mostly by men from the New World Island area and owned by Brad Watkins of Cottlesville, was in the area fishing a 200-tonne quota of turbot.

The crew declared an emergency Monday morning, reporting that the vessel was taking on water and that its electronics had failed.

The vessel was partially submerged for most of the day, but eventually sank, the military reported Tuesday.

The Charger caused quite a buzz in Newfoundland and Labrador's fishing community when it was launched in 2013 at a cost of some $2.5 million.

Cull said it was his company's greatest accomplishment to date, and was later followed with Cull being inducted into the Atlantic Canada Marine Industries Hall of Fame.

The Charger features a refrigerated sea water chilling system, commonly referred to as an RSW, which is intended to preserve seafood at its highest possible quality for longer periods of time.

Cull said it's too early to say for certain, but he said it's possible that something may have gone wrong with the "valves and intakes" in this system.

He's confident that those answers will come, since the vessel features a number of water-tight bulkheads, and will likely stay on the surface.

As for Watkins, he said the crew was very experienced, and he's baffled by how this happened.

"Being a skipper all my life and knowing this vessel and what it's capable of, it's kind of unbelievable," he said.

Watkins said he top priority at the moment is to get his crew home safe and sound so they can be reunited with their families.