Both the John and Olaf and the Commander had multiple family members aboard and were terrible tragedies. You were fortunate to have survived when you did. Many Alaska shipwrecks begin with a vessel “pinned down” by a storm. They evolve when the anchor tackle fails and force boats into areas that subject them to weather beyond the vessels capability. I am guessing that was a really bad northwesterly storm that iced up the John and Olaf. The Shelikof is one of the most treacherous bodies of water in Alaska during any northerly wind. There are dozens of wrecks on this website that happened there. Many were disappearances that we may never know for sure what happened.
the Commander and the john and olaf fished the same areas at the same time in Kodiak in 1974
when the olaf sank I was a crew on the commander pinned down due to storm 6 years later the commander vanished
no evidence of sinking… rv Mommsen
Both the John and Olaf and the Commander had multiple family members aboard and were terrible tragedies. You were fortunate to have survived when you did. Many Alaska shipwrecks begin with a vessel “pinned down” by a storm. They evolve when the anchor tackle fails and force boats into areas that subject them to weather beyond the vessels capability. I am guessing that was a really bad northwesterly storm that iced up the John and Olaf. The Shelikof is one of the most treacherous bodies of water in Alaska during any northerly wind. There are dozens of wrecks on this website that happened there. Many were disappearances that we may never know for sure what happened.