Bender Ship Building News

The Coast Guard has identified a sunken fishing vessel missing since 1972. a remote operating vehicle (ROV) to investigate. The fishing vessel Katmai was discovered in 8,920 feet of water approximately 200 miles offshore. After receiving data of the discovery from BOEM, the U.S. Coast Guard Investigations National Center of Expertise initiated a cold case investigation, the result of which has now been published by the Coast Guard. Oskar Joos, his wife, eight-year-old child and deckhand Clinton Hollevoet departed Mobile for Anchorage, Alaska on the fishing vessel Katmai Feb. 18, 1972.

The one constant about the management of offshore vessel operating companies is the domination of family members of the founder. Except for the largest of these companies, Tidewater, Inc., that is a public NYSE-listed firm, most of the companies in this category, large and small, are run by the descendents of the founder. Many of these companies still bear the founder's name and most of the vessels are named after family members. In 1948, Abdon Callais converted a shrimp trawler into an offshore service vessel and that began a company that is in its third generation of providing transportation of fluids and cargo to offshore oil and gas rigs. Abdon's sons Harold and Ronald became involved with offshore oil buisness.