F/V Ocean Challenger Part 2

From The Seattle Times

They called the crew the "Virginia Boys" because they were known for their Southern charm and for peppering their conversations with "yes ma'ams" during the years the Ocean Challenger sailed from Westport.

Many of the Virginia Boys had already left, said Bobbi Foland. Two of them — Kevin Ferrell, 28, of Lynchburg, Va., and Walter Foster, 26, originally of Tennessee but who had been living in Westport, remained on.

While most of the Virginia Boys came and went around Westport over the years, Foster was the exception. Several years ago he met Laurie Cowell, fell in love and moved into a little house in Westport. It was home when he wasn't at sea or visiting his family in Tennessee.

"He was a super guy," said Dalie Morgan, bartender at the Knotty Pine. "Just a nice young man."

"He was a real Southern gentleman, a great guy with a big heart," said Valerie Bender, housekeeper at the Islander Resort. "He liked going out on the boat, the water, the salt air, the waves. He just loved to fish. He'll be greatly missed."

The survivor, Kevin Ferrell, 28, of Lynchburg, Va., had worked on the boat for about four years, including a period of time when it was based in Westport.

Foster was a “a trusted sailor” brought on board by the skipper, Hasselquist, who was pretty picky when it came to hiring, Foland said. “Cowboy had worked off and on for us for several years. He was a good skipper, a good fisherman and he always had a great crew,” she said.

From The Dutch Harbor Fisherman

Once in a great while, someone comes along who leaves a lasting impression on those who are lucky enough to cross paths with them.

And so it was with Cowboy, who lost his life Oct. 18 with two other crewmen, when the Ocean Challenger sank off Sanak Island, while fishing their last black cod trip for the year.

Cowboy, born David R. Hasselquist in Omaha, Nebr., in 1955, came to Alaska after high school, arriving in Ketchikan. He landed his first commercial fishing job aboard the Ocean Storm, owned by Dobbs Miller, who nicknamed him “Cowboy” because of the out-of-place cowboy boots and large belt buckle he wore.

That first job earned him $10,000. He was hooked and never looked back.

In those early years, Cowboy fished the Southeast coast on various boats including the Specter, the Gem and others, visiting ports from Hydaburg to Pelican. From 1986 through 1997, he worked for Alaska Sablefish aboard the

IUDI B as a deckhand and until 1991 moved up the ranks to alternate skipper, fishing the Aleutians and Bering Sea.

In 1987, Cowboy met and married the love of his life and soul mate, Robin. He adopted Robin’s son, Rooney, and daughter Kana, feeling his family was now complete.

In 2002, Cowboy took Robin fishing for the first time aboard the Misconception, in 2003 on the Zenith and on the Melissa Lynn in 2005. He would often say, “I have the best of both worlds when I can fish and have my wife aboard.”

Together, they purchased the Eclipse in 2004 and fished halibut. Son Rooney fished his first season alongside his father and mother on the Ocean Challenger in January and February of 2006.

It would be the last time they fished together as a family.

Fishing was good this last season; he delivered 260,000 pounds of halibut to the Pribilofs for owner, Barry McKee. “Nothing to it but to do it,” was his favorite saying, and were words he lived by. Full of knowledge and wisdom, there wasn’t much he couldn’t fix or figure out. Courage, respect, resourcefulness, dedication, loyalty, self-reliance, discipline, fairness, hard work, a caring heart, and love of family and fellow man, speak of this man we knew as Cowboy.

So long, Cowboy, we’ll miss you forever and keep you in our hearts. From all of us whose lives you touched.

Cowboy leaves behind his wife, Robin of Hoonah, daughter Kana of Anchorage, son Rooney and his wife, Jamiann, of Juneau, and numerous brothers and sisters in-law from Pennsylvania and Missouri.

I have not been able to gather information on the missing crewman, Steven Esparza. Please, if you can, send it my way so that I may honor him as well.

Stay tuned.

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