# 42 Betram versus Shrimp Boat



## cab (Sep 21, 2007)

I do not know the story on this but happened in South Padre this week. I am getting third hand story so maybe somebody knows the real one.


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## texasislandboy (Apr 28, 2012)

weird... I worked on that boat for a few months in high school when it was named the poco mas... I'm sure you blue water guys know the story on it... It WAS a nice boat. Hope Walker is OK he's a GOOD guy`

Take that back this might not be the same boat. But same Capt.


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## WilliamH (May 21, 2004)

Isn't there a Doc Holliday on this board?


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## McDaniel8402 (Dec 7, 2011)

WilliamH said:


> Isn't there a Doc Holliday on this board?


Sure is, and he is out of SPI. Perhaps he will chime in.


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## dustym (Aug 5, 2010)

The shrimp boat was at fault and is under investigation. I only have the story from the boat owner (who was not aboard) but I know dock holiday was struck by the shrimp boat "Maria Cruz" while drifting.


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## Blackbeard89 (Apr 5, 2012)

here is the shrimp boat... looks like they got a little close. a friend of mine sent me the pix of dock and of the shrimp boat...


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## jdusek (Apr 7, 2006)

That sucks. He is a 2cool sponsor too.


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## Trouthappy (Jun 12, 2008)

Maybe Doc can fill us in on what happened. I knew a guy whose anchored Mako was rammed and flipped 12 miles off Galveston in 1990, by a shrimpboat that had nobody driving...


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## JERRY C (Jul 27, 2012)

Just my 2 cents but how is it the shrimp boats fault when they were drifting looks anchored by the pictures?


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## CoastalOutfitters (Aug 20, 2004)

notice the top cap at the transom and above the port window, they got flat hit, not brushed over


have been almost run over within a few feet 2X, one of those when anchored

I think those skrimpers run on autopilot and leave the helm altogether


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## JERRY C (Jul 27, 2012)

Of course they do they shrimp all night and anchor up all day,but sportfishing boats still go right up behind them when anchored everyone's done it!


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## mm (Jun 20, 2005)

The Dock Holiday was chumming tuna when the shrimp boat that was on Autopilot and the crew was on the back deck hit the dock holiday Very lucky that there were no injuries on board. Dock was towed in by the coast guard.


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## marker150 (Nov 25, 2008)

http://coastguardnews.com/coast-guard-tows-disabled-boat-after-incident-30-miles-off-south-padre-island/2012/08/01/

USCG report


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## McDaniel8402 (Dec 7, 2011)

DOH! Glad nobody got hurt. I do believe I would be upset if my little ol' boat got mowed down by a shrimper. I'm afraid there wouldn't be enough left of my boat to tow.


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## MakoT (Feb 22, 2005)

Some of you might know Dr Steve Cole who fished Mako boats in the 80 s and now runs a Contender on SKA. 

He was anchored offshore fishing a reef and saw the Shrimp Boat coming. He thought they certainly would turn or dodge with a coarse straight at them anda mile to fix it. Turns out They were sleeping on Autopilot with2 guys on back deck with nets out. The nets caught the anchored Mako as the boat itsself bearly cleared them. The nets pulled tight around the boat and kept going. It ended up flipping their boat over and dragging them and stuff around until the drag and pull got the crews attention. Amazing they weren't killed


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## Calmday (Jul 7, 2005)

Wells and platforms in shallower water off of the Louisiana coast get hit by shrimp boats all the time. It's just a fact that ALL of them run on auto pilot with no one in the wheel house. It's just what they do.


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## Swells (Nov 27, 2007)

Most of these shrimp boats have 3 or 4 man crews, one captain, one winch man, and one of two deck hands. They run on autopilot a lot when moving to new shrimping grounds. Just like the crewboats with over-tired pilots, they sometimes run into jetties, rigs, beaches, and boats. 

I don't mean to sound like a horse's arse, but if you see a big boat coming dead on, never assume they'll try to miss you. Forget about that hooey you read about "radar proximity alarms" because that's a big fat joke, they go full steam ahead on a compass bearing and that's it. Better get out of the way and "keeping a proper lookout" works both ways.

What gets me is that the biggest, nicest charter boat in SPI was toasted, the season over and I don't like the look of the stern or the topside rigging. Worse yet, it was right before the TIFT, when the Dock Holiday could make 5 grand or more this coming weekend. She will be sorely missed.


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## Calmday (Jul 7, 2005)

I have worked in the oil field for a lot of years and NEVER seen a crew boat running on auto pilot with no one at the wheel. Shrimpers do it all the time. There is a big difference Sammi.


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## TOM WEBER (Aug 14, 2005)

Trouthappy said:


> Maybe Doc can fill us in on what happened. I knew a guy whose anchored Mako was rammed and flipped 12 miles off Galveston in 1990, by a shrimpboat that had nobody driving...


 Remember that...talked to him at the dock He barely got boat started and was trying to get out of way when hit and flipped. NEW 26 Mako. Boat just kept going and did not stop for several hundred yards as I recall.

Hate to see stuff like this. Glad no injuries. That damage was no simple near miss contact.. TW


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## shallowgal (Jun 11, 2004)

Hey Walker, glad none of yall got hurt. Sorry about the bad timing bud, taking you out right before TIFT and LKT, but atleast you could save the gear and people on board.


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## Crossroads (May 21, 2004)

These shrimp boat operators need some policing because they have become a danger to all of us. I've almost been hit while at anchor after dark with my boat well lit all around. You can't haul anchor and move quick enough to get out of the way when these wreckless operators abandon the wheelhouse for a snooze.


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## riversnooker (Mar 14, 2011)

Very sorry to hear this, been seeing that boat around for years. Good to hear the captain and crew weren't injured. Strange that I was just reading on their really nice website about their Perdido spar tuna trips then switched over to 2cool to see this had happened. Makes me think twice about fishing around shrimpers.
On a side note that's the bow of our aquasport in the background and it should have been put up days ago. Guess I'll get a chance to see the damage in person later this afternoon.


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## Sight Cast (May 24, 2004)

The shrimpers do not anwser VHF either which is frustrating


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## The Last Mango (Jan 31, 2010)

Calmday said:


> Wells and platforms in shallower water off of the Louisiana coast get hit by shrimp boats all the time. It's just a fact that ALL of them run on auto pilot with no one in the wheel house. It's just what they do.


ALL is a powerful word.................


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## Trouthappy (Jun 12, 2008)

Cole was unhooking snapper and his Latina girlfriend kept suggesting they get out of the way of this oncoming shrimpboat, with nobody at the helm. Cole told her the shrimpers were just trying to get their GPS number, and would soon go around them. Too late, Cole cranked one engine and scooted out from under the shrimper's oncoming bow, but the big wooden trawl door hanging off to the side snagged his t-top, dragged them along until the anchor rope came tight, and then flipped them. The gal got a bump on the head and was swimming underneath the hull, but came out okay. It was Oct. 30 and the water chilly. The shrimpboat stopped a ways off, the crew debated out on deck, decided to come back and pull them from the water. They were soon sitting below decks in the stinky shrimpboat, no mattresses on the bunks. They were then transferred to the Coast Guard. I met them at the Gal. Yacht Basin and near sunset Cole and I went out in my 20 Wellcraft and also Howard Horton in his 34-Luhrs, searching around until we found the drifting Mako. It had been anchored 12 miles off Galveston and had drifted 2 miles west. (The Coast Guard had cut the anchor rope and left a small beacon attached to the hull). With a bent t-top, his upside down Mako wouldn't track straight unless two boats towed it. The Wellcraft and Luhrs towed that upside Mako all night back to Galveston Yacht Basin, arriving at 8 a.m. on Monday. Mechanics had his twin Yamaha 200s running by next day, all cleaned up, and we won tournaments with that boat during the following year(s). Cole's insurance paid for the damage, but his insurance company had a hard time collecting anything from the Vietnamese shrimp crew. They operate under some strange matriarchal system and don't worry much about marine insurance. Some old grandma handles all the money for a whole bunch of shrimpers and their families, something like that. Maybe things have changed since 1990, but I doubt it.



TOM WEBER said:


> Remember that...talked to him at the dock He barely got boat started and was trying to get out of way when hit and flipped. NEW 26 Mako. Boat just kept going and did not stop for several hundred yards as I recall.
> 
> Hate to see stuff like this. Glad no injuries. That damage was no simple near miss contact.. TW


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## Argo (May 21, 2004)

They should be able to charge these guys with some sort of criminal offense. That's a bunch of BS.....


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## The Last Mango (Jan 31, 2010)

Crossroads said:


> These shrimp boat operators need some policing because they have become a danger to all of us. I've almost been hit while at anchor after dark with my boat well lit all around. You can't haul anchor and move quick enough to get out of the way when these wreckless operators abandon the wheelhouse for a snooze.


 dang shrimpers are terrible people, just all of them bad.......


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## Empty Pockets CC (Feb 18, 2009)

I believe the skipper of that boat goes by Spitunadude on this forum. Any update on the damage?


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## crawfishking (Apr 23, 2007)

Empty Pockets CC said:


> I believe the skipper of that boat goes by Spitunadude on this forum. Any update on the damage?


X2. Info on how it happened would be helpful to other anglers.


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## Empty Pockets CC (Feb 18, 2009)

crawfishking said:


> X2. Info on how it happened would be helpful to other anglers.


Indeed it would and we're all curious no doubt, but I do know that I wouldn't share that info in a public setting.


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## caldvn (Sep 25, 2009)

I could be wrong, but Mango sounded very sarcastic to me... hard to tell through the internet sometimes.


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