I hope the storm did not get them.
I’ve seen pics and video of Saipan from this last typhoon, it was another very bad hit. Having passed this vessel many times in on my way ashore from the anchorage, I would not personally have felt comfortable leaving the dock as a member of her crew. It’s amazing this story isn’t getting more traction. Hopefully the crew are in a liferaft somewhere waiting to get picked up.
UPDATE 2: U.S. Coast Guard searches for missing vessel offshore Saipan
HONOLULU — The U.S. Coast Guard continues to search for a missing cargo vessel Saturday that experienced engine failure near Saipan Wednesday.
Joint Rescue Coordination Center Honolulu watchstanders confirmed that an overturned vessel sighted by a Coast Guard Air Station Barbers Point HC-130 Hercules airplane crew during a first-light search Saturday (ChST) matches the description of the Mariana, a cargo vessel that experienced engine failure near Saipan Wednesday.
The overturned vessel was sighted by the airplane crew about 34 nautical miles northeast of Pagan, approximately 100 nautical miles northeast of the last known position of the cargo vessel Mariana.
U.S. Coast Guard aircrews, a U.S. Navy Boeing P-8A Poseidon crew, and a Japan Coast Guard aircrew are slated to fly in support of continued search efforts. The crew of U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Frederick Hatch (WPC 1143) and the crew of a Japan Coast Guard vessel equipped with a specialized dive team will also join the search.
On Wednesday, Joint Rescue Coordination Center Honolulu watchstanders received a report from the vessel manager of the Mariana, a 145-foot U.S.-registered dry cargo vessel, stating the vessel’s starboard engine was disabled with six people aboard approximately 140 miles north-northwest of Saipan.
Coast Guard watchstanders established a one-hour communication schedule with the Mariana via the vessel manager. There were no medical concerns at the time of the report.
Watchstanders lost communications with the vessel Wednesday evening and have not regained them. On Thursday morning, a Coast Guard Air Station Barbers Point HC-130 Hercules airplane crew launched to search for the vessel but returned to Guam due to heavy winds in the search area.
Anyone with information that may assist in search efforts should contact the Coast Guard on VHF-FM channel 16 or call the Joint Rescue Coordination Center Honolulu: 1-800-331-6176.
As of 4/22, the remains of one sailor have been recovered, and the other 5 remain missing.
What a catastrophe.
How awful
Poor buggers.
RIP
I feel horrible for these mariners family & friends. They still haven’t found the life raft or other 5 so there’s a sliver of hope.
I worked on 2 of those old gulf stack supply boats & their design & limitations always baffled me. When the seas were as high as the exhaust stacks it was time to stop navigating & just go the with or against the seas. If the swells were large & close together, then gulf stack boats were really screwed. IMO, those old gulf stack boats should have stayed in the gulf or close enough to ports where they wouldn’t find themselves in too unfavorable conditions.
BTW, from what I could find the Mariana was last named the MV Luta. She has a very controversial history in the US Mariana Islands since she arrived there in 2014 from Louisiana. I couldn’t find her original name from 1981 when she was built.
Ooof. Absolutely tragic.
Shee it,
11m waves on a Gulf Style boat 
I remember when some of them with funnels forward came into the North Sea.
One had a steel dodger fabricated in front of the wheelhouse and that had a great big bend in it from wave impact damage.
The wheelhouse windows were like car windows not the great hulking reinforced things that dedicated North Sea Boats had. Even those were not strong enough sometimes 
I can remember many times it going dark as the wheelhouse was completely covered by green water.
A supply boat designed to operate in the gulf is not what I would want to ride out a pacific typhoon in. Poor guys.
I just have to point out that this website has done such a great job covering it and other maritime news the last few months.
Not.
It’s been all Hormuz lately.