The Coast Guard suspended its search for the sailing vessel Fantome and its crew of 31 today after a massive search which covered over 145,000 square miles.

Coast Guard aircraft from Air Stations Clearwater, Fla., and Miami began the search for the Windjammer Barefoot Cruise's Fantome and its crew Thursday afternoon. Communications were lost with the 282-foot sailing schooner October 27, after the crew reported experiencing hurricane conditions.

Search crews found the first piece of debris from the Fantome Sunday. A life jacket with Fantome stenciled on the back was found washed ashore on Guanaja Island. A life raft and several more lifejackets were found Monday. A Coast Guard search plane located a woman in the water Tuesday afternoon, clinging to a piece of wood. The woman was at first thought to be from the Fantome, but was later identified as a Honduran national who had been swept out to sea.

Coast Guard aircraft and the HMS Sheffield searched an area the size of the state of Montana looking for any survivors from the four-masted sailing ship. During the seven day search all that was found was two life rafts, nine lifejackets and other associated with the Fantome.

 Honduran female was rescued 25 miles north of the Isla de Guanaja, Honduras today at 4:30 p.m. after a Coast Guard
C-130 aircraft spotted her during the search for survivors from the sailing vessel Fantome.

HMS Sheffield diverted a helicopter and rescued the woman clinging to a piece of wood.

The woman initially claimed she was from the Fantome, but later retracted her statement. She claims to be from Honduras.  No further information is available at this time as the woman remains delirious, in and out of consciousness and severely dehydrated.

The crew of the HMS Sheffield is providing medical treatment. 

Four U.S. Coast Guard C-130 fixed wing aircraft and the HMS Sheffield searching for the S/V Fantome with 31 people on board, located a debris field near Isla de Guanaja, Honduras and another debris field 30 miles North of Isla de Roatan, Honduras.

In the vicinity of Guanaja two life rafts were located and a total of seven life jackets. The serial number of the first life raft has been confirmed as a Fantome life raft. Also, units are investigating the report of a wooden staircase.

In the vicinity of the second debris field a U.S. Coast Guard C-130 reported wood, timber and a blue material. The
Sheffield's helicopter is investigating the second debris sighting.

The U.S. Coast Guard will continue its search with two Coast Guard C-130s from Clearwater, Fla., and the Sheffield is continuing its search throughout the evening.

The HMS Sheffield is a British warship on patrol in the Caribbean and conducting Hurricane Mitch relief operations off Honduras and Belize.

The U.S. Coast Guard has searched more than 120,000 square miles since Thursday evening.
 
 

Nov 2, 1998 
From District 7 Public Affairs Office 

Four Coast Guard C-130 fixed wing aircraft continue the search today for the missing sailing vessel Fantome.

The search area will cover 21,100 square miles today. Since Saturday the Coast Guard has searched more than 100,000 square miles which is about the size of the state of Colorado.

The 282-foot, four masted schooner was last heard from Tuesday when Windjammer Cruises lost radio contact with their ship. Fantome, is equipped with an Emergency Positioning Indicating Radio Beacon, eleven 25-man liferafts and three motor lifeboats.

To date the Coast Guard has had no radio contact with the vessel and air searches haven't turned up any correlating
information. Good search conditions have existed in the area since Saturday afternoon. A lifejacket from the Fantome was found on the beach on the island of Guanaja, Honduras Sunday.

The Coast Guard continues its search today off the coast of Honduras for a barkentine sailing cruise ship and its 31-member crew who were last heard from Tuesday afternoon as they attempted to evade Hurricane Mitch.

The Coast Guard began searching for the Fantome, a 258-foot four masted sailing schooner owned and operated by
Windjammer Cruises, Thursday after receiving a call from Windjammer Cruises reporting they lost contact with the
Fantome.

According to Mike Burke from Windjammer Cruises, the crew of the Fantome said they were experiencing 100 knot winds and 40-degree rolls when they last contacted him. According to Burke, the crew of the Fantome dropped their passengers off in Belize and headed toward the leeward side of the Roatan Islands, Honduras, to escape the brunt of Hurricane Mitch.

The Fantome has a Emergency Positioning Indicating Radio Beacon onboard which is designed to emit a satellite signal in the case of an emergency. The Coast Guard has not received a signal from the Fantome's EPIRB.

In another hurricane-related case, the motor vessel Atlantic Dauphin recovered two Swiss nationals from a life raft after their 33-foot yacht, Snois, sank during Hurricane Mitch Monday. The Atlantic Dauphin will transport the couple to its next port of call in Panama.