Dec. 7 - WorldCatch News Network - A 22-year-old South Kingstown, R.I., fisherman is dead and two others were in the hospital last night after they were found unconscious in the hold of a Point Judith-based dragger fishing near Nantucket.

Steven Follett, a deck hand on the 96-foot Katrina Lee, died early yesterday morning at Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis.

James Byrne, 33, the captain of the boat, is in critical condition in the hospital's intensive-care unit. Leo Croteau, 50, a deck hand, is in fair condition. Byrne and Croteau both live in South Kingstown.

The Coast Guard evacuated them from the Katrina Lee about 125 miles southeast of Cape Cod after the remaining member of the four- man crew reported that they had passed out in the hold, which contained the vessel's catch of fish.

That man, who has not been identified, returned to Point Judith aboard the Katrina Lee last night about 10:15. The Coast Guard was planning to inspect the boat today to determine what killed Follett and caused the other men to lose consciousness. A Narragansett police officer was posted to guard the vessel overnight.

"I don't know what kind of environment they walked into," said Lt. Dawn Kallen, senior investigator at the Coast Guard's Marine Safety Office in Providence. "Until I inspect the boat, I won't know."

Kallen said the owner's insurance company would send technical specialists today to examine the vessel and test the air quality in the hold.

The Katrina Lee, which had been out since Friday and was due back Tuesday, is owned by Peter Reposa, of Narragansett. He was at the dock at Point Judith last night when the Katrina Lee returned, but he did not speak with reporters.

Friends and relatives gathered yesterday at the Folletts' home at 145 Thoreau Lane, where Steven lived with his parents, Steven and Donna, his 21-year-old sister, Heather, and his 14-year-old brother, Andrew.

Dozens of snapshots lay spread across the living-room carpet, showing scenes from Follett's life: his high school graduation, a recent snowboarding trip, sharing a beer with friends. In all of them, Follett is smiling.

"I think he was born with a smile, that kid," his mother said.

Follett loved life. He was impulsive, a "fly by the seat of his pants" type of guy, his sister said.

He had been working on fishing boats full time since he finished high school five years ago, and had spent summers before that at sea.

He considered going to college, but decided to follow in the footsteps of his father, two uncles and a grandfather all fishermen.

"It was in his blood to be out there," said his aunt, Cindy Guldemond.

His mother said he was an Eagle Scout, willing to do anything for anyone. That, she said, explains what happened on the Katrina Lee.

She and her husband have pieced together a sequence of events based on information from the Coast Guard and from Croteau, whom they visited at Cape Cod Hospital early yesterday.

Follett's father had been heading out on a fishing trip himself on Tuesday night. He was pulling his 84-foot boat, the Heather Lynn, out of the port at Point Judith at about 7 p.m. when the distress signal from the Katrina Lee came over the radio.

He pulled back into port and listened to the radio for the next two hours for any news. Then he heard that the Coast Guard was sending two Jayhawk helicopters to retrieve three fishermen from the Katrina Lee.

One of them, he heard, was about 20 years old. He knew it had to be Steven.

He called his wife, and they drove to Hyannis.

In his bed in intensive care, Croteau told the Folletts that at around 6:30 p.m. he had passed out in the hold of the Katrina Lee. Steven Follett and Byrne discovered him there and pulled him out, but they, in turn, were apparently overcome and passed out.

The third deck hand sent out the distress signal. He later told the Coast Guard that he smelled ammonia in the hold.

The Mystic Way, a boat fishing off Nantucket, relayed a message to the Coast Guard that two men were stuck in the hold of the Katrina Lee, unconscious, bleeding and foaming at the mouth.

Because the hold is deep, both men were wearing safety lines. Still, Croteau who had regained consciousness and the fourth crew member weren't able to pull them out.

Two nearby fishing boats, the Northern Lynn and the Point Judith- based Travis and Natalie, pulled alongside the Katrina Lee to help. Crew members from those boats went into the hold and pulled out Follett and Byrne, who were still unconscious. Once they were taken out of the hold, the bleeding and foaming stopped, Coast Guard Petty Officer Mary Patterson said.

The crew of the Travis and Natalie had oxygen canisters on their boat. They gave the two men oxygen, but they did not regain consciousness.

Meanwhile, the Coast Guard had dispatched two Jayhawk helicopters from Otis Air Station in Cape Cod. A confined-space rescue specialist from the Otis Fire Department was also on board, Patterson said.

The helicopters arrived over the vessel about 9:20 p.m. They picked up Byrne, Croteau, and Follett and took them to the hospital. The fourth crew member stayed on board the Katrina Lee with a crew member from the Travis and Natalie.

The helicopters arrived in Hyannis about 11:15 p.m. Capt. Eric Farrenkopf of the Hyannis Fire Department, the duty officer on Tuesday night, said Follett was already in cardiac arrest. Byrne was unconscious and Croteau was conscious but disoriented, he said.

Follett died about 3 a.m.

His body will be brought back to Rhode Island today, according to his family. They expect the results of his autopsy then.

A wake for Follett is set for Sunday, and the funeral service will take place the next day at St. Mary Star of the Sea Church in Narragansett.

He will be cremated and the ashes spread at sea.

The incident on the Katrina Lee shook the small fishing community of Point Judith. Some fishermen heard the news over the radio while they were at sea. Others didn't hear until they came into port.

They said they had never heard of something similar happening and could only speculate on the cause.

"I've been on boats all my life and this has never happened to me," said David Stoll, 33, of Narragansett. "It's a tough racket, a tough business."

Ian Barlow, 22, heard the news yesterday morning. One of Follett's best friends, he spent the afternoon helping his father, Dan, out on one of his boats. He wanted to get his mind off the death of his friend.

Barlow, a student at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Conn., spent summers in high school on the water with Follett. They used to take a skiff out together and sometimes worked on lobster boats.

Barlow thinks the other crew members on the Katrina Lee may have had trouble pulling Follett from the hold because of his size. He was about 6 feet, 2 inches, and 225 pounds, Barlow said.

"His heart was as big as he was," he said.

(C) 2001 The Providence Journal. via ProQuest Information and Learning Company; All Rights Reserved

One dead, two hurt on R.I. fishing vessel