Fishing Pioneer's Fate In Jury's Hands -- Ex-Fleet Owner Accused Of Ignoring Safety Before Fatal 1990 Sinking

Francis Miller worked his way from captain of a single, 30-foot coastal crab boat to head of the nation's largest factory-trawler fleet.

He redefined commercial fishing in the North Pacific.

He became a multimillionaire, admired throughout his industry.

Now, after a six-week trial in federal court, Miller faces a future that neither his fisherman's work ethic nor businessman's savvy can dictate.

A jury is deciding whether Miller, former chairman of Arctic Alaska Fisheries Corp., is criminally responsible for the 1990 sinking of the Aleutian Enterprise, a factory-trawler operated by Arctic Alaska.

Nine men drowned when the Aleutian Enterprise sank.

Miller, 63, is charged with conspiring for years with other company officials to save money by cutting safety expenditures and forcing crew members to work long hours. Prosecutors also allege Miller falsified Coast Guard licensing documents to keep the seamen he wanted on company boats.

Miller's friends, colleagues and competitors say the accident was just one of many in a dangerous profession.

They say Miller, who some describe as generous to a fault, is the last guy in the world who'd jeopardize safety for money: One of his own sons drowned in a fishing-boat accident.

Others await the verdict because it could send a shot across the bow of the factory-trawler industry, warning that stricter safety standards are needed.

Miller, who declined through his attorneys to be interviewed, recently took the stand in his defense, talking in a slow, soft voice.

He said he ran the multimillion-dollar corporation the same way he once ran his one-boat crabbing business. "We thought we were operating our vessels the best we knew how," he said.

He started fishing shortly after graduating from high school in 1949. He enjoyed being out on the water and catching crab and salmon off the Washington coast.

"He just had a burning desire to be among the top, to be among the best," said Joe Hendrix, a former Alabama shipbuilder's representative who met Miller in 1969.

Miller's wooden boat, the San Vito, was stuffed full of Dungeness crab. Hendrix had heard Miller might be interested in buying a bigger, more profitable boat.

The men shook hands and went to grab coffee. Within hours, Miller had signed a contract to purchase a new 90-foot crabbing boat.

The Pacific Venture came with a shiny, steel hull and a $200,000 price tag.

"Everybody thought, `Golly, what in the world is he ever going to do with a 90-foot boat,' " Hendrix recalled.

But to Miller, a 90-foot boat meant a chance to catch more crab. The Pacific Venture paid off.

Miller's success, like his current predicament, has been tied to the fortunes of his boats.

In 1951, Miller paid $4,500 for The Robin, a 30-foot crabber.

In 1959, he made his first trip to Alaska for Dungeness crab.

By the 1970s, he was pinning his future on the Alaskan king-crab fishery. He earned a reputation as a first-rate fisherman.

He became known as an aggressive businessman, borrowing money and securing investors to buy boats. His salary was limited, but he was building a fleet.

With boats such as the Alaskan Enterprise and Northwest Enterprise, well over 100 feet long, Miller began testing the rugged Bering Sea.

"I liked the business," he testified in court. "It was a challenge, and I just always wanted to do a little better."

The '70s: sorrow, hard work

While Miller tackled king crab, he also experienced a string of personal tragedies.

In 1972, his 16-year-old son, Larry, one of six children, was killed while riding a motorcycle on a Westport street.

Two years later, a 13-year-old son, Gary, died when a motorcycle rolled over on a sand dune.

Two years later, his son Tom drowned when one of Miller's crab boats sank in the Bering Sea.

In 1979, Miller's brother, Kenny, was killed when a propane tank exploded.

Some say Miller sought refuge from those tragedies in his work.

"If he was thinking about business, he wasn't thinking about them," said Jay Clifford, who fished with Miller during those years.

The '80s: big risks, big gains

In the early '80s, the bottom fell out of the king crab market.

By 1982, Miller had a personal debt totaling $12 million on seven boats, court documents say.

He started looking for other fish in the sea.

The Magnuson Act, passed by Congress in 1976, gave U.S. fishing vessels priority in all fishing within 200 miles of the U.S. coast.

The early days of the factory-trawler business were a gamble.

"Folks (were) taking big risks and doing things with big money that they weren't doing before," said Bert Larkins, former director of the American Factory Trawlers Association.

In 1983, Miller enlisted investors to help buy the Aleutian Enterprise, a new factory-trawler. The 142-foot boat cost about $8 million.

That same year, Miller joined forces with two other men to start Arctic Alaska Seafood Co. Miller took frequent trips to Gulf Coast shipbuilders, searching for oil industry "mud boats" easily converted into factory-trawlers.

Arctic Alaska soon began to outpace all competitors.

"It was Francis' thing in the '80s, and I don't know anyone who has duplicated it since," said Bob Alverson, manager of an association of troller skippers.

The company, which became Arctic Alaska Fisheries Corp. when it went public in 1988, eventually employed more than 2,300 people and operated more than 25 boats.

The floating factories pulled giant nets aboard, and the fish were sent below deck.

There, assembly-line workers - many with little or no fishing experience - worked 16-, 18-, 20-hour days filleting and packaging fish.

Arctic Alaska started to find success by the mid-'80s. In 1990, the company sold more than $180 million worth of fish, netting more than $11 million in profit.

Although Miller owned roughly one-quarter of Arctic Alaska stock and earned a $269,000 salary in 1990, his office door was always open to captains returning from sea. He'd travel to Alaskan waters to check a new boat, or tinker with a new fishing technique.

Then 1990, and disaster

On March 22, 1990, Miller was in his Fisherman's Terminal office when a phone call from Dutch Harbor, Alaska, brought word of the Aleutian Enterprise's sinking.

The on-deck crew was pulling up one last net of fish when the boat listed left. Water entered trash chutes cut into the hull. Within minutes, the boat sank. Nine men died. Twenty-two survived.

A Coast Guard investigation found water-tight doors below deck had been removed, leaving gaps to welcome the cold sea water. Survival suits were poorly maintained or inaccessible, buried beneath fishing gear. The boat's general alarm did not work.

Miller has said in court that the company, in retrospect, could have done things to avoid the accident. But he denies all charges.

Miller hasn't been directly involved in the factory-trawler business since retiring in October 1993, a year after Arctic Alaska was sold.

Divorced three times, he lives in a modern, three-story North Seattle house that sits on a hilltop overlooking Puget Sound. A statue of an old fisherman stands in the back yard. From there, Miller can gaze at the modern trawler fleet powering toward the Bering Sea.

But neighbors say he doesn't stay still enough to enjoy the view.

Miller is seeking another floating fortune: Mississippi River casino barges.

Court records from a lawsuit this year indicate he's invested "a substantial portion of his life savings" in two casinos operated by Treasure Bay Gaming & Resorts, one of which has closed.

For the time being, Miller's attention will be focused on the pending jury verdict. If convicted, he could face up to 100 years in prison.