PROBE OF SAUGUS FAMILY'S YACHT DISASTER CONTINUES\Evidence missing in yacht disaster.

Byline: Laurence Darmiento Daily News Staff Writer

An investigation into a yachting disaster that killed three members of a Saugus family last year is still months from completion, with authorities as yet unable to conclusively link a Korean freighter to the yacht's sinking off New Zealand.

Although the freighter Pan Grace has been a suspect for more than a month in the Nov. 24 sinking of the Melinda Lee, a key piece of evidence that could prove the 27,000-ton vessel rammed the yacht has yet to be found, said Bob Acker, a senior investigator for the U.S. Coast Guard.

Paint samples from an apparent collision were taken by Korean authorities when the freighter docked in the Korean port of Inchon in December, but investigators have yet to find remnants of the 20-ton yacht, he said.

"Obviously we are trying to do a comparison, and we are looking for something to compare it with," said Acker, who is overseeing the investigation from Honolulu. "New Zealand maritime authorities are looking around to try and find any remains of the hull."

Judith Sleavin, a former Santa Clarita city engineer, was the sole survivor of the collision about 30 miles off the tip of New Zealand's North Island. Suffering from cracked vertebrae, she washed up on shore after clinging to an overturned life raft for a day and a half.

She is still recovering in New Zealand, after being hospitalized for several weeks.

The disaster claimed the lives of her husband Michael Sleavin, 42; the couple's 9-year-old son Benjamin Thomas and their 7-year-old daughter Anna Rose. Two years into a round-the-world trip, the yacht was among a flotilla on its way to the South Seas nation from the Tonga Islands.

Acker said that if New Zealand authorities are unable to locate a piece of the hull for direct comparison the investigators will have to compare the scrapings with information in data sheets from the yacht's manufacturer.

"There is a historic record of any kind of materials that might have been used to preserve the Melinda Lee's hull," he said. "We are looking into both sides of it."

Coast Guard investigators hope to complete their work by March 1, but even if the time-line is met, the results must be passed on to the agency's Washington, D.C., office for review, he said.

The investigation will not only try to determine a cause of the collision but make recommendations to prevent future such disasters. Even if the freighter's crew is found to be responsible for the accident, however, the Coast Guard could not take action against it because it is a Korean vessel, he said.

Gerard Winter, a New Zealand attorney who represents Judith Sleavin, said that depending on the investigation's results, he plans to file a lawsuit seeking compensation for his client from the freighter's owner, Pan Ocean Shipping Co. of Seoul.

The lawsuit would be filed in California under international laws that allows the victim of such accidents to choose the place of venue. He said if a judgment was ultimately rendered against the company, it would be obliged to pay it under bilateral treaties governing such actions.

"They are the second largest shipping line in Korea and they have offices or agents in America," he said. "But we need to establish there was a collision first."

Sleavin told authorities she was keeping watch at night in stormy weather when a large vessel suddenly came upon the family's yacht, ramming it and sinking it within minutes.

The couple's young son is believed to have died in the collision, while she said that her husband and the couple's young daughter scrambled aboard the small life raft.

However, in the rough seas, the raft overturned, forcing the family to clutch onto its side. The young girl eventually lost her grip and drowned. The father drowned trying to save her, she said.

Crew members on the Pan Grace have told Korean investigators they remember seeing a red light toward the bow of the large freighter that night, but did not feel any collision, Acker said.

Laden with logs, the ship's owners have said that if the freighter did ram the much smaller yacht, it is possible the crew never knew it because of the terrible weather.

Sleavin, who has been visited by friends and relatives, is staying with a friends in the Whangarei area, where she was first hospitalized. Winter said she has no immediate plans to publicly comment on her ordeal.