The search for two men last seen the evening of Dec. 13 setting out in a skiff from Sitka for Camp Coogan Bay has been suspended, the U.S. Coast Guard announced on Dec. 17.

The search was started Dec. 15 after the men, Josiah Bracken, 31, and Quinn Whitten, 50, both of Sitka, were reported missing.

Petty Officer Ashly Murphy, a spokeswoman for the Coast Guard in Juneau, said, “As of 1 p.m. today (Dec. 17), the Coast Guard has suspended the search for the two missing boaters pending development of new information.”

Friends said the two men left Back Beach in a 14-foot Lund skiff at around 11 p.m. Dec. 13, with plans to travel to a floathouse in Camp Coogan Bay, about five miles south of Sitka, across Eastern Channel. They failed to return on Dec. 14 as planned, and around 6 p.m. Dec. 15 the friends went to the police station to ask for a welfare check, Sitka Police reported.

The Coast Guard was contacted that same evening, Murphy said.

The Coast Guard was unable to search that night, due to poor weather conditions, but a crew member from a good Samaritan vessel checked the floathouse and shoreline that night and found no signs that anyone had been to the floathouse, Murphy said.

Coast Guard Air Station Sitka launched a search helicopter and a 38-foot Coast Guard boat the morning of Dec. 16. The Coast Guard launched a helicopter again on Dec. 17 to continue plying area waters and shorelines in search of the two men.

The Cutter John McCormick, homeported in Ketchikan, arrived in Sitka on Dec. 16 to assist with the search. Alaska State Troopers, Alaska Wildlife Troopers, Sitka Search and Rescue, the U.S. Forest Service and three additional good Samaritan vessels assisted with the search.

The National Weather Service reported low temperatures of 24 and 23 degrees Fahrenheit on Dec. 13-14, respectively with east winds between 20 and 30 miles per hour over the weekend. The water temperature is about 45 degrees Fahrenheit.

“No confirmed vessels matching the description of the boat that we are looking for have been found,” Murphy said, before he announced the Coast Guard was suspending the search.

Murphy said rescue crews “searched 158 square miles for over 22 hours before making the very difficult decision to suspend the search.”

“Our thoughts go out to all who knew these two men, during this time,” Murphy said. “The decision to suspend a search is never easy and (was) made based on the careful consideration of a variety of different factors.”