ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- The crew of the Seattle-based fishing boat that sank off the Aleutian Islands last week believed the vessel was unsafe, a survivor from Oregon told reporters.

Jeremy Freitag, a Lebanon, Ore. native, said his employer had also delayed making needed repairs. He made the remarks during an interview with ABC News.

Freitag, 22, said the Alaska Ranger, as the ship was formally named, was in such disrepair its crew members had nicknamed it "the Ranger Danger." His claims were backed up by two other crew members who had previously served on the ship.

"There were a lot of problems onboard the ship that were constantly ignored," Freitag said. “They [his employers] just wanted to fish. They didn't care about the repairs...There was always an excuse."

The ship's captain and three crew members drowned when the ship sank last Sunday. Forty-two other crew members were rescued and one person was never found.

 More: Many rescued from sinking ship

The 184-foot ship's owner, the Fishing Company of Alaska, said in a statement that it did "not have sufficient information to determine why the vessel foundered."

Waves up to 8 feet and 25-knot wind were reported at the time the ship sank, said Chief Petty Officer Barry Lane. He said the Coast Guard was investigating the cause of the sinking.

The company identified the captain as Eric Peter Jacobsen, 65, of Lynnwood, Wash.

Some of those on board the Alaska Ranger were taken to Dutch Harbor in the sunken vessel's sister ship, the Alaska Warrior. The ship arrived about midnight at a private dock, where access to survivors was not allowed. The vessel took part in the rescue operation along with two Coast Guard helicopters that were used to pluck crew members from the water and from life rafts, Lane said.

At least 13 of the crew members were not in life rafts, and were picked out of the ocean along a mile stretch. They were wearing survival suits and had strobe lights.

Other survivors were on board the Coast Guard cutter Munro, which remained at the scene to search for the missing crew member. A C-130 airplane also helped search for the missing crew member, whose name was not released, and a helicopter was to join the search again at daylight.

In addition to Jacobsen, the company identified the dead as chief engineer Daniel Cook, hometown unknown; mate David Silveira of San Diego, and crewman Byron Carrillo, believed to be from Seattle. The company did not give the ages of Cook, Silveira or Carrillo.

"They were incredibly brave, hard working men. Our hearts are broken," the company said in a statement.

In December, an engine fire damaged another of the company's ships, the Alaska Patriot, while it was docked near Dutch Harbor. No one was injured in the blaze.

In 2006, the Fishing Company of Alaska, the owner of a catcher-processor ship it managed and the ship's captains were fined a combined $254,500. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Fisheries Service said the company - as well as the ship's owner, Alaska Juris Inc., and its captains - committed numerous violations, such as tampering with or destroying equipment used by industry observers and failing to provide observers a safe work area.

Federal officials said the case stemmed from a multiyear investigation that documented a range of federal violations, including keeping inaccurate information on required reports and fishing contrary to seasonal closures.