January 10, 2020 — On the lumbering journey through squally seas off the Alaska Peninsula, most of the seven crab fishermen aboard the Scandies Rose were resting in bunks on New Year’s Eve when the boat suddenly began listing to the starboard side.
The crew rushed to the cramped wheelhouse and quickly began distributing survival suits, but before they could fully get them on, the boat pitched over so far that they were sliding along the floor. Then the power went out. Two of the crewmen, Dean Gribble Jr. and Jon Lawler, managed to pull themselves out onto the tilted deck, where, through the murk of a north Pacific night, the reality of their situation became clear.
The boat was being tossed in every direction by 20-foot swells, and was sinking fast. Gale-force winds were crusting the ship’s surfaces with ice. Any chance of rescue was 170 storm-churned miles away.
Mr. Gribble could see that he and his shipmate did not have long to live. He shouted to Mr. Lawler over the din of wind and groaning steel, “I wonder what everyone else is doing for New Year’s Eve.”