January 2, 2016 — GLOUCESTER, Mass. — As dusk settled Dec. 3 on stormy seas 18 miles off Cape Ann, the crew of the Orin C felt a wave of relief. The Coast Guard had just arrived to tow them home to Gloucester, where they could unload 10,000 pounds of slime eel and repair their overheated engine.

But three hours later, the relatively routine tow took a tragic turn. The 51-foot Orin C rapidly succumbed to 12-foot seas, leaving three men bobbing in the dark, 49-degree waters amid a blizzard of heavy debris. Crewmen Rick Palmer and Travis Lane swam to safety, but the Coast Guard later said Captain David “Heavy D” Sutherland could not be revived after a rescue swimmer reached him.

“Rick says, ‘How is he? How is he?’ ” Lane recalled in mid-December as he geared up for his next fishing trip. “His . . . head was already underwater. He made a few strokes and just stopped.”

For all the well-known risks of commercial fishing, riding home with the Coast Guard isn’t one that fishermen generally fear. To lose both a vessel and a life in a controlled tow situation is extremely rare.

The Coast Guard is now considering a series of policy changes that would be binding nationwide as a result of this case, said Lieutenant Karen Kutkiewicz, spokesperson for the First Coast Guard District, which covers the Northeast seaboard. Among the considerations: new requirements for Coast Guard vessels to be equipped with defibrillators; new protocols to make sure sinking vessels receive reliable pumps; and new methods to deliver lifesaving items from helicopters without endangering personnel.

Read the full story at the Boston Globe