This book discusses a four ship fleet of crab boats, all beginning with A names, which were known as the A Boats. The boats (Americus, Altair, Alliance, & Alyeska) were constructed in the 1970's and belonged to Jeff Hendricks. The ships were scheduled to depart Dutch Harbor to fish for crabs on Valentine's Day 1983. The crew members were experienced and capable, the ships were essentially brand new. The weather was good at the time of departure. A few hours after departure, two of the ships were found a couple of miles from each other, both capsized, and with no sign of the crew. The waters were a bit over 4,000 feet deep, and the ships sank before being able to be recovered. I do not want to ruin the book for others who may be reading it, so I won't include any other details about the ships and crew here. I will say that this particular incident changed the way that things were done in several instances.

As anyone who follows me on here knows, I am have a huge interest in disaster books. It seems that lately I have managed to find plenty of books about shipping disasters, but this one I had not heard of. I have also never read anything by this author, but the reviews were good. I really appreciated the research that the author put into this book. It really gave you a sense of knowing the crew members, thanks to statements made by coworkers and family. The book gave a good amount of detail about shipping and the way these particular ships were built. It was also an engaging read, and I had a hard time putting it down to do other things because I wanted to know what happened to the crew and what caused the ships to capsize. I don't want to ruin the story, but there is a memorial to these two ships located in Anacortes. I would highly suggest this book.