After darkness on January 2, 2009, Gloucester fishermen Matt Russo and his father-in-law, John Orlando, left the iconic State Pier for the nearby Middle Bank fishing grounds in the trawler Patriot. Russo co-owned the Patriot with his pregnant wife, Josie, daughter of John Orlando.

Matt and John were due back to the State Pier at 10 a.m. the next morning. But something went wrong. Early on January 3 rd, with a hefty haul of cod and other species suspended in a net waiting to be separated and put below, the Patriot suddenly sank. The vessel went down so quickly that there was no time for SOS calls, or for Matt and John to scramble into cold weather immersion suits, or to enter the life raft that automatically deployed. The only indication of trouble was a fire alarm that robotically signaled to an alarm company as water swallowed the boat. That company phoned Mrs. Russo, who in turn called Coast Guard Station Gloucester asking for help.

Award-winning maritime historian Captain Russ Webster, an experienced Coast Guard search and rescue commander, meticulously chronicles Patriot’s final journey, from the State Pier, to what is known about the sinking, and then through several official investigations and later rescue procedural changes. Using official documents, numerous interviews of Coast Guardsmen, including that of a former Commandant, family members, and media accounts, Captain Webster deftly explores what most likely happened aboard the Patriot in a book that should be read by every watch stander and mariner.