In a mad rush to enter the Alaskan king crab fishery, Bender Shipyard's first king crabber, the Scottie, is scheduled for delivery via the Panama Canal to Seattle in December, 1969. Dreaming of a Caribbean Christmas break, two college seniors naively sign on to the dubious delivery crew. With faulty mechanics, the Scottie sails into a massive Caribbean storm. The two barely escape with their lives-and one outrageous, true sea story.
In the tradition of those before him from Anacortes, Washington, Stephen Orsini fished commercially on purse seiners in Southeast and Kodiak, Alaska. The fatal infection combining the sea and literature occurred in the musty shelves of the Anacortes Carnegie Library with the discovery of the complete works of Joseph Conrad. After graduation from Lewis & Clark College with a BA in Literature, he joined the Peace Corps working in Central America in fisheries development. He began a 30 year carrier with the Swedish company ASEA in the sales of large marine steam turbines The company became ABB and then Alstom. Orsini gained an engineering certificate and worked in the marketing of large land-side power generation equipment including large wind turbines. He kept his hand in writing with free-lance articles published in the National Fisherman, Oceans, The Compass, Sailing, Sailing World, 48 North, Private Pilot, and Highlights. He saved the delivery voyage of the Scottie for his first book.
