Includes bibliographical references.

Soon after 2:00 A.M. on Easter morning, March 23, 2008, the fishing trawler Alaska Ranger began taking on water in the frigid Bering Sea. While the first mate broadcast Mayday calls to a Coast Guard station more than 800 miles away, the men scrambled to inflate life rafts. By 4:30, the wheelhouse was just barely visible, and most of the 47 crew were in the water, wearing the red survival suits--many torn or inadequately sized--that were supposed to keep them from freezing to death. Two Coast Guard helicopter rescue teams battled snow squalls, enormous swells, and gale-force winds. Before dawn, the Coast Guard had lifted more than twenty men from the freezing waves--more than any other cold-water Coast Guard rescue in history. This book recounts the harrowing stories of both the rescuers and the rescued, and investigates the negligence that leads to the sinking of dozens of ships each year.--From publisher description.