Captain Dave Shoemaker's account of the crisis on the Fishing Vessel Galaxy ranks as one of the great stories of sea survival. No one knew of the plight of his vessel, 30 miles southwest of the Pribilofs, the remote fur seal islands north of the Aleutian Chain; even if they did know, rescue units were hours away. Their circumstance was hopeless, yet 23 of 26 men and women would ultimately survive.
