As you are coming to the end of this day, Thursday, November 15th, 2018, take a minute and ask yourself what were you doing this morning at 3:26 am? Most of us were sleeping. Fifty-six years ago at 3:26 am, on November 15, 1962, the F/V Venus has just been hove down while fishing on the Northern Edge of Georges Bank. The Venus and her eleven man crew encountered an unknown storm of massive power and fury. They are fighting for their lives.

As I am writing this blog post at 7:30 pm tonight, in the safety of my home on November 15th, 2018, at this same time fifty-six years ago the men on the Venus had been battling Neptune’s Nor’easter for sixteen hours. They have had nothing to eat all day, and they are 10-hours from having the privilege of drinking coffee and eating toast. As we go to bed tonight the men on board the Venus were still battling the most dangerous storm of their fishing careers, and it would not end until we are about to wake up tomorrow morning. It puts some perspective on the life of an offshore commercial fisherman.

The New Bedford Fisherman,

Second to None,

Then and Now,

The Finest Kind!

Tonight a powerful low-pressure system is moving across the country, and the television weather people are saying the word Nor’easter. I guess it’s a fitting end to the fifty-sixth anniversary of Neptune’s Nor’easter.

We pray that all the fishermen and mariners at sea tonight will be safe when we wake up tomorrow morning!