Lawrence Vincent O’Grady, 55, was aboard the 110-foot Seattle-based fishing vessel Destination when it sank in the Bering Sea on February 11, 2017. The boat had left Dutch Harbor and was working off the southern shore of St. George Island when its emergency position indicating radio beacon transmitted a distress call around 6:15 a.m.; the ship’s tracking system stopped transmitting shortly before that. A Coast Guard search recovered only the EPIRB and a single life ring before being suspended after two and a half days.

A Coast Guard and NTSB investigation later described the sinking as a tragic and preventable accident. Investigators cited hazardous weather and freezing spray that made the vessel top-heavy, serious stability issues, overloaded crab pots and bait stowed high, and an open hatch that likely permitted downflooding. The Destination’s wreckage was located by sonar in 256 feet of water, and O’Grady and the other five crewmembers were declared legally dead though their bodies were never recovered.