Back in 1978, Frank Quirk II was a well-known figure on the Gloucester, Massachusetts waterfront. As the captain of the 50-foot pilot boat, Can Do, he would bring pilots to freighters where those pilots then took over control of the ships and maneuvered them to port.
Although the Can Do’s slip was in Gloucester’s South Channel off Rogers Street near the Coast Guard station, Quirk also serviced Salem Harbor, just 15 miles to the south. It was here, on February 1, that Quirk helped guide in a huge, 685-foot Greek registered oil tanker. The tanker was named the Global Hope and its oil was to be offloaded at a power plant. The job was a routine one for Quirk, and he reckoned the next time he’d hear from the tanker would be when it was ready to leave and a pilot was needed.
Instead, fate, the actions of the tanker’s captain and a blizzard of incredible fury set in motion events that spiraled out of control.
In the late afternoon on February 6, 1978 a blizzard—later to be called The Storm of the Century—was beginning to explode. Quirk was safely hunkered down aboard Can Do at the dock in Gloucester with no intention of going anywhere. He was joined by his friends Kenney Fuller, Dave Curley and Don Wilkinson, all listening to updates about the storm and Coast Guard messages on the marine radio. The four sat around a table in the Can Do’s wheelhouse, directly behind the captain’s chair and wheel.
Suddenly they heard a frantic, crackling distress
