Chapter 42
Damn the Tug!
THE MASSASOIT, A one hundred-fifty-three-foot prisoner transport vessel operated by the Department of Correction, approached the Slocum’s location on the rocks. The captain assessed the situation with his pilots, “Okay, boys, I figure she’s resting in about six feet of water at its bow and around twenty at the stern, so we’re not going to be able to come so close—loads of survivors are right in front of us. We’ll hold up here.”
A crew member launched one of the Massasoit’s lifeboats and rowed toward a group of people close to the inferno while his crewmates sprayed the fire hose over his head to provide some level of cooling. Seven desperate passengers swarmed the rowboat and quickly boarded. The deckhand headed back to the ship.
The John Wade was the only craf
