Sean Carlton
Stories that are definitely not 280 characters or less
Nicknamed ‘The Grey Lady’ for
its frequent blankets of fog,
Nantucket Island is no stranger
to maritime disaster.
In Twenty Degrees, Sean Carlton tells the true story of his family's disappearance off the coast of Nantucket Island.
1973
Roe v. Wade. The end of Vietnam.
Watergate. The Yom Kippur War.
Battle of the Sexes. Oil embargo.
The Carlton family gathers on Nantucket Island for a reunion and to celebrate Sandy Carlton's thirtieth birthday.
The waters surrounding
the island are home to over 700 shipwrecks, and this ‘Graveyard of the
Atlantic’ has its eyes set on one more vessel.
Borrowing a small boat for one last shot at the blues, the Carlton siblings, along with two of their spouses, depart Nantucket Island in search of bluefish in the vicinity of Old Man Shoal.
Navigating by compass, they enter a fogbank that blankets the island for eight days, persistent even by Nantucket standards.
Making some critical mistakes, the family runs out of gas as they attempt to return to the island.
As the Coast Guard mounts a search that ultimately covers over twenty-five thousand square miles and reaches nearly three-quarters of the way to Nova Scotia, the family can hear their would-be rescuers but are helpless to do anything about it.
A nudge from the White House helps extend the search from 48 to 72 hours, and a newly fixed transistor radio alerts the family that the end of the search will coincide with a brewing storm.
