This is a true story about person who has become my ultimate hero. It's a long, dramatic story, so I'm re-telling it in increments:

When Dennis and his friend got back to the dock after visiting their families, they were startled to learn that the ship left an hour ago. Using a ship to shore radio, they made arrangements to meet the ship. Dennis drove back home, imposed on a friend to drive them to the port, and the two sailors finally climbed on board the Daniel J. Morrell.

There was quite a fierce storm on Nov. 29, 1966 on Lake Huron. Dennis finished watch on his shift at 8:00 pm. On the boats, the shifts are 4 hours on, 8 hours off, 7 days a week.  He ate a hot meal in the crews' mess hall and went to his cabin. He read for a bit and then went to sleep. It was hard to sleep because the ship was making all sorts of noise in the storm. At 2:00 am, a loud crash woke him. He thought it was just the anchor hitting the bow, so he rolled over and tried to sleep. The next crash sent books tumbling off the shelf over his bunk. Then the ship's general alarm bell went off. Dennis went to turn on his light....but nothing happened. He grabbed his life vest, wearing only the undershorts that he had been sleeping in, bounded out of his room. It was obvious that there was a dire emergency.