A Political Solution

Starfish's hull was penetrated forward of her wheelhouse. The vociferate howl of ripping metal briefly overran the quiet resolve of the fog-shrouded sea. With little resistance her bow section went down like a stone tossed by a small boy into a pond. The aft section struggled briefly as if protesting its pending death, and then silently dropped from the surface.

Cold gray fog again reclaimed and covered the water. A muffled unheard cry of a solitary gull echoed the efforts of the Coast Guard to contact the doomed vessel on VHF radio.