Tatoosh creates an adventurous journey of a man for whom the perils of the open sea; survival in Southeast Alaska's wilderness; the risk of losing his own life, the lives of his sweetheart and friends at the hands of a stone-cold killer, were a gut-wrenching reality. It was a force which seemed insurmountable. The S/V Mariposa was a beauty of a sailboat. She measured 39' L.O.A. and had logged voyages to the South Pacific. She would ride quietly at anchor in the lee of Tatoosh rock.