Expecting the Worst

The story that follows is based on the actual experiences of Joseph Alan Carter, a Second Class Machinery Technician in the Coast Guard. He lived on Dunn Avenue in Collinsville when he enlisted in January 1980, and he did not return from the service until June 1984. He earned several meritorious ribbons for his work with drug busting. He was also an extremely talented engineer and was highly-respected, even at a lower rank, because of his knowledge of engineering. Mr. Carter is currently in the process of moving from North Haven back to Canton. He owns his own business called Collinsville Bike & Sport, L.L.C., on Main Street in Collinsville.

It was the perfect storm. They were in the Yucatan Strait on a small container ship built for the Amazon River. There were only three crew members aboard, but they knew their mission. They boarded the fishing boat; and it was now up to these three men to search the boat, find the pot, and bust the fishermen. There were 12 fishermen on the boat; the three of them made 15. The fishermen had been out for over a week and had gone to bed less than an hour earlier. Despite the torrential rain and lightning that made the sky glow, Joseph Carter and his captain, Adam Shervinsky, began the secret search, while their deckhand remained on the deck to watch for any movement.

Carter went one way, his captain the other. Carter wandered the boat. He knew what he was looking for. The fishermen would cut holes in their water tanks and shove in as much pot as they could fit. That's how they always did it. Then they would cap off their water tanks so when they were sounded, it would appear as if there was actually water in them. When the boat came back in port, the fishermen would remove the pot. Carter had caught on and began to search. He had circled the deck only once and when he returned to where his deckhand was standing, he knew what to expect. One of the fishermen had awakened, which was probably a mistake on his part. Carter's deckhand was holding a shotgun to the fisherman's head, and he was prepared to shoot. You could tell that holding a gun to someone's head wasn't anything new to the deckhand. The fisherman was 6'2" and a well-built man. The deckhand was only 5'8", much thinner, much weaker. The fisherman

could have bench-pressed the deckhand with one arm. But what did that

matter? --the deckhand held the gun. The storm had died down, which made the scene only a little less than perfect for a climatic war hero movie. It was not the first time this had happened, and it wouldn't be the last time. He knew he couldn't just stand there and watch. He had to find the pot. He had no idea where Shervinsky was. For all he knew, he could have jumped overboard. He could have just had enough. Carter had to expect the worst.

What happened was as close to the worst as possible-at least in

Carter's mind. The fisherman had tried to escape and jump overboard, but the deckhand was ready and he did what he had to do; he pulled the trigger.