When I first met Dave Shoemaker, Captain of the f/v Galaxy, it felt like meeting a legend. He had survived a catastrophic accident at sea, a story I had seen dramatized during my STCW training but never imagined would cross paths with my own life. Over breakfast, we connected not just as two individuals, but as people who had borne the weight of tragedy and found ways to keep going.
Dave’s experience is one of survival against impossible odds. In October 2002, the Galaxy, a commercial fishing vessel, was engulfed in flames off the coast of the Aleutian Islands. The fire claimed the lives of three crew members and left others, including Dave, deeply marked by the event. His quick thinking and leadership saved many lives that day, but as we both know, survival does not mean the end of the struggle—it’s where another journey begins.
As I shared my story of loss—Dave listened with a rare kind of understanding. He offered a calm, grounded perspective shaped by his own walk through grief. His advice wasn’t about finding quick fixes or silver linings but about embracing the process, however long and complicated it might be. “Grief has its own tide,” he told me, “and you have to let it come and go.”
What struck me most about our conversation was Dave’s focus on resilience. He spoke of the importance of honoring those we’ve lost—not just in memory but in how we move forward. “You don’t have to carry the whole weight every day,” he said. “But carry their stories with you. That’s how they stay alive.”
In the days and months after that breakfast, I often thought about Dave’s words. They didn’t make the pain disappear, but they gave it context. They reminded me that grief isn’t a straight road—it’s a winding path with moments of both darkness and light. It’s a journey that connects us, as humans, through shared experiences of love and loss.
Meeting Dave was a reminder of the strength found in community and the value of sharing our stories. Whether through a cup of coffee, a conversation, or a blog post like this, we honor our struggles by speaking them aloud. In doing so, we also honor the people we’ve lost, carrying their memory forward in ways that inspire hope and healing.
To Dave, thank you for your wisdom and for showing me that even in the aftermath of loss, there is a way to keep sailing forward. You taught me that survival isn’t just about making it through the storm—it’s about finding the courage to navigate the waters that come after.
To learn more about Dave’s story, a quick Google will do or a PDF summary from the USCG can be found here: https://www.vos.noaa.gov/MWL/fall_02/Galaxy.pdf and a great interview with him here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXr0Qf3ywHI
