By Joe Upton. A gripping memoir of a winter season in the deadly Bering Sea king crab fishery in the early 1970’s where a big payday awaited the lucky crews. For others, survival was their reward. Just 25, Joe Upton was the youngest guy aboard the 104 ft. “Flood Tide” headed for Dutch Harbor in March, 1971 with 700 pound crab pots stacked three deep on her deck. When the top-heavy boat rolled from side to side in rough seas and icing conditions, Upton wondered if the ship was going ot capsize. “This si going ot be a hell of a winter, Joe thought to himself,” and he was right.