"Dead Men Tapping opens in a Boston federal courtroom with the Coast Guard defending itself against a charge of negligence for a rescue gone wrong - and the tragic story unfolds as each witness testifies. Just before dawn on a warm September night in 1996, a 45-foot fishing boat was run down by a 272-foot barge under tow by a tugboat ten miles off Cape Ann, Massachusetts. The boat capsized but remained awash in a calm sea. Fishermen in gathered boats could hear a trapped man or men tapping and yelling for help. The Coast Guard was called."

"Kate Yeomans weaves trial testimony around the haunting recollections of witnesses - fishermen, the tug crew, Coast Guardsmen, and others - to re-create the accident, the rescue operation, and the aftermath. Each scene and shifting viewpoint alters and illuminates what has gone before, as piece by piece the mosaic of a tragedy emerges. Who or what caused the collision? Why did the Coast Guard take so long to get rescue divers to the scene? Did the Coast Guard prevent other fishermen from helping?"

"The truth is hidden in layers of mystery that lure us ever deeper into this suspenseful story, finally to be haunted by the mute testimony of the dead themselves: knuckles-shredded from banging on a thick fiberglass hull; tines of a dinner fork bent by a last attempt to pry open a hatch in a desperate search for air. The search for answers moves through fragile fishing communities, high-stakes bluefin tuna fishery, the business of marine salvage, and the murky byways of maritime law and custom. Skillfully interwoven throughout are vignettes of other rescues and losses that highlight the Coast Guard's operational shortcomings, their difficult working conditions, and their often contentious relationship with those who earn a living on or under the sea."--Jacket.