It was the Hokusei Maru, the Japanese research vessel studying squid, that finally made contact. Research vessels working the waters near Hawaii move at slower speeds than commercial ships and cover the ocean surface in search patterns that make them more likely to notice an anomalous object drifting near their search area. The crew of the Hokusei Maru responded to the flare Ashcraft fired from the Hazana and approached close enough to identify the vessel and its single occupant.
They gave her coffee and an apple.
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## November 22, 1983: What Hilo Was
Hilo, on the eastern coast of the Big Island of Hawaii, is the kind of harbor that makes sense as a destination for a sailor approaching from the east. It faces the prevailing winds and swells that come from the northeast in the winter and from the east in the summer; it is a large, sheltered bay with a commercial port, a Coast Guard station, and the infrastructure needed to receive a vessel in distress.
The specific day of arrival — November 22, 1983 — fell exactly 20 years after the assassination of President Kennedy. It was a Saturday. The U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, which operates alongside the regular Coast Guard and handles harbor and coastal operations, completed the tow of the Hazana from the Hokusei Maru’s handoff point to Hilo’s inner harbor.
Tami Oldham Ashcraft was alive. She had navigated approximately 1,500 miles of open ocean on a storm jib raised on half a broken spinnaker pole, guided by daily sun sights with a sextant and a watch, carried in part by the North Equatorial Current running at the right latitude at the right time. She had maintained the discipline to stay alive — the rationing, the pumping, the navigation, the daily log — while simultaneously managing a grief and a trauma that she would not fully process for years.