This is the second in a series.

During March 1973, the Jersey Shore had suffered a near miss, as a spring nor’easter traveled north parallel to the East Coast but remained just offshore. What few knew at the time was that two Norwegian 514-foot-long bulk carriers loaded with coal had left Norfolk, V. within two hours of each other, bound for Europe.

The Norse Variant was the lead ship, followed by the Anita. In 2018 a Norwegian magazine did an article that included an interview with Stein Gabrielsen, who was a 23-year-old crew…