Benjamin Eder, 21, disappeared into the Pacific Ocean off Newport, Oregon, on December 11, 2001. A University of Oregon student double-majoring in biochemistry and international relations, he was working the Dungeness crab season on the family boat Nesika when the 40-foot vessel capsized about half a mile from shore near Yaquina Head. Four men were aboard: Benjamin, captain Robert Thompson, Jared Hamrick, 20, and Steven Langlot, 34. Benjamin’s father was nearby on the family boat Michele Ann and joined the search.

The Nesika later ran aground on Beverly Beach. The U.S. Coast Guard conducted a search that was called off the next day. Only Steven Langlot’s body was recovered; Benjamin Eder, Robert Thompson, and Jared Hamrick were never found and are presumed lost at sea. Benjamin’s mother, Michele Longo Eder, subsequently wrote a memoir, Salt in Our Blood: The Memoir of a Fisherman’s Wife, recounting the family’s life and loss.