February 14, 1982. 7:00 PM. Grand Banks, North Atlantic Ocean, 166 miles east of St. John's, Newfoundland. Kent Thompson, 32 years old, senior toolpusher on the Ocean Ranger drilling rig, stood in the galley drinking coffee and watching through the window as waves the size of buildings rolled toward the platform. He'd worked offshore oil rigs for twelve years, survived Gulf of Mexico hurricanes, North Sea storms, and the brutal winter weather of the Grand Banks. This storm was different. Bigger. Meaner. But the Ocean Ranger was the world's largest semi-submersible drilling platform—396 feet long, 337 feet high, 25,000 tons of steel designed to withstand 100-knot winds and 110-foot waves. "She'll ride it out," Kent said to his crewmate, electrician Bob Whelan, 28. "She always does."