Dock-u-mentary: "I Hope Those People Sink”

Location: NB Whaling National Historical Park (33 William Street)
Date: Friday, February 20, 2026
Time: 7:00 PM (doors open at 6:30pm)

"I Hope Those People Sink”: remembering the New Bedford fishermen’s strike 40 years later

Join Ian Coss, host of GBH’s The Big Dig, for a special screening and conversation about his team's latest documentary project, on the New Bedford fishermen’s strike of 1985-86. The documentary explores the legacy of that explosive three month period through extensive archival footage and interviews with key participants. Following the one-hour film, Coss will be joined by guests for a live conversation and Q&A.

“I Hope Those People Sink” is part of a larger upcoming podcast series from GBH News called Catching the Codfather, which chronicles the New Bedford waterfront across several decades, centered around the rise and fall of its most controversial figure: Carlos Rafael. For more information on the whole series, go to https://www.wgbh.org/thebigdig.

Ian Coss is the host and creator of “The Big Dig,” which has been honored with a Peabody Award and named one of the Best Podcasts of All Time by Time Magazine. When the show launched in 2023 it made best of the year lists from The New Yorker and Vulture, while spending over six weeks in the Top 100 shows on Apple Podcasts. Previously, his audio memoir "Forever is a Long Time" was named one of the best podcasts of 2021 by The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and Apple Podcasts.

About Dock-u-mentaries: Hosted in partnership with New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park, Dock-u-mentaries is a free film series hosted at the National Park auditorium at 33 William Street in downtown New Bedford on every third Friday at 7:00pm from October through April. These films have explored a variety of themes and topics related to the commercial fishing industry and the working waterfront.

Image courtesy of Spinner Publications

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Host or Publisher New Bedford Fishing Heritage Center