now, no one may ever know why he committed suicide. some friends say they saw a changed man after the spill. david mattingly reports. reporter: people who knew him say allen kruse lived to fish. those closest to him say life unraveled when the oil spill hit the gulf waters where he worked. he thought it was dead? yep. he said that to you? yep. and that there was no hope that the fishing was ever going to come back? not in his lifetime. reporter: among charter boat captains in alabama, kruse was a leader, drumming up business in good times and voicing the frustrations of a community in the bad times. the day that the oil entered the gulf, my phone quit ringing. reporter: just a month after that interview, kruse was found on his boat, dead, from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. he worked for bp, hauling boom and looking for oil. his brothers say he felt like his role in the cleanup as a bp vessel of opportunity was
reporter: as a gesture to the community now grieving for him, kruse s family thought it would be best for his boat to be brought back here to home port in orange beach. here it is, the rookie. no better way that they could think of, to pay tribute to a man who loved what he did for a living and loved the waters where he worked. it s the rookie s final voyage, carrying a cargo of uncertainty and sorrow. david mattingly, cnn, orange beach, alabama. allen kruse was just 55 years old. up next, a family-run business right here in new orleans now in jeopardy. they ve been distributing oysters here since 1876. then came the bp spill and everything has changed. also ahead tonight, lenny kravitz. he has a house here in new orleans, a message and the disaster and the resiliency of this city. [ male announcer ] it s the most fuel-efficient
worthless. that s what he told you? yes. reporter: that he felt like he was being put out there just for show? yes. that s what he told his wife. didn t tell me that. that s what he told his wife. that s what she told me just a while ago. he told me it was madness. reporter: kruse s friends tell me he felt overwhelmed by the enormity of the disaster and they re all feeling the stress. this started in 2004 with a direct hit from hurricane ivan, then the next year was katrina, then sky rocketing fuel prices, fishing regulations and then an oil spill. this has been six years that this area has really suffered a lot of stress. reporter: stress that his friends believe finally became too much for kruse. now they re worried about others. are you afraid that maybe one of your other friends out there might be thinking about something extreme? sure. we worry about that. we worry about that every day. reporter: what are you going to do about that? that s why we re trying
vessel of opportunity was worthless. that s what he told you? yes. reporter: that he felt like he was being put out there just for show? yes. that s what he told his wife. didn t tell me that. that s what he told his wife. that s what she told me just a while ago. he told me it was madness. reporter: kruse s friends tell me he felt overwhelmed by the enormity of the disaster and they re all feeling the stress. this started in 2004 with a direct hit from hurricane ivan, then the next year was katrina, then sky rocketing fuel prices, fishing regulations and then an oil spill. this has been six years that this area has really suffered a lot of stress. reporter: stress that his friends believe finally became too much for kruse. now they re worried about others. are you afraid that maybe one of your other friends out there might be thinking about something extreme? sure. we worry about that. we worry about that every day. reporter: what are you going
government ready if the storm moves toward the oil slick? this morning, admiral thad allen, the national incident coordinator said there is no, quote, playbook. later he had this to say. we have a very robust con contingency plan. so, is there a plan or not? that s the question. ahead, my interview with florida senator bill nelson, who is demanding an answer. his state could get hit by this weather system. first, tom foreman joins us. what is the latest on where this might be headed? randi, like you said, we re not really sure what the plan may be. this is what disaster workers are most afraid of this evening as the storm gathers strength down here by honduras. of all these possible paths that it could take, if it follows this one, the red one here, or possibly the blue one here, up and over the broken oil well, that could make this spill considerably worse, much more catastrophic. first incident command officials say the mere presence of such a storm could force an imm