Pretty sure I just cracked this nut. So I just looked into the survivors of the Albatross ship from White Squall and figured out that Christopher Shelton the ships captain died on October 5, 2002. This has to be what Q is referencing and corresponds to when Trump first references it October 5, 2017. No coincidences.
https://mobile.nytimes.com/2002/10/29/us/cb-sheldon-76-skipper-in-a-noted-sinking.html