True Rescue

In the winter of 1952, New England was battered by the most brutal nor'easter in years. As the weather wreaked havoc on land, the freezing Atlantic became a wind-whipped zone of peril, setting the stage for one of the most heroic rescue stories ever lived. On February 18, while the storm raged, two oil tankers, the Pendleton and the Fort Mercer, were in the same horrifying predicament. Built with "dirty steel," and not prepared to withstand such ferocious seas, both tankers split in two, leaving the dozens of men on board utterly at the Atlantic's mercy. The Finest Hours is the gripping, true story of the valiant attempt to rescue the souls huddling inside the broken halves of the two ships. The spellbinding tale is overflowing with breathtaking scenes, as boats capsize, bows and sterns crash into one another, and men hurl themselves into the raging sea in a terrifying battle for survival. Not all of the eighty-four men caught at sea in the midst of that brutal storm survived, but considering the odds, it's a miracle-and a testament to their bravery-that any at all came home to tell their tales. Title Info. Dedication. Prologue Part One. Chapter 1. Chatham Lifeboat Station Chapter 2. The Pendleton Chapter 3. The Fort Mercer Chapter 4. "It Can't Be True" Chapter 5. "You Got to Take the 36500 Out" Chapter 6. Blowout at Chatham Bar Chapter 7. Chatham Mobilizes Chapter 8. "He Came to the Surface Floating" Chapter 9. Losing All Hope: On Board the Pendleton Stern Chapter 10. All but One: The Rescue of the Pendleton Stern Chapter 11. Thirty-six Men in a Thirty-six-foot Boat Chapter 12. Pandemonium in Chatham Part Two.Chapter 13. The Mercer's Bow Capsizes Chapter 14. A Maneuver for the Ages Chapter 15. Tuesday at Chatham Station Chapter 16. Thirteen Men Still on Board Chapter 17. Search of the Pendleton Bow Part Three. 18. The Inquiry Chapter 19. Being Labeled a Hero Can Be a Burden Chapter 20. Tanker Trouble Chapter 21. Beyond the Rescue Chapter 22. The Restoration Epilogue: They Were Young Once Appendix "Narrator Malcolm Hillgartner's approach is a combination of you-are-there suspense and historical narrative that catches the listener's undivided attention…This is an edge-of-your seat true-life adventure not be missed." "Nearly fifty-seven years later, it's a breathtaking story that still defies the imagination." "This book captures the wit, grit, and sacrifice of Coasties and their boats." "Tougias and Sherman never sensationalize, never go beyond the facts, and yet capture all the pain, physical and emotional, of the survivors and their families." "It's good to know that real heroes exist…Incredible." "Gripping…Will make readers appreciate the bravery of the men who put their lives on the line." "Tougias and Sherman reach their peak of tension in the sink-or-swim moments when mariners abandoned ship and chanced their lives on their rescuers' skill and bravery…Excellent." "A gripping read." "A rousing page-turner, a fascinating history, and an inspiring ode to the courage and professionalism of men who face bitter winds and black mountainous seas…all to do a dangerous job." "Tougias and Sherman have told a mesmerizing story about Coast Guardsmen under the stress of extreme conditions and the self-imposed pressure to perform…The real miracle is that such performances are timeless."

A heart-stopping true-life tale of maritime disaster, survival, and daring rescue from a master storyteller Seventy-foot waves batter a torn life raft 250 miles out to sea in one of the world's most dangerous places, the Gulf Stream. Hanging on to the raft are three men, a Canadian, a Brit, and their captain, Jean Pierre de Lutz, a dual citizen of America and France. Their capsized forty-seven-foot sailboat has filled with water and disappeared below the tempestuous sea. The giant waves repeatedly toss the men out of their tiny vessel, and JP, with nine broken ribs, is hypothermic and on the verge of death. The captain, however, is a remarkably tough character, having survived a brutal boyhood, and now he must rely on the same inner strength to outlast the storm. Trying to reach these survivors before it's too late are four brave coast guardsmen battling hurricane-force winds in their Jayhawk helicopter. They know the waves will be extreme, but when they arrive they are astounded to find that the monstrous seas have waves reaching eighty feet. Lowering the wind-whipped helicopter to drop a rescue swimmer into such chaos will be extremely dangerous. The pilots wonder if they have a realistic chance of saving the sailors clinging to the broken life raft and if they will be able to even retrieve their own rescue swimmer from the towering seas. Once they commit to the rescue, they find themselves in almost as much trouble as the survivors, facing one life-and-death moment after the next. Also caught in the storm are three other boats, each one in a Mayday situation. Of the ten people on these boats, only six will ever see land again. Spellbinding, harrowing, and meticulously researched, A Storm Too Soon is a vivid account of the powerful collision between the forces of nature and the human will to survive. Author Michael J. Tougias, known for his fast-paced writing style and character-driven stories, tells this true saga in the present tense to give the reader a thrilling, edge-of-your-seat immediacy. A Storm Too Soon is Tougias at his masterful best and a heart-pounding narrative of survival, the power of the human spirit, and one of the most incredible rescues ever attempted. "Tougias spins a marvelous and terrifying yarn…This is a breathtaking book." "This book captures the wit, grit, and sacrifice of Coasties and their boats." "A heart-pounding account." "Michael Tougias has done it again, this time delivering an edge-of-your-seat chronicle of what happens when a sailboat goes up against a fierce storm in the heart of the Gulf Stream." "[A] miraculous rescue story…Recreating this dangerous mission, Tougias deftly switches from heart-pounding details of the rescue to the personal stories of the boat's crew and those of the rescue team. The result is a well-researched and suspenseful read; some knowledge of sailing is helpful, but Tougias makes the material accessible for landlubbers." "Readers of true-life adventures, especially those involving disaster and rescue at sea, should find this one very much to their liking." "Gripping…By depicting the event from the perspective of both the rescued and the rescuers and focusing only on key moments and details, Tougias creates a suspenseful, tautly rendered story that leaves readers breathless but well-satisfied. Heart-pounding action for the avid armchair adventurer."

Rescue of the Bounty is the harrowing story of the sinking and rescue of Bounty-the tall ship used in the classic 1962 film Mutiny on the Bounty-which was caught in the path of Hurricane Sandy with sixteen aboard. On Thursday, October 25, 2012, Captain Robin Walbridge made the fateful decision to sail Bounty from New London, Connecticut, to St. Petersburg, Florida. Walbridge was well aware that a hurricane was forecast to travel north from the Caribbean toward the eastern seaboard. Yet the captain was determined to sail. As he explained to his crew of fifteen: A ship is always safer at sea than in port. He intended to sail "around the hurricane" and told the crew that anyone who did not want to come on the voyage could leave the ship-there would be no hard feelings. As fate would have it, no one took the captain up on his offer. Four days into the voyage, Superstorm Sandy made an almost direct hit on Bounty. The vessel's failing pumps could not keep up with the incoming water. The ship began to lose power as it was beaten and rocked by hurricane winds that spanned eight hundred miles. A few hours later, in the dark of night, the ship suddenly overturned ninety miles off the North Carolina coast in the "Graveyard of the Atlantic," sending the crew tumbling into an ocean filled with towering thirty-foot waves. The Coast Guard then launched one of the most complex and massive rescues in its history, flying two Jayhawk helicopter crews into the hurricane and lowering rescue swimmers into the raging seas again and again, despite the danger to their own lives. In the uproar heard across American media in the days following, a single question persisted: Why did the captain decide to sail? Through hundreds of hours of interviews with the crew members, their families, and the Coast Guard, the masterful duo of Michael J. Tougias and Douglas A. Campbell creates an in-depth portrait of the enigmatic Captain Walbridge, his motivations, and what truly occurred aboard Bounty during those terrifying days at sea. Dripping with suspense and vivid high-stakes drama, Rescue of the Bounty is an unforgettable tale about the brutality of nature and the human will to survive. "Riveting…breathtaking…Tougias and Campbell build tension slowly and methodically…a sound strategy that pays off when they reach the storm itself. Then, the book becomes a white-knuckled, tragic adventure experienced by recognizable and sympathetic figures." "Tougias and Campbell's well researched and very personal effort details the doubts and questions as the ship gets underway, takes you aboard as the exhausted crew struggled to keep it afloat, then into the raging sea as the soggy survivors feverishly clambered into the bouncing rafts, and onto the tossing aircraft as the Coast Guard hoisted the sailors from the maelstrom below." "A book that succeeds both as a high-seas adventure and as a psychological portrait of Bounty's ill-fated captain, Robin Walbridge…a gripping account." "Tougias and Campbell superbly re-create the disastrous voyage, providing just the right amount of detail to bring every character involved in this dramatic tale to life, from Bounty captain Robin Walbridge and his shipmates to the brave Coast Guard rescue swimmers. A thrilling and perfectly paced book, Rescue of the Bounty is filled with good intentions but bad decisions, tall-ship history and current usage, and the roar and taste of the storm-whipped ocean." "Tougias and Campbell…offer an excruciating moment-by-moment look of the four-day voyage that killed one crew member and the captain…they devote a thrilling portion of their narrative to the courageous Coast Guard rescue…A taut recounting of a needless maritime tragedy."