The Grey Seas Under: The Perilous Rescue Missions of a North Atlantic Salvage Tug

by Farley Mowat

Paperback, 1981

Status

Available

Call number

387.55091 Mow

Genres

History

Nonfiction

Collection

Your library

Publication

Bantam Seal Books (1981), Edition: 1st, 255 pages

Description

In Grey Seas Under, Farley Mowat writes passionately of the courage of men and of a small, ocean-going salvage tug, Foundation Franklin. From 1930 until her final voyage in 1948, the stalwart tug's dangerous mission was to rescue sinking ships, first searching for them in perilous waters and then bringing them back to shore. Battered by towering waves, dwarfed by the great ships she towed, blasted by gale-force winds and frozen by squalls of snow and rain, Foundation Franklin and her brave crew saved hundreds of vessels and thousands of lives as they patrolled the North Atlantic, including waters patrolled by U-boats in wartime. Mowat spent two years gathering this material and sailed on some of the missions he describes. The result is a modern epic -- a vigorous, dramatic picture of the eternal battle between men and the cruel sea.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member rexton

A superb book of danger and courage on the high seas. One of the few books about salvage tugs. The tug Foundation Franklin was an important part of Newfoundland and Maritime Canadian History.

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LibraryThing member Pferdina

This book is a history of the salvage ship Foundation Franklin, which worked the North Atlantic during the 1930s and 1940s. Although it is an interesting story, the book suffers from a lack of focus (other than the ship, which is difficult to sympathize with). No one character or event seems more

important than the others. Many parts of the book read like barely-edited entries from the ship's log.

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LibraryThing member 4hounds

This is the story of a Canada-based salvage ship that must have saved hundreds of ships in her lifetime. The Foundation Franklin is very much a character, and her story and that of the insanely brave men who worked her is thrilling. You get a real sense of how astonishingly dangerous the North

Atlantic is - and was, during WWII. Mowat's prose isn't his best - there's too much "on March 1, this ship did this, then on March 10, Franklin did that, and on March 15..." You get the picture. But the story of the ship shines through - I think any fan of O'Brien, Forester, or Kipling's Captains Courageous would greatly enjoy this book.

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LibraryThing member ecw0647

Read this book years ago. Farley Mowat does a wonderful job of portraying the maritime life of a sea-going salvage tug.

LibraryThing member jjmcgaffey

Interesting, but not a favorite. Half about the actual rescues which were often fascinating, half about the politics and economics and stupid decisions that limited Franklin's ability to get on with the rescues. A very interesting viewpoint on the Great Depression and WWII, from the Canadian

Maritimes - not an angle I'd ever thought of before. But stupid decisions seemed to be the theme throughout - there were a few amusing bits where someone or someones got their comeuppance when a stupid decision came back to roost, but mostly the stupid decisions hurt other people and the decision-makers just kept on going (and deciding). The usual Mowat style - you could feel the hard-driven spray and the ice on the deck and the fug below, and share the frustration and triumph of the various salvors. But it's an oddly omniscient view - the author is almost invisible, there are a very few lines of "eager to tell their stories" or "bitter, as they had reason to be" that hinted at his researches. Other than that, it's a retelling of events without sources, as if the author was there throughout her career. And a sad ending, though with a triumph just before - of survival, if nothing else. I'm glad I read it, but I don't particularly want to read it again.

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