Deadliest sea : the untold story behind the greatest rescue in Coast Guard history

by Kalee Thompson

Paper Book, 2010

Status

Available

Call number

910.9164/51

Genres

General Nonfiction

History

Nonfiction

Publication

New York, NY : William Morrow/HarperCollins Publishers, c2010.

Description

Soon after 2:00 A.M. on Easter morning, March 23, 2008, the fishing trawler Alaska Ranger began taking on water in the frigid Bering Sea. While the first mate broadcast Mayday calls to a Coast Guard station more than 800 miles away, the men scrambled to inflate life rafts. By 4:30, the wheelhouse was just barely visible, and most of the 47 crew were in the water, wearing the red survival suits--many torn or inadequately sized--that were supposed to keep them from freezing to death. Two Coast Guard helicopter rescue teams battled snow squalls, enormous swells, and gale-force winds. Before dawn, the Coast Guard had lifted more than twenty men from the freezing waves--more than any other cold-water Coast Guard rescue in history. This book recounts the harrowing stories of both the rescuers and the rescued, and investigates the negligence that leads to the sinking of dozens of ships each year.--From publisher description.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member Neilsantos

Too much on the individual members, not enough on the rescue. Not bad, but not gripping.

3 more

LibraryThing member LibraryCin

In 2008, a fishing trawler sunk in the Bearing Sea in Alaskan waters. There were 47 people on board. They were hours away from any help, but Coast Guard helicopters made their way there, along with a ship to help rescue as many people as possible.

The book started off a little “slower” (though

still good), with cutting back and forth between the sinking of the boat and background information. At times, I found it a bit hard to follow… but only at first. As the book continued on, I got to know the people better (though there were a lot of people, so it was still easy to get some of them mixed up), so it helped me “place” where we were in the story (whether “current” timeline or background info on the people, or the history of the area, or the fishing industry, or whatever). In the end, I thought it was really good. The book was primarily put together based on interviews with the people involved.

Show Less

LibraryThing member wunder

So far, so good, though a bit slow. It took nearly 100 pages to get one chopper in the air.

I decided to read this because the supernatural woo-woo at the end of The Guardian was so awful. I'd like to have more positive mental association with the Coast Guard.

===

Once the rescue gets moving, it picks

up. At one point a rescue chopper throws out their own life raft and leaves their rescue swimmer behind so they can transport more people back to the cutter. The rescue swimmer pulls another three people into the raft and alternates caring for them and looking for more survivors.

Well worth a read, and I was sufficiently involved the whole story (safety as well as rescue) to hunt down the final USCG Marine Board Report on the accident, finished after the book went to press. I recommend reading the summary of that report after you finish this book.

So skip "The Guardian" and read this instead. Available from the Palo Alto Library.

Show Less

LibraryThing member kslade

Great true story of the sinking of a large fishing ship near Alaska and the heroic rescue efforts of the Coast Guard. It has a lot of interesting details.

Fewer