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The Finest Hours: The True Story Of The U.S. Coast Guard's Most Daring Sea Rescue (2007)

by Michael Tougias(Favorite Author)

3.9 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

1416567216 (ISBN13: 9781416567219)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Scribner Book Company

review 1: The Finest Hours was an amazing book. It is interesting and sad. There were two ships that split in half. One was the Pendleton and the other was the Fort Mercer. The book mainly focuses on Bernie Webber,a coast guard, and his fine crew who saved 32 men from the Pendleton's stern.During one of the worst nights in history,two ships broke apart. The Pendleton, and the Fort Mercer. Webber and his team try to rescue every one on the Pendleton's stern. Will those men get saved on those boats, or will they join the many other shipwrecks and men in Davy Jones locker.This book contains sad information and events that has happened in the past and is true. I would highly recomend this book to people who like suspensfull trageties. Not appropriate for children under ten years... more old.
review 2: “O Lord, have mercy, Thy sea is so large, and my boat is so small.” – Breton Fisherman’s PrayerThe Finest Hours: The True Story of the U.S. Coast Guard’s Most Daring Sea Rescue: one of the finest unpretentious examples honoring uncommon valor in darkest hours of tempest seas and memorializing those who never made shore. February 18, 1952: Two commercial fuel tankers, the “Pendleton” and the “Fort Mercer”- caught in one of the worst nor’easter storms to hit the eastern seaboard – snapped in half, a couple hundred miles from the Chatham Lifeboat Station. Miraculously, though now non-navigable, both halves of both ships, managed to stay afloat. But for how long? Unable to navigate, loss of power and communications, and with forty to seventy feet seas, gale force winds whipping pellets of ice and whiteout snow, conditions and time were stacked against them. Can they survive the tempest until rescuers arrive?“The surest way not to fail is to determine to succeed.” - Richard Brinsley SheridanCompellingly told with humanistic warmth and integrity, “The Finest Hours . . . “makes for enjoyable and fascinating reading. I’m still in awe of the “Gold Medal Crew” led by Bernie Webber in CG36500. As Webber said, God certainly was looking out for that “old thirty-six.” And Along with the main story thread surrounding the dual disaster/rescue, Tougias includes many other fascinating complementary tidbits and biography blurbs. One of my favorites: During WWII, former world heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey was a commander in the Coast Guard who also taught physical fitness to Merchant Marines. And then there's the old "Mooncursers" - lantern wielding, shoal-entrapping Pirates of yore.Yes, “Finest Hours . . . “is an intriguing, well-balanced, nicely written maritime tribute and disaster/rescue expose. And though it may be a lesser known seafaring incident, except to those who are native to New England shores, “The Pendleton and Mercer rescues are still the largest open-sea rescues involving small boats and cutters in U.S. maritime history.” And it makes for a great read – recommended to those who enjoy maritime history, adventure/biographies, or military non-fiction – four solid-stars. less

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