When the Dancing Stopped: The Real Story of the Morro Castle Disaster and Its Deadly Wake

Book Description

During the dark days of the Great Depression, thousands of weary souls escaped their bleak lives for a week of paradise aboard the Ward Line's glamorous cruise ship, the Morro Castle. It was the most famous passenger liner of its day, lightning fast, elegantly appointed. It was also a ticking time bomb.

It was the summer of 1934. Two sailors joined the Morro Castle crew, one a teenager on his first job away from home, the other a dangerous psychopath. Within two months, they would witness the end of the party in a single night of death, killer storms, and catastrophic fire. And that was only the beginning of a twenty-year-long story.

In When the Dancing Stopped, we too walk up the gangplank to that art-deco liner and, at first, enjoy the glamour and the sultry Havana nights. With mounting suspense, we also witness the launch of a mystery that mesmerized the nation and then, in the midst of troubled times, faded away. Award-winning author Brian Hicks, using newly declassified FBI files, thousands of pages of investigation notes, testimony, and new interviews, takes the reader on a mid-century cruise through history, revealing a cold-case file that had been, until now, left unsolved for history. And, as he relates in this work of masterful storytelling, it all began with the last cruise of the Morro Castle.

One of those two men, Thomas Torresson Jr., first sailed on the cruise ship as a high school senior recovering from serious illness and soon found a love that would endure his entire life. Within months, he would join the crew. For George Rogers, a gifted radio operator with a secret past, the ship was merely the latest in a long line of jobs. Their paths would cross several times on the way to their destiny, and the disaster would affect the two in very different ways: one would become famous, the other scarred forever.

In the grand tradition of The Devil in the White City, Hicks details a desperate investigation and the search for what may be the modern era's first serial killer through the tragic backdrop of a country suffering through depression and a buildup to war. With cameos by J. Edgar Hoover, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Ernest Hemingway, When the Dancing Stopped is the captivating true story of two men irrevocably bound by history -- a true American hero and a dangerous killer masquerading as one. More than that, there is the larger cast of characters: crew members and passengers, investigators, scoundrels, and, yes, additional victims. For the story that began on that storm-tossed night off the coast of New Jersey continued, as we now learn, for decades to come.

Customer Reviews:

Riveting Retelling of a Classic American Mystery.......2007-08-30

The strange story of the cruise liner S.S. Morro Castle is truly one of history's most intriguing "stranger than fiction" mysteries. The Depression-era Morro Castle sailed regularly between New York and a then pre-Communist Cuba. But even though old Havana was a prized tourist destination in those days, the political turmoil of the island in and of itself infected the Morro Castle with intrigues. The Morro Castle's cargo business involved it in what can only be called gun running, and the repressive "banana republic" governance found in Cuba lead to political agitation amongst her crew. Labor unrest in general seemed to be a constant since the liner's owners seemed a bit too ready to take advantage of the desperation of the crew for jobs while the Depression raged. And as the troubled liner plied her trade, her captain, Robert Willmott, himself became more and more troubled. Mysterious fires broke out on the ship during her runs. Stories reached the captain about explosives and toxic chemicals being smuggled aboard to either sabotage the ship or injure him personally. On the Morro Castle's last voyage, Willmott had become so paranoid that he had nearly cutoff all contact with passengers and crew.

On that last voyage on the last night of the cruise, the beleaguered captain dropped dead under circumstances that can only be called mysterious in the light of subsequent events. The exhausted up-since-dawn first mate, William Warms, has to take charge only to find himself piloting the ship through the most bizarre weather imaginable. A hurricane is traveling up the East Coast from the south while simultaneously a Nor'easter is traveling south - trapping the Morro Castle between the two and leaving her no escape from gale force winds. Three A.M. sees the ultimate horror when a fire breaks out amidships in one of the few rooms aboard that is not fitted with smoke detectors or sprinklers. In minutes the fire burns out of control and cuts nearly everyone off from lifeboats. Most of the passengers and crew find themselves forced to decide whether to burn to death or jump into storm tossed seas. Over a hundred die from the fire or in the water off of the New Jersey coast and in an eerie coda, the burned out liner herself drifts ashore at Asbury Park and draws gawkers to watch her smolder for weeks on end. The sequence of events that night was so bizarre that speculation began immediately that the suspicious fire wasn't accidental but was purposely set.

The story didn't end there, however. It became even more disturbing. One of the ship's officers - one of the few that ended that night being lauded for his heroism - proved in subsequent years to be a homicidal sociopath. It was discovered that he had a criminal history prior to his time aboard the Morro Castle. Not only was he convicted for robbery, but he was strongly suspected of having committed arson to hide his burglaries. After his time on the Morro Castle, he attempted to murder a co-worker with a homemade bomb, was suspected of poisoning a water cooler at his place of work, and finally was sent to prison for life for the gruesome murder of his elderly neighbors. Although this proves nothing about the events of that awful September morning, the path of devastation this man wrought in his life can't help but fuel speculation as to whether he had a role in the death and destruction that took place on Morro Castle's last voyage.

I have the distinction of having read every book written about that terrible fire at sea, although that's not that impressive an accomplishment given the fact that Hicks' is only the fourth. Since I read the other three so long ago, however, I don't feel it fair to compare this newer book too directly to those others. There is admittedly not too much new here to those who also may have read a prior book about the Morro Castle. What Hicks' narrative has, however, is a tremendous driving energy that pulls you as deeply into the events of that night as possible. Even though I knew exactly what was due to come next, I still found myself seized with a tremendous foreboding with the recounting of each new ominous turn in the story. In fact, I think that this masterful narrative drive is actually Hicks' biggest contribution to the historical record as well. As well acquainted as I was with the story, I still never realized just how bad the hand William Warms was dealt that night. Up since dawn, finding a respected friend dead in the middle of the night, and having to assume command in the middle of not one but two tropical storms, he must have been a nervous wreck well before the fire started. One can always argue that a different man might have better risen to the occasion that morning, but past accounts of this tragedy have tended to paint the poor man as an incompetent bungler - a portrait that seems grossly unfair in light of the mounting series of problems he faced.

What also becomes clear from Hicks' account is how thin the line was between nuisance and outright disaster. In fact, it's not even clear that the fire wasn't already out of control the moment it was discovered. When one thinks of maritime disasters, one inevitably recalls the Titanic. But the Titanic sank over the course of four hours, giving plenty of time for all aboard to react in the best manner possible. The Morro Castle fire was more in the nature of an engine falling off an airplane wing - the pilot has one split-second decision to make that determines whether the plane crashes or lands safely. In some ways the situation aboard the Morro Castle was even worse in that successfully fighting the fire or saving as many people as possible would have entailed a series of split-second decisions by scores of crew members located all over the ship. Once the fire had spread out of control, the lifeboats were already essentially inaccessible by the passengers. This left the crew with little they could do to save lives. The fire also quickly spread to the engine room and knocked out the ship's engines. This left no way for the bridge to control the ship and left the ship's acting captain helpless to do much to save passengers. Crew incompetence is a big part of earlier recitations of this story but even though there were some incidents of undeniable cowardice on the part of the crew, it's not easy to see how the crew could have lessened the disaster in a substantial way once the fire spread out of control.

I think Hicks has also improved on earlier accounts in his handling of the testimony of the enormously unlucky radio operator George Alagna. Past accounts of the Morro Castle's last days have tended to treat Alagna's tale as gospel. Frankly, I think this is because his testimony casts everyone aboard in the worst light possible. Hicks, however, demonstrates that Alagna was a bit of a hothead and troublemaker. This doesn't totally discredit his account by any means, but does imply that one should subject it to the same skepticism accorded to the testimony of any of the other officers onboard. Keeping Alagna's testimony at arm's length actually makes the story of that morning richer and more human. I'm sure that the Morro Castle's officers where good men who, had things not progressed to disaster so quickly, might have pulled together to salvage what they could of the situation. The fire, however, left them all in a hopeless situation. And what can be expected from men in a hopeless situation? Ego-clashes. Finger-pointing. Self-pity. None of these are pretty, but they are completely understandable. Hicks has done a great service here I think by humanizing these poor men while other books have tended to paint them to a man as hapless failures.

As I grow older I find myself less and less inclined to believe the sensational. It's entirely possible that the sequence of disasters that overtook the Morro Castle that night were nothing but bad luck. On that awful night in September in 1934, the fates may just have collided over the waters of New Jersey to make the Morro Castle the worst possible place on the planet to be. Certainly, no human agency is to blame for the freakish weather which in and of itself claimed the most lives that morning. Willmott's death - while suspicious - was not unambiguously murder. The man wasn't found stabbed or shot, and he had earlier complained of things like chest pains that point to the very real possibility of a heart attack. And just because there was a wicked man aboard that night capable of committing arson, it doesn't mean that the fire was definitely set. The biggest criticism I have of Hicks' account is his failure to mention a very real possibility as to the cause of the blaze. The writing room locker in which the fire was initially discovered was backed by the ship's funnel. It's certainly possible that this funnel was malfunctioning and running hot - not only sparking a fire in the writing room locker but also super-heating its surrounding walls on several decks. This would also explain why the fire so quickly spread as deck after deck could have been heated to ignition temperatures over the course of the evening by the hot stack. And yet, while I think a lack of discussion of this possibility is a real problem with Hicks' telling, I still absolutely loved this book and strongly recommend it. The strange tale of the Morro Castle is a fascinating part of American history, and I devoutly wish that Hicks' wonderful telling acquaints or reacquaints as many people as possible with it.

Mystery solved?.......2007-03-19

Having grown up only minutes from Asbury Park I have seen the many photos of the Morro Castle beached in front of Convention Hall for years, but never knew the details of the fateful voyage until reading this excellent book. Unfortunately too much remians unknown about the ships true fate, and many years have passed. The author does an excellent job of trying to solve the mystery, but the ultimate explanation will never be known. Nonetheless "When the Dancing Stopped" is a well written, suspenseful book; a worthy read for anyone interested in maritime history or the history of New Jersey.

Newly declassified files help to shed light on a 70 year old mystery.......2006-11-23

Every so often I come across a book that grabs my attention in the opening pages and keeps me fixated right until the very end. "When The Dancing Stopped" is just such a book. Author Brian Hicks relates the incredible tale of the cruise ship Morro Castle and fantastic events that led to its untimely demise in September 1934 off the New Jersey Coast. The Morro Castle, flagship of the steamship company known as the Ward Line, carried all of the mail between New York and Cuba. It was a lucrative government contract worth more than $750,000 per year. The ship was also outfitted to carry hundreds of passengers on its weekly jaunts to Havana.
None of the passengers or crew members of the Morro Castle could possibly have anticipated the bizarre and deadly events would unfold on that fateful evening of September 8, 1934. Within just a few short hours the ships captain Robert Willmott would be found dead in his quarters and a deadly fire would break out on board the Morro Castle. To make matters worse a tropical storm was rapidly approaching the disabled vessel from the South while a massive Nor'easter was bearing down from the North. All the ingredients were in place for a major catastrophe!
What makes all of this so disturbing is that there was ample evidence to suggest that Captain Willmotte just might have been murdered and that the fire was indeed no accident. What could possibly motivate an individual or group of people to perpertate such dastardly deeds? This is what "When The Dancing Stopped" is all about. You will meet the members of the crew and learn how they reacted during this tragedy. You will be appalled to learn why so many of the lifeboats on board were never even used. You will also learn the identity of the individual who many suspect may have been motivated to set these horrible events in motion. Brian Hicks does a splendid job in researching this book. Hicks also makes use of recently declassified government documents that shed new light on this 70 year old mystery. But the story does not end with the Morro Castle. The individual suspected of planning and executing the events on that fateful night would continue to wreak havoc for another 20 years. It turns out that this portion of the book is every bit as compelling as the story of the disaster itself. Whether you are a fan of disaster books like I am or enjoy murder mysteries I suspect that "When The Dancing Stopped" is a book you will certainly enjoy. Highly recommended!

A great read! Highly recommended! .......2006-11-06

I highly recommend this book. It gives a poignant overview of the tragedy and a compelling overview of the man behind it. The author has gone to great lengths to research the disaster and it shows-- in a very readable way. An enjoyable read!

No new info .......2006-10-27

The book, When the Dancing Stopped, purports to put a new spin the story of the mysterious Morro Castle of 1934. The author reaches startlingly unoriginal conclusions about the fires origin- basically the same as found in the book, Morro Castle by Hal Burton.

Some of the FBI files that the author used were actually blocked for many years until authors Bob McDonnell and Fred Rasmussen fought to get them. Yet, the files that appear to be used only seem to pertain to George Rogers. Many FBI files (and important testimony) exist that do not pertain to George Rogers, but these were not used. There is nothing said about the empty B Deck suites that were soaked with gasoline, causing the fire to accelerate; Nothing about the ship's unlucky history regarding the potential to be destroyed by revolutionaries; and not much about the Ward Line's unlucky history and their history of suspicious ship fires.

The author also claims that he wanted to write this for Tom Torresson, and to try and set the record straight about the crew. This thread seems to be dropped in the book and not much is said in defense of the crew or to condemn the crew. The two stories Hicks uses (Doris Wacker and Tom Torresson) have been used before, so again, not much new info.

I cannot really think of anything exceptional about the book and unfortunately, cannot recommend it.

Average customer rating:

The Real Thing
Absolutely the best...
fanatastic
More Engrossing than Cameron's Fantasy
Just an excerpt, but interesting...

The Titanic Disaster Hearings

Manufacturer: Pocket
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0671025538

Amazon.com

When Tom Kuntz, the "Word for Word" section editor of the New York Times, started researching a column on the Senate hearings about the Titanic disaster, he discovered that this supposedly public information was tough for the public to come by--it was stuck away in archives on cumbersome microfiche. The Times just hates anything that comes between people and information--just look at its historic efforts to publicize the government's Vietnam policy in the recent book The Day the Presses Stopped: A History of the Pentagon Papers Case. So Kuntz intelligently excerpted and published, for the first time ever, these transcripts, noting without fear or favor his own paper's participation in the then-common practice of checkbook journalism and presenting hundreds of pages of gripping eyewitness testimony. The Titanic Disaster Hearings also includes a helpful, if rather brief, index to the testimony, so you can look up "Lookout men, glasses for" and turn to the page with this heartbreaking discussion of the owners' inexplicable refusal to give the lookouts binoculars:

SENATOR SMITH: Suppose you had had [binoculars], could you have seen this black object [the iceberg] a greater distance?

MR. FLEET [a Titanic lookout]: We could have seen it a bit sooner.

SENATOR SMITH: How much sooner?

MR. FLEET: Well, enough to get out of the way...

"Here the world learned of Isidor and Ida Straus's decision to die together rather than separate under the 'women and children first' evacuation tradition," writes Kuntz. "Archibald Gracie vividly described people swarming up the Titanic's rear decks as the ship plunged deeper into the sea." One does not envy the wireless operators explaining how their state-of-the-art system managed to screw up so badly, nor Titanic officer Pitman, who claimed his passengers and crewmen refused his order to row back to pick up screaming survivors in their boat, which had room for 20 more people, because they feared those in the water would swamp them:

SENATOR SMITH: How many of these cries were there? Was it a chorus, or was it--

MR. PITMAN: I would rather you did not speak about that.

SENATOR SMITH: I would like to know how you were impressed by it.

MR. PITMAN: Well, I can not very well describe it. I would rather you would not speak of it.

SENATOR SMITH: I realize that it is not a pleasant theme, and yet I would like to know whether these cries were general and in chorus, or desultory and occasional?

MR. PITMAN: There was a continual moan for about an hour.

There are 32 useful pictures in the book, but its raison d'être is words, which Kuntz has compiled and arranged in an addictively readable fashion.

Book Description

Merely a day after Titanic survivors arrived in port in New York City, a United States Senate committee began an investigation into the wreck of the great "unsinkable" ship. For the first time in book form, here is the dramatic testimony of crew and passengers from all walks of life, as they recall the sights and sounds of the night of April 14, 1912.

From the manners of the day to the conduct fo those boarding the lifeboats, from acts of kindness to palpable greed, here is an unforgettable portrait of human nature in the face of the Titanic tragedy, in the words of the men and women who survived.... J. Bruce Ismay, British officer of the White Star Line, who hopped into a lifeboat to save himself and never looked back to see her go down....Second officer Charles Lightoller's harrowing plunge as the sinking ship's force of suction pulled him under water....On-duty lookout Frederick Fleet's admission that the iceberg might have been avoided if the crew had been equipped with binoculars....Passenger Daisy Minahan, who recalled the refusal of an officer in her lifeboat to aid those adrift in the frigid waters...and many more witnesses to one of the most shattering events of our century. Illustrated with historical photographs, The Titanic Disaster Hearings is a vital piece of the puzzle that has sparked worldwide fascination.

Customer Reviews:

The Real Thing.......2007-08-24

As a retired Coast Guard Captain and marine accident investigator I read with interest "The Titanic Disaster Hearings". What I found interesting were the question asked by mostly non nautical persons. At times they didn't make sense because the persons asking the questions really didn't know what they were talking about or asking. Equally interesting were how the witnesses did their best to answer what to them must have been ridicules questions. Seemed to me the Bruce Ismay got a bum rap in the movies and elsewhere. After reading his testimony I could see where he was doing his best to answer the confusing questions being asked of him. His answers were direct and I didn't see any where he was trying to hide information or trying to be evasive. Good easy book to read.

Absolutely the best..........2007-03-19

I have been reading Titanic material for about 3 years now, and this was by far the best, most informative and straightforward account. This is the story, told by eyewitnesses, just days after the disaster. No fictional characters, no romance, just bone-chilling descriptions. Although it is in the format of questions and answers, it is an easy read and riveting for the most part (I did get a little bored by all the testimony regarding the Marconi telegraph system, and whether or not the wireless operators from the Titanic and Carpathia should have been paid for their exclusive stories). I might recommend this book to someone who is already familiar with the story of the Titanic - all the persons and details can get a bit confusing without a general background. This book certainly doesn't clear up any of the confusion about the details that night - but it is a fascinating insight into how so many people can experience the same thing and come away with different impressions. This is a piece of history in itself.

fanatastic.......2006-03-02

will definetly be doing business again with this company. books arrived on time (before expected date) and in the promised condition. i recommend people tp do business with this company.

More Engrossing than Cameron's Fantasy.......2005-07-04

This book provides significant meaningful insight into the events, and the times, of the April 14-15, 1912 Titanic sinking. The factual picture that emerges in this book is deeply moving as a thought provoking look at the human drama, terror, shock and suffering of the tragedy.

Just an excerpt, but interesting..........2004-10-07

This is an excerpt from the 1100 pages of testimony from the investigation held by the US Senate into the Titanic disaster. It is dry reading in parts, and sometimes repetitious, but Kuntz manages to glean the most important points and persons from that massive manuscript, and piece together the tragedy to give the most complete account possible (as was known at the time).

Disaster on the Mississippi: The Sultana Explosion, April 27, 1865

Average customer rating:

Bravo Gene, from a former colleague!
Historically accurate and vividly written
Recounting a forgotten disaster
Excellent - MUST reading for all history buffs.

Disaster on the Mississippi: The Sultana Explosion, April 27, 1865
Gene Eric Salecker
Manufacturer: Naval Inst Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1557507392

Amazon.com

The worst maritime disaster in American history has received little historical attention, even though more people died from the 1865 Sultana explosion than drowned when the Titanic sank in 1912. Gene Eric Salecker painfully reconstructs the events leading up to the tragedy, when more than 2,000 federal troops crowded onto a side-wheel steamboat built to carry fewer than 300 people. Most of them were former prisoners of war, paroled after the Confederate surrender and finally heading home after years of struggle. We will never know why three of the Sultana's big boilers blew up and claimed 1,700 lives, although Salecker runs through several possible causes. Disaster on the Mississippi is an authoritative account of a forgotten chapter of American history.

Customer Reviews:

Bravo Gene, from a former colleague!.......2003-12-07

What an fascinating nugget of US History. The soldiers got their just day with your vivid and detailed account. Fact truly is stranger than fiction. I felt like I truly got a naval education, didn't know much about ships/boats before this read.
BTW, this is Patrick.

Historically accurate and vividly written.......2001-03-07

I was very impressed with this book. It was obviously well researched and includes numerous quotes from survivors. Historical documents enhance the first hand accounts.

The details of the boat trip including the explosion are vividly written. This is the best book I've read about the Sultana Tragedy.

Recounting a forgotten disaster.......2000-08-12

The sinking of the steamboat Sultana was the deadliest maritime disaster in U.S. History. Strangely, even though it occurred at the end of the Civil War and most of the dead were returning Union POWs, it is an almost forgotten event. Author Salecker recalls the bureaucratic bungling and corruption that helped lead to the diaster as well as a harrowing account from the survivors. This is a good history book that sheds light on the memories of the dead and the survivors.

Excellent - MUST reading for all history buffs........1999-05-30

Very well researched and composed. One feels as if they are right there with the soldiers and civilians as they struggle for survival not only from the flames that are engulfing them, but from the mass of humanity that is in the frigid waters of the swollen Mississippi.

Book Description

These true-life adventures unfold amid flames, collision, and explosions, with frantic calls of SOS and a rush to clamber aboard lifeboats. Nearly 200 photographs, many from private collections, highlight tales of the vessels whose maritime lives ended in catastrophe: the Morro Castle, Normandie, Andrea Doria, Europa, and others.

Customer Reviews:

Doomed yes, Disaster no.......2007-08-09

I was quite disappointed with this book. Most of the cases used have been historically previously researched and written about. I was expecting to read much more on the deatail of the actual disaster but this was not the case. Maybe its because I am a former merchant marine officer and familiar with the case studies used. Possibly this book would appeal to non-seafarers.

Too broad a topic.......2007-03-16

I was expecting a lot from this and was let down. Usually the William Miller books are excellent. Some great photos that I hadn't seem before, like the Leonardo da Vince at sea with her famous roll, and the Hanseatic on fire in NY harbor.
There is just too much information for a small book like this. Lots of info got left out. It may have been more satisfying in a larger format. As an introduction to the topic it would be useful.

Beyond The "Titanic".......2007-01-27

Noted nautical author Bill Miller has written a new and very fascinating book on doomed ocean liners. Quite wisely he elected to skip the "Titanic" tragedy as it has been so well covered in many other books. He elected to start the book with the sinking of the "Lusitania" on May 7, 1915, by a German submarine, the "U-20." It ends with the capsizing of the "Oriana" at her berth in China during a typhoon in March 2004. Between these two bookends, there are many liner tragedies summarized, including the famous like the "Morro Castle," "Normandie," "Bremen," "Rex," and "Andrea Doria" as well as ships virtually unknown except for those personally involved in the accident in question, such as the "Alcoa Corsair," "Viceroy of India," "Empire Windrush," and "Klipfontein."

The book provides a brief operational history of each ship as well as the vital statistics of each vessel. The accidents are examined in varying degrees of detail: after all there are no commonly available accounts of accidents like the fire that ravaged the "Skaubryn" in the Indian Ocean during 1958 (especially given that all passengers and crew were rescued). This points to a great strength of the book: less well-known accidents are presented here alongside famous disasters, and the lessons learned from all are valuable and interesting regardless of your exact motivation for reading the book. As an aside, I didn't keep track, but an inordinate number of losses occurred due to fire (and water from firefighting). This was especially the case among French built liners, an observation not overlooked by the author.

Overall this is an excellent effort. It accomplishes exactly what it sets out to do. It is not encyclopedic, nor does it claim to be, but it is an interesting book on a difficult subject to cover well.

The Last Voyage of the Karluk: A Survivor's Memoir of Arctic Disaster

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Vilhjalmur Stefansson's Secret Disaster
What is a Crowbill ?
A classic of first-hand adventure narrative.
The will to live
Way better than I had hoped for!

The Last Voyage of the Karluk: A Survivor's Memoir of Arctic Disaster
William Laird McKinlay
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Griffin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0312206550

Amazon.com

On April 23, 1913, 24-year-old William McKinlay, a teacher of mathematics and science in Scotland, was finishing dinner when a telegram arrived. Legendary Canadian explorer Vilhjalmur Stefansson, it explained, was planning a four-year Arctic expedition between the northernmost shores of Canada and the North Pole. It was to be "a vast scientific project," McKinlay recalls, "involving studying Eskimos, geological surveys, sounding of uncharted Arctic waters, and a look-out for new islands to be discovered for Britain." McKinlay would be the team's magnetician and meteorologist--if he joined. He never thought twice--never mind that the crew was a motley assemblage of scientists and sailors, many of whom had never seen a polar bear outside a zoo. There was no survival training for the uninitiated. This was the heyday of the Arctic expedition--and "scientists were in great demand to bring back information about ... the poles."

In July, the 250-ton Karluk departed Alaska. By August, the ship was doomed, trapped and drifting in a solid pack of ice. Stefannson abandoned ship (continuing his explorations for five full years before returning), and the Karluk drifted for months before it was crushed by the ice and sank. Twenty-five people escaped onto the ice, isolated for a year before rescue arrived. By then, 11 people had perished--some in trying to reach land, others by suicide, malnutrition, or disease.

McKinlay's first-hand account of the Karluk debacle is Shackleton's Endurance story in reverse: what happens when an untrained, ill-matched crew meets disaster and barely rises to the challenge. Leaderless and despondent, the stranded resorted to treachery, lying, cheating, and pure folly. Karluk is a story both unbelievable and familiar, and it is convincingly told: how ambition and poor planning lead to spectacular disasters from which only sheer will or luck can offer salvation. --Svenja Soldovieri

Book Description

An astonishing narrative of disaster and perseverance, The Last Voyage of the Karluk will thrill readers of adventure classics like Into Thin Air and The Climb. In 1913, explorer Vilhjalmur Stefansson hired William McKinlay to join the crew of the Karluk, the leading ship of his new Arctic expedition. Stefansson's mission was to chart the waters north of Alaska; yet the Karluk's crew was untrained, the ship was ill-suited to the icy conditions, and almost at once the Karluk was crushed-at which point Stefansson abandoned his crew to continue his journey on another ship. This is the only firsthand account of what followed: a nightmare struggle in which half the crew perished, one was mysteriously shot, and the rest were near death by the time of their rescue twelve months later.Written some sixty years after the fact, and drawing extensively on his own daily log, McKinlay's narrative of this doomed expedition is rendered with remarkable clarity of recollection, and with a combination of horror and a level of self-possession that, to modern eyes, may seem incredible. Like most of his companions, McKinlay was inexperienced, without a day's training in the skills essential to survival in the Arctic. Yet he and many of his fellow crewmen, with the help of an Eskimo family accustomed to such conditions, survived a year under the harshest of conditions, enduring 80-mile-per-hour gales and temperatures well below zero with only the barest of provisions and almost no hope of contact with civilization.Nearly a century later, this remains one of the most compelling survival stories ever written-an extraordinary testament to man's overpowering will to live.

Customer Reviews:

Vilhjalmur Stefansson's Secret Disaster.......2005-06-05

The author was a member of Vilhjalmur Stefansson's Arctic Expedition of 1913, and was on board the main expedition ship Karluk when it was frozen into the ice north of Alaska before the expedition was truly begun. The Karluk (abandoned by Stefansson early on) drifted west almost to Wrangell Island before the ship was crushed.

The only ones aboard with Arctic experience were the ship's captain and an Inuit family, including two girls ages five and three. Two men were veterans of Shackleton's 1907 attempt on the South Pole, but land ice and sea ice are two different kettles of lutefisk, and their conviction that they knew more than the ship's Captain just made things worse.

After leading the men to Wrangell Island, the Captain and one Inuk went ahead to Siberia to seek rescue. Without the Captain's leadership the remaining ill-assorted, inexperienced men fought, stole food from one another, became ill, and generally had a dreadful time. Eleven men had died by the time rescue finally arrived.

The author blamed Stefansson's lack of organization and foresight for making the plight of the Karluk worse than it needed to be. In later years he gathered evidence to debunk Stefansson's image as one of the great polar explorers. He twenty-five when he took part in the expedition and was in his eighties when he wrote this memoir.

What is a Crowbill ?.......2003-05-05

Geat time reading !
I still have 2 questions :
1. What is a Crowbill bird ?
2. No Mosquitos pested the stranded crew ?

A classic of first-hand adventure narrative........2001-07-16

A totally gripping true-life adventure, written in 1976 by an 88-year old Glasgow schoolmaster who, prior to serving as an officer in WW1, was one of the survivors of a horrifically mismanaged Arctic expedition. The "Karluk" was one of three vessels involved in an exploration of the Canadian Arctic in 1913, master-minded by one Vilhajalmur Stefansson, a monomaniac fixated on the idea of the Arctic as a friendly environment in which abundant food could be soured. In the event however none of the expedition members received any relevant training in survival skills before setting out. The ships' crews did not expect to winter in the Arctic while the scientific staff, of whom McKinlay was one, were almost all young men straight from University, with no previous Arctic experience. Steffanson's callousness in deserting the Karluk once it was ice-bound, and starting an independent five-year exploration journey without making any attempt to arrange rescue of its crew, almost beggars comprehension. McKinlay's story of misery, squalor, sickness, death, cowardice and heroism over the following year is at times depressing reading, but is always gripping. Of the Karluk's complement of twenty five, eleven died following the break-up of the ship in the ice north of Siberia, in the attempts to reach land and during the subsequent struggle to stay alive under conditions of extreme privation. That any survived is due to the heroism of the Karluk's captain, Robert Bartlett, who with one Eskimo companion managed to reach the Siberian mainland to seek help while the other survivors attempted to eke out an existence on the bleak Wrangel Island. The author's account is understated as regard his own role but it was obviously critical in maintaining morale and cohesion in an ill-assorted group with no real basis for camaraderie and discipline. It is the lack of these two factors that McKinlay found the great difference with his later, albeit terrible, experiences in Flanders, making the Wrangel Island episode incomparably worse. The writing is simple, spare and elegant and sweeps the reader along. It is the narrative of a decent, courageous man and it deserves to live on as a classic or adventure and exploration.

The will to live.......2001-02-03

I purchased this book to send to my son who teaches history. I decided I would read it, first. The author was a teacher and was honored that he was selected to take this exploration voyage with so many distinguished scientists. This book will show you what the body and spirit can endure when it has the ardent desire to live; among the survivors is the Eskimo family with two children, ages eleven and three, and a cat. This happened in 1913-1914. It will make you wonder if today's people still have the endurance and the will to survive as seen in this era.

Way better than I had hoped for!.......2000-08-27

Unliked the other reviewers thus far, I have not read other accounts of polar expeditions, never found the subject intriguing enough when there were so many other histories clamoring for my attention. I'm still not sure what persuaded me to buy this little book, but I am SO glad I did. I found it sufficiently detailed to give me the progressive pictures of ineptitude, boredom, labor, frostbite, incompatibility, isolation, hunger, despair, et al, without becoming bogged down in tedium. By virtue of having waited so many years to pen his account, McKinlay is probably more even-handed in the telling than he would have been otherwise, and makes the book a moving experience rather simply a bitter one. Kudos to the man, he was indeed a canny Scot, and has related a story worthy of being captured on film.

The Sinking of the Titanic and Great Sea Disasters

Average customer rating:

The Sinking of the Titanic and Great Sea Disasters
Rebirth through a Reprint
The Sinking of the Titanic and Great Sea Disasters
The book is great
Awesome book!!

The Sinking of the Titanic and Great Sea Disasters
Bob Garner
Manufacturer: The Vision Forum, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 096652330X

Book Description

This is the greatest account of bold manhood in maritime history.This is the true story of the RMS Titanic as told by the people who knew.

Download Description

SIXTEEN boats were in the procession which entered on the terrible hours of rowing, drifting and suspense. Women wept for lost husbands and sons, sailors sobbed for the ship which had been their pride. Men choked back tears and sought to comfort the widowed. Perhaps, they said, other boats might have put off in another direction. They strove, though none too sure themselves, to convince the women of the certainty that a rescue ship would appear.

Customer Reviews:

The Sinking of the Titanic and Great Sea Disasters.......2007-01-04

Very good reprint of the original book. I own the original, but it is in very poor condition, so this reprint allows me to read the book as printed in 1912, without further damaging the orginal. Definitely a good value.

Rebirth through a Reprint.......2000-08-12

Because I have an original copy of this book from 1912, I was especially interested when I saw that it had been reprinted. I'm not sure why it took so long for me to know it was reprinted, but I just found out and bought it. My initial fascination with this grand ship was sparked by this very book, and lives on today. I have many Titanic books, and though I appreciate color, nothing can top this original. It's one of my favorites!

The Sinking of the Titanic and Great Sea Disasters.......2000-01-12

A truly wonderful but heartbreaking true story upon story told by eyewitnesses. No talking heads building it up all out of proportion that we"re so full of today. So little is mentioned today of the fact that this ship was on fire {coal bunkers} when it sailed. I own an original copy and am curious as to it"s value?

The book is great.......1999-09-27

I really enjoyed this book. I have always been interested in the Titanic I have one of the original books that has been in my family all these years and was always hearing about the titantic and now the book belongs to me. It is a 5 star book.

Awesome book!!.......1999-05-03

This is a very great book. You won't be able to put it down. The insights into what really happened that night in April will keep you reading the book in one sitting!

White Hurricane : A Great Lakes November Gale and America's Deadliest Maritime Disaster

Average customer rating:

Best yet
The Great Lakes Perfect Storm of 1913
MAKES "THE PERFECT STORM" LOOK LIKE A PICNIC
Entertaining & accurate; better than fiction.
The last trip of the season

White Hurricane : A Great Lakes November Gale and America's Deadliest Maritime Disaster
David G. Brown
Manufacturer: International Marine Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 007138037X

Book Description

The riveting account of a 1913 storm that paralyzed the heart of America

Autumn gales have pursued mariners across the Great Lakes for centuries. On Friday, November 7, 1913, those gales captured their prey. After four days of winds up to 90 miles an hour, freezing temperatures, whiteout blizzard conditions, and mountainous seas, 19 ships had been lost, two dozen had been thrown ashore, 238 sailors were dead, and the city of Cleveland was confronting the worst natural disaster in its history.

In White Hurricane, writer and mariner David G. Brown combines narrative intensity with factual depth to re-create the events of the "perfect storm" that struck America's heartland. Interweaving human drama, mystery, and historical consequence, Brown has created a vast epic ranging over Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, and Erie and echoing down the decades.

Customer Reviews:

Best yet.......2007-08-24

Brown's presentation of the "Big Blow" is the best compilation of information currently available. The central "character" is the storm, and while jumping from one ship to another might seem confusing, that is exactly what the storm was. While Barcus' "Freshwater Fury" is very good, Brown excels in that he not only shows the problems modern historians have in trying to understand the meager records of the day, but also has consulted trained meteorologists in an attempt to give the whole picture. While he does apply some speculation, in most cases he presents it as such.

While this is the best, it's not perfect. A comparison of many authors who have published works on this storm reveals many glaring contradictions, even though all are recognized historians. Brown does better than the others in acknowledging conflicting accounts, and given that many reports and records of the time were designed for sensationalism or covering mistakes, one must expect some variety in the conclusions of the authors. My own preference would be to have all the sources footnoted and compared, but that would have made a tome that few would be able to handle. Because Brown makes a couple of minor errors it still leaves one wondering where the line is between historical fact and reasonable speculation.

I read this book before purchasing it for my library. I think it's worth having there.

The Great Lakes Perfect Storm of 1913.......2007-02-22

In "White Hurricane" the reader is taken on a fascinating and frightening trip across each of the Great Lakes during the November Gale of 1913. Winds would reach 90 miles an hour, and waves cresting intense heights of 35 feet.
With a dozen ships sunk, another twenty five stranded (or shored), and at least 250 lives lost. "White Hurricane" keeps the reader on edge, and in suspense as Brown jumps, back and forth, from ship to ship...While describing the terrifying events of those five days on the Great Lakes.
The only draw-back of Browns jumping is the reader needs to pay close attention as to where he leaves off, with each ship.
Other than that, the book is highly interesting, moving, and suspenseful. It touches the heart of the reader, and the sailors come alive, and Brown pulls the reader into the events of the storm, causing a chilling feeling, as if they were there.
Brown also describes the inadequacies of the National Weather Service in 1913, and how the events of this storm would bring about improvement. Also, rescue services would immensely improve over the years, the rescue crews of 1913 were a courageous lot beyond compare. The tid-bits of information regarding the attempts the rescue crews made, send chills down the readers spine.
White Hurricane is a recommended read, with interesting facts of history and America's deadliest maritime disaster.

MAKES "THE PERFECT STORM" LOOK LIKE A PICNIC.......2004-12-25

In November 1913, multiple storm systems collided above the Great Lakes, fueling a deadly maelstrom that lasted several days. There was no ship-to-shore radio. Meteorology was in its infancy; the jet stream hadn't even been discovered yet. Weather news was transmitted via telegraph, and then signal flags were hoisted at assorted spots along shorelines to warn mariners. It wasn't enough.

After unseasonably warm weather in the 60s, ships docked along all the Great Lakes set out for their final trip of the season. For many of them, it was their final trip, period.

The author compiles a staggering quantity of data from a by-gone era to present a sequential, methodical telling of the multitude of ships which sailed headlong into the worst Great Lakes storm in recorded history. While his wide-ranging narrative can sometimes lose the reader in a blizzard of names and places, gradually a larger picture comes clear of flesh-and-blood men struggling to just get home against unimaginable odds. This book evokes tension, courage, even nightmares, followed by heartwrenching tales of frozen bodies washing up on beaches, lifeboats occupied by dead sailors lashed to their seats, and even a message in a bottle hastily penned by a man who knew he'd be dead in minutes (and whose corpse indeed washed ashore a few weeks after this bottle was found). This is man vs. nature, this is man looking into the abyss, this is man meeting his Maker in no uncertain terms.

The next time you stroll along a sunny beach with the water washing around your ankles, consider this:

Your ship battles 30-foot waves driven by sustained 70-mph winds. Out on deck, there's a jackline which extends from bow to stern, specifically to help sailors walk safely along the ship's deck in rough seas. That jackline is now coated with ice as thick as a man's torso. Soon the waves smash out the pilothouse windows. Skylights in the boiler room have also shattered; men somehow continue to shovel coal into the engines while knee-deep in 40-degree water. One gigantic wave actually crushes the pilothouse; all hope of navigation has now vanished. The captain shouts to drop anchor; within minutes the anchor's chain snaps like twine. The ship's inch-thick steel plating begins to crack, and iron rivets snap like buttons. There's nothing to do now but pray and wait to drown--and every minute lasts an eternity.

Entertaining & accurate; better than fiction........2004-07-13

Dave Brown has really done the necessary, comprehensive research. His description of Great Lakes' shipping is 100% accurate. The reporting is factual and not embellished with contrived dialogue. I was an engineer in Great Lakes and ocean ships, one cited in the book, and can visualize the events he described and emphasize with the crewmen's situations.

The last trip of the season.......2003-12-17

Ninety years ago this November, one of the worst disasters in Great Lakes history took place over a period of four days, when twelve ships foundered and thirty-one were stranded, and 253 sailors drowned during the deadliest storm ever to hit the Great Lakes. The actual toll was probably higher, but no single agency in 1913 kept track of vessels lost or sailors killed. According to this author, the death toll did not include "the commercial fishermen, hunters, or anglers who also lost their lives."

At least three books have been written about this storm, including "Fresh Water Fury" (1960), "Ships Gone Missing" (1992), and this book by David G. Brown, published in 2002. One of the things that sets Brown's book apart from the others is his meticulous meteorological reconstruction of the 1913 storm that raged for four days in early November and sank ships on Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron (the worst hit) and Erie.

According to the author's research, the weather in early November 1913 was remarkably dry and balmy, tempting the shipping companies into making one last run before the end of the season. The U.S. Weather Bureau issued storm warnings on November 7, 8, and 9 but these did not come close to suggesting the true ferocity of the 'White Hurricane.' In fact the Weather Bureau never did post hurricane warnings--two red flags with black centers, displayed one above the other--on the Great Lakes, preferring to reserve that warning for tropical storms even though the four-day storm that struck the Lakes was of hurricane intensity.

This book is organized as a temporal narrative of the storm, starting on Wednesday, November 5 as freighters such as the 'Charles S. Price' took on loads of coal, railroad ties, and iron ore for their last trips of the season. The 'Price's' Assistant Engineer Milton Smith had such a strong premonition about the forthcoming voyage that he quit his job and went home. He would later be asked to identify the bodies of his shipmates that washed up on Huron's icy shores.

On November 6, ships on western Lake Superior were already experiencing rough weather, but nothing that qualified as a full-fledged November gale--not yet. In Detroit, a prominent halo ringed the moon, perhaps bringing to mind the rhyme: "When halos ring the moon or sun/ Rain is coming on the run." In the case of this particular storm, it was a warning of the ferocious blizzard that would paralyze Cleveland and other cities on the Lakes, and add to the woes of the ships that were already battling life-threatening gales.

The empty wooden bulk freighter 'Louisania' was the first casualty of the storm. On Saturday, November 8, the onrushing gale stranded her near Port des Mortes on Lake Michigan, where she burned to the waterline. Up on Lake Superior, the storm "began picking apart the 'L.C. Waldo' shortly after midnight near the Keweenaw Peninsula." Her sailors were some of the lucky few to be picked up from their stranded, ice-bound freighter, but they would have to wait until Monday, November 10 to be rescued.

Brown's narrative of the height of the storm is truly frightening and he can only speculate on the fates of the ships that disappeared far from land. Of the seventeen ships known to be in lower Lake Huron on Sunday, November 9, only two survived and they sustained serious damage.

This book also provides an extended aftermath, appendices, bibliography, and index.

If you'd like to read more about the 'Big Blow' of 1913, I highly recommend Dwight Boyer's "True Tales of the Great Lakes," William Ratigan's "Great Lakes Shipwrecks and Survivals," and the above-mentioned "Ships Gone Missing" by Robert J. Hemming.

Titanic: Destination Disaster : The Legends and the Reality
Average customer rating:

GREAT BOOK.

amazing and detailed.10/10 for the breath taking pictures

Very good

Really Good!

Great Fact Book

Titanic: Destination Disaster : The Legends and the Reality
John P. Eaton , and Charles A. Haas
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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A Night to Remember

ASIN: 0393315134

Customer Reviews:

GREAT BOOK........1999-06-30

I have studied TITANIC most of life and before the movie, TITANIC, It was hard to find TITANIC books. This one and Don Lynch's TITANIC AN ILLUSTRATED history were the best out. This is like a dictonary. It has the most informaition of all TITANIC books. I would recomend this book to anyone. It is a great book for the begginer for its info and great price. BUY THIS BOOK!

amazing and detailed.10/10 for the breath taking pictures.......1999-05-06

before james camereon released his 'titanic'I was unaware of any facts about the great ship ,except for the fact that she hit an iceberg and sank with the loss of 1500 lives. now however after reading countless books and articles i have compiled a detailed knowledge of her . this book , althogh not 100% acurate is very good and deserves to be up there with books such as walter lords 'a night to remember' if you are not a titanic fan, you will be after reading this book.the pictures to are breath taking

A MUST FOR ANY TITANIC BUFF

Very good.......1999-01-04

This is the 4th book that I bought about the Titanic. I thought it had alot of wonderful information about the sinking and the aftermath of this tragedy.

Really Good!.......1998-07-19

This book is the second book that I bought about Tianic. It is not the best Titanic book that I have read, but it's excellent facts have helped me a lot in my Titanic project that we're doing in English at school. It's really well written and the accounts of some of the survivers are really interesting. I'd reccomend this book to all Titanic fans - Lauren, 13

Great Fact Book.......1998-04-25

This is one of my my personal favorite Titanic books. I am a Titanic buff and am hungry for facts, and, to say the least, am now full. This book has from the Titanic gross tonnage to how much money Col. John Jacob Astor had in his pocket when his body was found.

Amazon.com

In October 1998, a wayward tropical storm blossomed into one of the most powerful hurricanes in modern history. When it finished its devastating course throughout the Caribbean, Hurricane Mitch had killed thousands of people, left hundreds of thousands more homeless, and destroyed whole towns. Journalist Jim Carrier turns up a small but telling incident: the disappearance of a 282-foot schooner called the Fantome. Guided by a young but accomplished English captain and manned by seasoned West Indian sailors, the cruise ship put into port in Belize to discharge its passengers, then set out to sea in an attempt to outrace a storm that, defying expectation, changed its course and in the end sent the Fantome and its crew beneath the waves. All that was terrible enough; added to it was the legal battle that awaited the crew's survivors, one that hung over the disaster "like a poisonous cloud." Following the Fantome's course hour by hour, Carrier covers all aspects of the incident thoroughly and sympathetically. His book makes a compelling companion to Sebastian Junger's The Perfect Storm as a fine reconstruction of a maritime tragedy, one that does honor to the unfortunate dead. --Gregory McNamee

Book Description

"Utterly compulsive and unputdownable--the most exciting, authentic, and humanly moving of all the recent Storm books. Brilliantly paced and perfectly balanced. . . . Carrier is a marvelously trustworthy narrator. . . . A terrific book."--Jonathan Raban, author of Passage to Juneau: A Sea and Its Meanings and Bad Land: An American Romance

"A wonderful story. An extremely well-written account of the events as I knew them. I commend Jim Carrier for a magnificent job."--Jerry D. Jarrell, Director, National Hurricane Center

In October 1998, the majestic schooner Fantome came face-to-face with one of the most savage storms in Atlantic history. The last days of the Fantome are reconstructed in vivid and heartbreaking detail through Jim Carrier's extensive research and hundreds of personal interviews. What emerges is a story of courage, hubris, the agony of command, the weight of lives versus wealth, and the advances of science versus the terrible power and unpredictability of nature.

Download Description

Based on journalist Jim Carrier's exhaustive research and hundreds of interviews----The Ship and the Storm explores the story of the Fantome and Hurricane Mitch from every angle.

Customer Reviews:

Hurricane Mitch and the Fantom, April 3, 2007 .......2007-05-18

Jim Carrier tells the story of The Ship and the Storm by using crew accounts, passenger interviews, surviving crew relatives and official weather related records.
Anchored in the quiet waters of the Bay at Omoa, Honduras passengers excitedly board the Windjammer Cruise Ship Fantome. Feted with the finest cuisine and free flowing rum swizzle the fun and excitement is just beginning as the tall ship prepares to sail from one tropical paradise to another.
Two mornings later as the Fantomes' guests finished their Bloody Mary and sticky bun breakfast a weather station on the West Coast of Africa was recording a drop in the barometric pressure. The Miami Hurricane Center labeled the system #46 and indicated in the margin that it was impressive.
One week later on the evening of October 17, 1998 while Fantome passengers partied tropical wave 46 was moving west past Barbados in the Windward Islands. A day later the National Hurricane Center using satellite pictures and computer models predicts that tropical wave 46 will become a hurricane.
October 21st the day Fantome arrived at the island of Guanaja off the north shoulder of Honduras a C-130 Hurricane Hunter located a weather system created by wave 46 and notified Miami that they had located a tropical depression.
However, weather in the Western Caribbean is good and Fantome passengers were still enjoying their cruise vacation. But change came the next morning and Captain Guyan March advises crew and passengers on the report of the storm.
BULLETIN: 5AM EDT SAT OCT 24, 1998. MITCH STRENGTHENS RAPIDLY INTO A HURRICANE
Storm tracks in the direction of Cuba and the Cayman Islands and forecasters are calling Mitch a potentially dangerous hurricane.
Fantome was at Omoa, Honduras where locals advised Captain March to drop both anchors and stay in port. March consults his boss in Miami by phone.
October 25th National Hurricane Center forecasters are dumbfounded by the rapid escalation from a low intensity storm to a Category 4 hurricane within a 24-hour period.
Following prolonged discussions with Windjammer Headquarters in Miami it was decided to cancel the Fantomes' cruise. Passenger safety was uppermost in their minds and they discharged the passengers at Belize City. They didn't consider Belize a safe harbor to ride out the storm so Fantome with 31 crewmembers aboard left Belize to try and outmaneuver the storm.
Hurricane Mitch was coming up on Swan Island and conventional wisdom as well as the National Hurricane Centers computer models predicts that the storm will turn to the northwest. Fantome headed southeast from Belize toward the Bay Islands north of Honduras and had the storm tracked to the northwest as was expected there would have been plenty of separation between the ship and the storm. But the monster storm called Mitch with a mind of its own defied convention and turned south where it continued to spin its Category 4 and sometimes 5 winds over the waters and islands destroying everything in it's path. High winds and waves produced by the storm extended out some 200 miles from its center. Fantomes' engines and Captain March's skilled seamanship was no match for the tall waves and winds produced by Hurricane Mitch. Eventually the powerful waves broadside Fantome and breach the ships watertight bulkheads.
The story of The Ship and the Storm is tragically compelling.

Tom Barnes author of "Doc Holliday's Road to Tombstone."
Also "The Hurricane Hunters and Lost in the Bermuda Triangle."

The Hurricane Hunters And Lost in the Bermuda Triangle
Doc Holliday's Road to Tombstone: The Life and Times of John Henry Holliday

the ship and the storm.......2007-05-13

The Fantome was the first windjammer ship that I sailed on in 1983. Being the first ship I always compared other ships to her. The book is about a small group of brave men trying to save a gallant lady!

Hurricane Mitch and the Fantom.......2007-04-04

Jim Carrier tells the story of The Ship and the Storm by using crew accounts, passenger interviews, surviving crew relatives and official weather related records.
Anchored in the quiet waters of the Bay at Omoa, Honduras passengers excitedly board the Windjammer Cruise Ship Fantome. Feted with the finest cuisine and free flowing rum swizzle the fun and excitement is just beginning as the tall ship prepares to sail from one tropical paradise to another.
Two mornings later as the Fantomes' guests finished their Bloody Mary and sticky bun breakfast a weather station on the West Coast of Africa was recording a drop in the barometric pressure. The Miami Hurricane Center labeled the system #46 and indicated in the margin that it was impressive.
One week later on the evening of October 17, 1998 while Fantome passengers partied tropical wave 46 was moving west past Barbados in the Windward Islands. A day later the National Hurricane Center using satellite pictures and computer models predicts that tropical wave 46 will become a hurricane.
October 21st the day Fantome arrived at the island of Guanaja off the north shoulder of Honduras a C-130 Hurricane Hunter located a weather system created by wave 46 and notified Miami that they had located a tropical depression.
However, weather in the Western Caribbean is good and Fantome passengers were still enjoying their cruise vacation. But change came the next morning and Captain Guyan March advises crew and passengers on the report of the storm.
BULLETIN: 5AM EDT SAT OCT 24, 1998. MITCH STRENGTHENS RAPIDLY INTO A HURRICANE
Storm tracks in the direction of Cuba and the Cayman Islands and forecasters are calling Mitch a potentially dangerous hurricane.
Fantome was at Omoa, Honduras where locals advised Captain March to drop both anchors and stay in port. March consults his boss in Miami by phone.
October 25th National Hurricane Center forecasters are dumbfounded by the rapid escalation from a low intensity storm to a Category 4 hurricane within a 24-hour period.
Following prolonged discussions with Windjammer Headquarters in Miami it was decided to cancel the Fantomes' cruise. Passenger safety was uppermost in their minds and they discharged the passengers at Belize City. They didn't consider Belize a safe harbor to ride out the storm so Fantome with 31 crewmembers aboard left Belize to try and outmaneuver the storm.
Hurricane Mitch was coming up on Swan Island and conventional wisdom as well as the National Hurricane Centers computer models predicts that the storm will turn to the northwest. Fantome headed southeast from Belize toward the Bay Islands north of Honduras and had the storm tracked to the northwest as was expected there would have been plenty of separation between the ship and the storm. But the monster storm called Mitch with a mind of its own defied convention and turned south where it continued to spin its Category 4 and sometimes 5 winds over the waters and islands destroying everything in it's path. High winds and waves produced by the storm extended out some 200 miles from its center. Fantomes' engines and Captain March's skilled seamanship was no match for the tall waves and winds produced by Hurricane Mitch. Eventually the powerful waves broadside Fantome and breach the ships watertight bulkheads.
The story of The Ship and the Storm is tragically compelling.

Tom Barnes, Hurricane Hunter and author of "Doc Holliday's Road to Tombstone."

When God's Not On Your Side.......2007-03-10

It is impossible to overpraise this hurricane account as presented by Jim Carrier. Brilliant, masterful, harrowing, heroic, foolhardy, and heartbreaking are not overstatements. This is a story told by an experienced seaman who knows his subject all too well and who poignantly points out how life-or-death decisions that have to be made at critical moments can be the unfairest burden of all to place on individuals.

If one wants to know what it's like to experience a 'Cat 5' at sea without wisely wanting to go through it in actuality, this is a must-read. The book also beautifully balances the tragedy that was befalling the "Fantome" at sea with the simultaneous tragedy that 'Mitch' was wreaking on land; particularly the Honduran side of the story.

If you liked the "Perfect Storm" at all, you'll be mesmerized by "The Ship And The Storm."

As Carrier, the old salt puts it so well in the dedication at the beginning of the book: "There but for the grace of God go I."

Indispensable reading!!!

A great read and fun, too!.......2006-05-01

This is a great book but it states that a 1935 hurricane in Florida sandblasted victims into particles,
but this is impossible. I assume they were dead already and rotting on beach, but still this claim sounds fishy. Other than that, this is a fantastic book. Loved it!

Perils of the port of New York;: Maritime disasters from Sandy Hook to Execution Rocks

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Perils of the port of New York;: Maritime disasters from Sandy Hook to Execution Rocks
Jeannette (Edwards) Rattray
Manufacturer: Dodd, Mead
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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