Overboard! A True Bluewater Odyssey of Disaster and Survival
As a member of the American Library Association and the Public Library Association, I receive an online book review source called Booklist. Books that make it into this highly respected source for librarians, have been scrutinized by the experts in the field. Therefore, I trust that the review below is accurate, and that the book Overboard deserves to be read.
I must add that last night’s news of the cruise ship carrying 2000 people on the Mediterranean Sea were hit by 60 mph winds and exceptionally high waves, makes this book even more current and compelling. The headline read: “Two people have been killed and six injured as giant waves slammed into a cruise ship in the Mediterranean.”
Shocking truth is often more frightening than horror fiction.
The review:
| Overboard! A True Bluewater Odyssey of Disaster and Survival.
Tougias, Michael J. (author). Tougias, who with Ten Hours until Dawn (2005) rivaled Sebastian Junger (The Perfect Storm, 1997) in the telling of harrowing experiences at sea, returns with the tale of the yachts Almeisan and At Ease. Caught in a vast storm off the East Coast in spring 2005, the two experienced sailors aboard Almeisan were washed overboard. The captain died, but his first mate survived, thanks to a Filipino merchant ship, and the Almeisan’s three working passengers fast-learned enough seamanship to last until the Coast Guard arrived. The crew of At Ease all survived, but their ordeal was only slightly less harrowing, and the descriptions of it are quite as vivid. Tougias has a knack for getting those who go down to the sea in ships (or, sometimes, nearly under it in yachts) to talk to him and for weaving thoroughly absorbing sea stories out of what they disclose to him. Maritime history and adventure fans need this one. |
— Roland Green