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

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

Kalee Thompson

Book - 2010

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 r...ecounts 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.

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Subjects
Alaska Ranger (Trawler)
United States. > Coast Guard > Search and rescue operations > Bering Sea.
Shipwrecks > Bering Sea.
Survival.
Search and rescue operations > Bering Sea.
Published
New York, NY : William Morrow [2010]
Language
English
Main Author
Kalee Thompson (-)
Edition
First edition
Physical Description
309 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, map ; 24 cm
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN
9780061766299
  • The Alaska Ranger
  • "Go to the suits!"
  • Always ready
  • Best speed
  • "Abandon ship!"
  • The observers
  • Alone in the waves
  • Swimmer in the water
  • Sick at sea
  • Man down
  • Out of the cold
  • Death at the extremes
  • The final search
  • The investigation
  • Epilogue.
Review by Booklist Review

Books about disaster in the Alaskan fishing industry are common, but titles as good as this one are rare. In March 2008, the factory trawler Alaska Ranger sank in the Bering Sea, in 36-degree water and 20-foot waves. Her distress signal triggered a massive rescue effort, in which the Coast Guard used cutters, helicopters, fixed-wing aircraft, rescue swimmers in short, its whole arsenal for saving those in peril on the sea. Alaska Warrior, a sister trawler, also ably came to the rescue, and a total of 42 of the Ranger's 47 people were rescued. The author did thorough research and interviewed people involved in every aspect of the rescue, so that the reader has a clear picture of everything from survival suits to the big cutter Munro, and how they were arrayed and skillfully used to snatch people from what would have been certain death 50 years ago. This extraordinary book is accessible to every level of interest in those who go down to the sea in ships and may well keep most of them up all night.--Green, Roland Copyright 2010 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.

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