What is the greatest maritime disaster of all time? In her remarkable collection of stories, Jean Hood certainly challenges the popular belief that Titanic should hold that title. Dramatic & enthralling, the common theme throughout is the strength of human character
- or lack of it
- that reveals itself when people are placed in the most appalling & incredible circumstances. Read about the crowded emigrant liner whose officers abandoned her after striking a reef; the captain of an unseaworthy ferry who refused to put back to Liverpool because he would have had to refund the fares; the inexperienced frigate captain who entrusted his ship to a passenger & whose voyage ended in cannibalism & national scandal. Yet for every instance of cruelty, criminal negligence & bad luck, there is another of courage, leadership, humanity & resourcefulness. The French fisherman who swam for almost a mile through the wild tide to try & help a stranded convict ship; the captain who stole international headlines by remaining aboard a doomed cargo ship in mountainous seas; the crew of a dismasted timber carrier who suffered for more than a month in the bitter North Atlantic winter; the U-boat which went to the rescue of those whose ship she had just sunk. This book covers all types of vessels through the ages of sail & steam to the modern submarine. It combines thorough research with dramatic storytelling. It is written by an established Conway author & expert on losses at sea. It is a great beach or fireside read.