Michael Tougias

The Finest Hours, by Michael J. Tougias and Casey Sherman is a true story. It is a book about exceptional human bravery and true heroism. It is based on an event, or rather, a series of events, that happened off the eastern seaboard of the United States in 1952.

Picture yourself in a boat. A wooden boat. A wooden boat only thirty-six feet long. A boat designed to hold just twelve people. Then ask yourself: would you venture out in a boat just a little longer than two cars parked end-to-end, show more into the teeth of a fierce Atlantic nor’easter blowing sixty knots, in a February snowstorm, at night, into waves seven stories high?

Hold that thought. Then picture this. Would you go out into the Atlantic Ocean in a storm with gale-force winds that had churned up the sea to a point where it had already torn not one, but two, five-hundred-foot-long, ocean-going steel ships into two pieces, just forty miles from each other? A storm that left the drifting bow and stern sections of the huge broken ships tossing about like corks in the sixty and seventy foot waves? A storm that left dozens of survivors stranded on the drifting hulks, praying desperately against hope, for a miraculous rescue before those ripped-apart sections sank? If you said yes, I’d say: read this book. Then think again.

That scenario really happened in 1952. And there were four people who did go out into the Atlantic, in a small craft, in such a storm. They were a U.S. Coast Guard crew. One man was ordered to go. Three of them volunteered. They went on a search and rescue mission. Before they even got out into the open ocean, the boat’s windshield was smashed as they plunged through a sixty-foot wave, and the compass was torn from its mount and rendered useless. That was just the beginning of what they went through. Incredibly, they all survived. And they carried out one of the most daring sea rescues of the twentieth century.

That story is the essence of the The Finest Hours. The bare facts about the events on their own are astonishing enough—two 10,000-ton ships, the SS Fort Mercer and SS Pendleton, were snapped in two like matchsticks. The sea-battered hulks of one of them went undiscovered for eight hours because the crew was unable to get off a distress signal before the catastrophe—but the authors have put human faces on the story. That is this book’s most compelling feature. Sadly, not everyone on those two wrecks made it back to shore alive. But the reader is pulled inexorably through this well-written book page after page, by a sense of hope for both the shipwrecked sailors, and the rescue crews.

I say crews, because The Finest Hours focuses essentially on telling the story of the one small Coast Guard motor lifeboat, CG36500. But it also covers the greater scope of the overall rescue operation. Four other larger Coast Guard ships, cutters Achushnet, Eastwind, McCulloch, Unimak and Yakutat also raced to the search and rescue effort, as did other vessels and several aircraft. The accounts of rescues by the other ships, some almost as harrowing as that of CG36500 are also woven into the story. But the four-man crew of the small motor lifeboat; Bernard C. Webber and the three volunteers, Andrew J. Fitzgerald, Richard P. Livesey and Ervin E. Maske are the book’s focal point. Their accomplishment was, quite simply, extraordinary.

Seventy of the eighty-four crew from the two huge ships that were torn apart that night were rescued. But there were men on board who were never found. One of the surviving seamen off the Pendleton, Oliver Gendron, believed that some of the crew, including the ship’s captain, would have perished instantly in the midship house on the Pendleton’s bow, when it broke up.

The book is drawn from a deep well of research as the 1952 rescue operation was front-page news worldwide the next day. The authors were able to glean from more than fifty newspaper, wire service and magazine articles, fifteen government agency reports and a number of earlier books. They also interviewed more than two dozen rescue-crew members and shipwreck survivors still living. Their memories, still stark and vivid many years, later go to the very heart of the story.

The Finest Hours is a book with a story that speaks to a reader at the elemental level. Heroism; raw courage in the face of overwhelming odds; the possibility of a miracle in the face of a maelstrom. It was made into a movie in 2016. show less

First sentence: Port Tawfiq, Egypt, simmered in the summer sun of mid-August 1942.

Premise/plot: Nonfiction book suitable for MG, YA, and Adults about the sinking of RMS Laconia on September 12, 1942, in the midst of the Second World War. It was carrying British soldiers, of course, but also women and children--in addition to 1,800 Italian Prisoners of War. The destination was Britain, but it sank shortly it was torpedoed. The German submarine realized afterwards that the ship they'd bombed show more had been carrying thousand plus ITALIAN POWs. Commander Werner Hartenstein decided to help rescue those he'd just attacked--yes, the Italians, but also all the others. Some he took aboard his own ship, others he helped find accommodations on lifeboats. (The lifeboats were a bit haphazard. Some too full. Others less so. Some more seaworthy than others.) The most in need of medical attention received it. Women and children were prioritized as well. But this isn't a sweet, warm-and-cozy rescue. For things got a LOT more complicated and complex as the rescue unfolded...

My thoughts: WHAT AN ORDEAL. I found this one captivating and fascinating. But also super-intense. I'm not sure I'd have been able to handle it as a child. But it is an incredibly told tale of survival. I do wish it was more well known. (I'd not heard of it before.) I would have been watching documentaries and such about it if I'd known. It tells a big picture story, but it also focuses in on some of the survivors and their MANY ordeals in the days and weeks (yes, WEEKS) spent at sea adrift. show less

This was a totally compelling story. I tore through it in two days. The sheer power of the storm in which the Pendleton and the Fort Mercer broke apart is awesome (in the true sense of the word) and it makes the achievements of Bernie Webber and his crew even more impressive. I was holding my breath as I read, waiting for the crews of the tankers to be rescued safely. The fact that so many crew members made it to shore safely is amazing.

The only reason my rating isn't five stars is that it show more was reprinted as a movie tie-in edition in the stupid skinny tall mass market paperback format that doesn't stack properly with other mass market paperbacks and is painful to hold. This book deserves a better printing.

If you're interested in daring feats of human courage, ships or storms, read this. No need for the movie -- the printed word is thrilling enough. show less

Reading this book in a snow storm gave it a heightened drama and made me more appreciative of what the men in this real-life situation went through. On Feb. 18, 1952, not one but two tanker ships broke in half in the stormy seas off Cape Cod. These enormous vessels (500 feet in length, weighing thousands of tons) became the victims of 50 ft. swells and 70 mph winds, as well as blinding snow and freezing temperatures. When the tankers split, the crew was also divided on each half and the show more parts began to both drift and sink. Only the front part of each ship had the ship-to-shore radio and resources for survival were also divided. To make the whole event even more remarkable was the Coast Guard rescue of each ship, using only 38-foot lifeboats that had to travel from shore out to the sinking ships in the formidable seas. The story focused more on the Pendleton and its 42 man crew. most of whom were rescued by the CG35600 captained by Bernie Webber and four other "coasties" who were all in their early 20s. The extreme wet and cold of the event was the least of their worries but the thing that seemed most relate-able to me. Imagining how literally almost frozen not only the shipwrecked but also the rescuers must have been showed their daring, toughness and determination to see through the mission and bring men back alive. The Fort Mercer, the other tanker was rescued by a different crew, but they were equally brave and undaunted by the elements. Once the rescue boats reached the wrecks, the challenges of getting close enough to actually save the men became evident. Many drowned in their attempt to jump from the ship to the smaller boats below and all were scarred by that process. Then returning to shore with double the intended capacity on board also put lives at risk. Though the rescue rate was not 100%, it was enough to deem it a huge success. I think these men fall into the Greatest Generation category -- an impressive tale of heroics that were downplayed and denied by those involved who insisted they were "just doing their job." show less