A true story of catastrophe and survival at sea, Fatal Forecast is a spellbinding moment-by-moment account of seventy-two hours in the lives of eightyoung fishermen, some of whom would never set foot on dry land again.
On the morning of November 21, 1980, two small Massachusetts lobster boats set out for Georges Bank, a bountiful but perilous fishing ground 130 miles off thecoast of Cape Cod. The National Weather Service had forecast typical fallweather, and the young, rugged crewmen aboard the Sea Fever and the Fair Wind had made dozens of similar trips that season. They had no reasonto expect that this trip would be any different.
But the only weather buoy on Georges Bank was malfunctioning, and the NationalWeather Service had failed to share this fact with the fishermen who dependedon its forecasts. As the two small boats headed out to sea, a colossal storm wasbrewing to the southeast, a furious maelstrom the National Weather Service didnot accurately locate until the boats were already caught in the storm's grip,trapped in the treacherous waters of Georges Bank.
Battered by sixty-foot waves and hurricane-force winds, the crews of the FairWind and the Sea Fever (captained by Peter Brown, whose father ownedthe Andrea Gail of Perfect Storm fame) struggled heroically to keep their vessels afloat. But the storm soon severely crippled one boat andoverturned the other, trapping its crew inside.
Meticulously researched and vividly told, Fatal Forecast is first andforemost a tale of miraculous survival. Most amazing is the story of Ernie Hazzard, who managed to crawl inside a tiny inflatable life raft and then spentmore than fifty terrifying hours adrift on the stormy open sea. By turns tragic,thrilling, and inspiring, Ernie's story deserves a place among the greatestsurvival tales ever told.
Equally riveting are the stories of the brave men and women from the Coast Guardand the crew of a nearby fishing boat who imperiled their own lives that day inorder to save the lives of others.
As gripping and harrowing as The Perfect Storm - but with a miracle ending - Fatal Forecast is an unforgettable true story about the collision of two spectacular forces: the brutality of nature and the human willto survive.
Autorentext
Michael J. Tougias
Inhalt
Prologue
PART I
CHAPTER 1: The Fair Wind Crew
CHAPTER 2: Heading Out
CHAPTER 3: The Forecast
CHAPTER 4: In the Monster's Grip
CHAPTER 5: Multiple Maydays
CHAPTER 6: Pitch-poled
CHAPTER 7: Decisions
CHAPTER 8: The Sea Fever
CHAPTER 9: Blow-out
CHAPTER 10: Swept Away
PART II
CHAPTER 11: Stay with the Boat!
CHAPTER 12: Tumbling in the Void
CHAPTER 13: Inside a Punching Bag
CHAPTER 14: Trapped
CHAPTER 15: Just a Blustery Day
CHAPTER 16: A Silent Killer
CHAPTER 17: A Pilot's Nightmare
PART III
CHAPTER 18: Alone in the Night
CHAPTER 19: Dawn
CHAPTER 20: The Families Wait for News
CHAPTER 21: Heading Home and All Alone
CHAPTER 22: Drifting East
CHAPTER 23: The Search
CHAPTER 24: Almost Out of Time
CHAPTER 25: At the Edge of the Bank
CHAPTER 26: Salvation
CHAPTER 27: The Airlift
CHAPTER 28: A Different Kind of Pain
CHAPTER 29: The Inquiry and a Thank You
Epilogue
Author's Note