Manchester-by-the-Sea Public Library

The finest hours, the true story of a heroic sea rescue, Michael J. Tougias and Casey Sherman

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 155-160)

contains biographical information

illustrations

no index present

Middle readers1140, Lexile

Ages 9-13

non fiction

The finest hours

bibliography

849212452

Michael J. Tougias and Casey Sherman

Accelerated Reader, Grades 5-8, 7.5, 6, SD, Quiz 163696, English non-fiction.Accelerated Reader AR, Middle Grades, 7.5, 6.0, quiz: 163696.

the true story of a heroic sea rescue

In the winter of 1952, New England was battered by the most brutal nor'easter in years. As the weather wreaked havoc on land, the freezing Atlantic became a wind-whipped zone of peril. In the early hours of Monday, February 18, while the storm raged, two oil tankers, the Pendleton and the Fort Mercer, found themselves in the same horrifying predicament. Built with "dirty steel," and not prepared to withstand such ferocious seas, both tankers split in two, leaving the dozens of men on board utterly at the Atlantic's mercy. The Finest Hours is the true story of the valiant attempt to rescue the souls huddling inside the broken halves of the two ships. Coast Guard cutters raced to the aid of those on the Fort Mercer, and when it became apparent that the halves of the Pendleton were in danger of capsizing, the Guard sent out two thirty-six-foot lifeboats as well. These wooden boats, manned by only four seamen, were dwarfed by the enormous seventy-foot seas. As the tiny rescue vessels set out from the coast of Cape Cod, the men aboard were all fully aware that they were embarking on what could easily become a suicide mission

pre adolescent