The Finest Hours: The True Story of a Heroic Sea Rescue by Michael J. Tougias (review)

As blizzard conditions enveloped Cape Cod on February 18, 1952, whiteout snow squalls and sixty-foot waves meant the Coast Guard was in for a nerve-wracking night. No sooner had the men from Chatham Station returned from securing fishing boats to their moorings than the alert was raised that not one but two oil tankers had both split in two offshore. In this adaptation of his adult work The Finest Hours: The True Story of the U.S. Coast Guard’s Most Daring Sea Rescue, Tougias recounts the rescue efforts—successes and tragedies—by Coast Guard lifeboat teams that braved the waters to give the crews of the Fort Mercer and the Pendleton a slim chance of survival. The author unquestionably knows how to spin a suspenseful yarn, following the perilous attempts by the Coast Guard to retrieve men clinging to four different ship sections, often without power or communication devices and tossed near drifting shoals, while upping the emotional ante with background on some of the lead rescuers. Although the text focuses mainly on the rescue itself, results of the official inquiry are included, as well as a robust selected bibliography and updates on the Pendleton rescuers who were awarded the Gold Lifesaving Medal. True adventure readers appreciate a dark and stormy night as much as any gothic fan; just add thick wool socks, a heavy sweater, and a mug of hot chocolate.