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Ten Hours Until Dawn: The True Story of Heroism and Tragedy Aboard the Can Do
Ten Hours Until Dawn: The True Story of Heroism and Tragedy Aboard the Can Do
Ten Hours Until Dawn: The True Story of Heroism and Tragedy Aboard the Can Do
Ebook369 pages7 hours

Ten Hours Until Dawn: The True Story of Heroism and Tragedy Aboard the Can Do

By Michael J. Tougias

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About this ebook

In the midst of the Blizzard of 1978, the tanker Global Hope floundered on the shoals in Salem Sound off the Massachusetts coast. The Coast Guard heard the Mayday calls and immediately dispatched a patrol boat. Within an hour, the Coast Guard boat was in as much trouble as the tanker, having lost its radar, depth finder, and engine power in horrendous seas. Pilot boat Captain Frank Quirk was monitoring the Coast Guard's efforts by radio, and when he heard that the patrol boat was in jeopardy, he decided to act. Gathering his crew of four, he readied his forty-nine-foot steel boat, the Can Do, and entered the maelstrom of the blizzard.

Using dozens of interview and audiotapes that recorded every word exchanged between Quirk and the Coast Guard, Tougias has written a devastating, true account of bravery and death at sea, in Ten Hours Until Dawn.

LanguageEnglish
PublisherMacmillan Publishers
Release dateApr 1, 2007
ISBN9781429909617
Ten Hours Until Dawn: The True Story of Heroism and Tragedy Aboard the Can Do
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Author

Michael J. Tougias

Michael J. Tougias is a New York Times bestselling author and co-author of over thirty books for adults and middle readers. His books include Fatal Forecast, Extreme Survival, The Finest Hours, Overboard!, A Storm Too Soon, So Close to Home, The Waters Between Us, and The Power of Positive Fishing. He offers slide presentations and an inspiration program titled Survival Lessons: Decision Making Under Pressure. Visit www.michaeltougias.com

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  • 5/5
    Tougis was obviously influenced by Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger when he wrote Ten Hours Until Dawn. There have been many comparisons made of the two ocean-tragic books. In listening to the audio version of Ten Hours Until Dawn I appreciated the detail with which Tougis recounted the Can Do's final hours thanks to actual radio transmission transcripts. In addition Tougis included many stories of other rescues and tragedies to illustrate his point of just how dangerous the ocean could be. The arch enemy of a boat is wind and the blizzard of 1978 produced winds topping 100 miles an hour. Seas were well over 40 feet. Tougis paints a touching biography of Frank Quirk, the civilian pilot-boat captain who gathered four other men to brave the blizzard elements to assist in the rescue of two other boats in peril that day. My only "complaint" would be of myself. Because Tougis includes many different rescues to illustrate different points (the bravery of a certain man, an example of fierce weather, the sea worthiness of a boat) if I wasn't paying attention I would get confused as to which tragedy Tougis is recounting. He frequently bounces between the "current" action of the Can Do and other incidents that happen before and after 1978.