Fatal Forecast - by Michael J Tougias (Paperback)

About the Book

A true story of catastrophe and survival at sea. One November morning in 1980, two small lobster boats set out for Georges Bank, a bountiful but perilous fishing ground 130 miles off the Massachusetts coast. The forecast was for typical fall weather--but a colossal storm was brewing to the southeast, a maelstrom the National Weather Service did not accurately locate until the boats were already in its grip. Battered by sixty-foot waves and hurricane-force winds, the crews struggled heroically, but the storm soon crippled one boat and overturned the other, trapping its crew inside. One man managed to crawl inside a tiny inflatable life raft and spent more than fifty terrifying hours adrift on the stormy open sea. That day, brave men and women from the Coast Guard and the crew of a nearby fishing boat imperiled their own lives in order to save the lives of others.--From publisher description.

Book Synopsis

Now in paperback, a true story as spellbinding and harrowing as The Perfect Storm, "marvel- ous and terrifying" (Los Angeles Times)--published to herald the arrival of Tougias's new hardcover, The Finest Hours. On the morning of November 21, 1980, two small boats set out for Georges Bank, a lucrative but perilous lobster fishing ground off the coast of Cape Cod. The National Weather Service had forecast typical fall weather, and the young, rugged crewmen aboard the Sea Fever and the Fair Wind had no reason to expect that this trip would be any different from the dozens they'd made earlier in the season. But the only weather buoy in the area was malfunctioning, and the National Weather Service had failed to reveal this critical detail. And as the two small boats headed out to sea, a colossal storm was brewing to the southeast, a furious maelstrom that would batter the boats with sixty-foot waves and hurricane-force winds. A true story of catastrophe and survival at sea, this is a vivid moment-by-moment account of seventy-two hours in the lives of eight young fishermen. Most amazing is the story of Ernie Hazzard, who spent more than fifty terrifying hours adrift on the stormy open sea. Gripping and heart-pounding, Fatal Forecast is an unfor- gettable true story about the collision of two spectacular forces: the brutality of nature and the human will to survive.

Review Quotes

"A passionately recounted peril-at-sea adventure...described with excruciating intensity. A blustery seafarer's delight, rendered with gusto." -- Kirkus Reviews

About the Author

Michael J. Tougias is an award-winning author of a number of books, including Ten Hours Until Dawn: The True Story of Heroism and Tragedy Aboard the Can Do. He is a much sought after lecturer and gives more than seventy presentations a year.