In 2012, I had the opportunity to drive across country in route to my new duty station, located in Portsmouth, NH. I had to make a stop on the way in New London, CT, and as it happened, I was also chasing the last remnants of Superstorm Sandy. I got to see firsthand some of the destruction that this storm put down on the east coast of the US, and it was awesome. So I was as dumbfounded as the rest of the country was, when during the storm I saw footage of a tall ship at sea in the storm. Needless to say, the ship did not fare well. As it turned out, this was the HMS Bounty, a replica tall ship that was used in TV and movies.

“Well, at least the malfunctions aren’t serious enough for us to abort, but there better not be anymore. Not tonight.”

Michael J. Tougias and Douglas Campbell have put together a great accounting of the story of the Bounty and the crew that sailed her on that fateful voyage. They do a marvelous job of drilling down into the crew and their lives, how they lived on the sea, and how the Bounty had her reckoning with the sea. They also explore the rescue and how the valiant and brave men and women of the Coastguard went out into a storm that no one had a right to be out in, and conducted an extraordinary rescue of the crew.

I highly recommend that anyone who enjoys a great story of overcoming the odds against nature and the sea reads Rescue of the Bounty: Disaster and Survival in Superstorm Sandy. The book is a thrilling read, and will definitely show you how when it goes bad, it goes bad fast.

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