Product Description
In The Day We Lost the H-Bomb, science writer Barbara Moran marshals a wealth of new information and recently declassified material to give the definitive account of the Cold War’s biggest nuclear weapons disaster. On January 17, 1966, a U.S. Air Force B-52 bomber exploded over the sleepy Spanish farming village of Palomares during a routine airborne refueling. The explosion killed seven airmen and scattered the bomber’s payload–four unarmed thermonuclear bombs–across miles of coastline. Three of the rogue H-bombs were recovered quickly. Tracking down the fourth required the largest search-and-salvage operation in U.S. military history.

Moran traces the roots of the Palomares incident, giving a brief yet in-depth history of the Strategic Air Command and its eccentric, larger-than-life commander, General Curtis LeMay, whose massive deterrence strategy kept armed U.S. bombers aloft at all times. Back on the ground, Moran recounts the myriad social and environmental effects of an accident that spread radioactive debris over hundreds of acres of Spanish farmland, alarmed America’s strategic allies, and damaged Spanish-American diplomatic relations.

As the American military floundered in its attempt to keep the story secret, the events in Spain sometimes took on farcical overtones. Constant global media hype was fueled by the hit James Bond movie Thunderball, with its plot about an atomic weapon lost at sea. In addition, there were the unwanted attentions of a rusty- hulled Soviet surveillance ship and even awkward public relations stunts, complete with American diplomats in swim trunks.

The Day We Lost the H-Bomb is a singular work of military history that effortlessly and dramatically captures Cold War hysteria, high-stakes negotiations, and the race to clean up a disaster of unprecedented scope. At once epic and intimate, this book recounts in stunning detail the fragile peace Americans had made with nuclear weapons–and how the specter of imminent doom forced the United States to consider not only what had happened over Palomares but what could have happened. This forgotten chapter of Cold War history will grip readers with the tension of that time and reawaken the fears and hopes of that dangerous era.


From the Hardcover edition.Amazon.com Review
Amazon Best of the Month, April 2009: In 1966, a mid-air collision off the coast of Spain between a fueling tanker and a B2 bomber resulted in a loss of life, strained international relations, and a PR nightmare for the US government. Not only had the crash put innocent civilians at risk from raining debris, but it also produced a much larger problem once the dust had cleared: four hydrogen bombs were now unaccounted for. The Day We Lost the H-Bomb explores an awakening to the realities of a nuclear age. Despite a handful of plutonium-grade foul-ups on our own soil, Americans were seemingly at ease with a burgeoning arsenal of nuclear weaponry. Cold War anxiety over the ever-reaching arm of Communism fueled massive increases in U.S. military spending, yet not enough attention was given to the dangers of an arms race until this fatal accident abroad.--Dave Callanan

Amazon Exclusive: An Essay by Barbara Moran

The Swim

Two years ago, on a chilly February morning, I found myself standing on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea.I was wearing a bathing suit, shivering in the cold and feeling like a complete idiot.

It was all Ellen’s fault.A few weeks earlier, before leaving for Spain to research The Day We Lost the H-Bomb, I had had lunch with Ellen Ruppel Shell, a former writing teacher.As we chatted about my upcoming trip, I told her the story of Angier Biddle Duke, the American Ambassador to Spain in 1966.After the United States accidentally dropped four hydrogen bombs near a Spanish village, Duke orchestrated a PR stunt, swimming in the chilly Med to prove that the water wasn’t radioactive.

I mentioned that I was planning to visit the beach where Angie swam.Ellen looked at me and said, “Well, of course you have to swim there, too.” I had to admit she was right.It’s always easier to write about something you’ve experienced firsthand.

Now, here I was on the beach.I had been anxious about the swim, searching for any excuse to get out of it.My translator had mentioned something about a jellyfish invasion of the Mediterranean, which gave me hope.But I had scoped out the beach the previous day and there wasn’t a jellyfish in sight.No people in sight, either.In my few days on the coast I had seen no one in the water and hardly anyone on the beach, just a few pasty Brits and backpackers sprawled on the sand.It was, after all, February.

The next morning I got up at dawn.My plan was to sneak down to the beach without anyone seeing me.The Spanish were used to gringos acting strangely, but a dip in the Med in the middle of winter was surely a bit too far.

The beach was deserted, but I noted with alarm that a tour bus was parked beside the road overlooking the ocean.Unlike Angie Duke, my goal was to attract as little attention as possible.I took off my shirt and shorts, and stood on the beach on my bathing suit, cursing Ellen for putting this idea in my head.Where were those jellyfish when I needed them? I wondered if the tour bus was filling with old folks who now had something interesting to look at.

I took my first step in.The water was clear and cold, the bottom soft and pebbled.I took a few more steps, my feet sinking into the sand.There was a steep drop and I was suddenly up to my waist.A quick count of one, two, three and I ducked underwater.I came back up, shook my hair and tasted the salty water on my face.My job was done.

My 30-second dip in the Med, after all my anxiety, was anticlimactic.Angie’s swim was completely the opposite.--Barbara Moran

(Photo © John G. Nikolai)

... Read more

Customer Reviews (19)

Cinematic telling of fascinating nuclear event


Armed with only a fuzzy, high school history class recollection of the H-bomb accident over Palomares, Barbara Moran crystallized the story for me in a fast-paced, compelling and stunningly detailed narrative. The interplay of personalities with the politics of the time makes the story almost movie-like, and it was impossible for me to put down. I walked away not only with a solid understanding of cold war politics and the nascent nuclear age, but a sense of the very strange times it was on the ground when The U.S.'s sophisticated defense system of the sky collided with the simple lives of the fishermen and farmers in remote Palomares.

A Must Read for Cold War Historians, EOD Techs, Salvors
During much of the Cold War, the United States Strategic Air Command (SAC) constantly maintained nuclear laden bombers near Soviet airspace as a form of deterrence. On January 17, 1966, one of SAC's B-52s rendezvoused with a KC-135 tanker over Palomares, Spain to conduct a final mid-air refueling before returning home. An accident occurred during the refueling and both aircraft collided. In the debris that rained down on the Mediterranean coast were chunks of burning aircraft, chuffing jet fuel, parachuting aircrew, and four nuclear bombs.

Barbara Moran describes this accident vividly in "The Day We Lost the H-Bomb." She then delves into the exhaustive efforts recover the weapons and rid the town of any deadly radiation. Fortunately, the first three bombs were discovered in Palomares within days. Based on the accounts of Spanish fishermen who witnesses the accident, it was determined that the fourth bomb plunged into the Med, miles offshore.

Much of Moran's book follows the efforts of Navy Divers, Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Technicians, and mini-subs like Alvin and Aluminaut, to find and recover the fourth bomb. Her account includes intimate details of many of the key players that she obtained through exhaustive research and interviews. Navy veterans especially will be able to identify with men like Admiral Guest, the Task Force Commander; Commander Red Moody, the EOD Officer in Charge; and Mac McCamis, the irascible Alvin pilot.
Moran's writing flows very comfortably, drawing the reader into the story and then keeping them engaged with both politics and recovery operations. This books is a must read for those interested in Cold War history, diving, salvage, EOD, and mini-sub operations.

Great History Lesson
At just over 200 pages, this is a quick book to read, gives a lot of background on the cold war, US-Spanish relations, and the account of how a US B-52 crashed, loosing four H-bombs in 1966. We did find them all...eventually. We can be amused now since we won the Cold War and it was a long time ago, but back then, it was serious stuff. Finding anything at 2,500 feet under water before GPS and our advances in submersibles was a challenge. Careers, lives, US security, foreign relations were all at stake.

The book covers the tragedy of a mid air collision of a B-52 during in flight refueling over Spain , loss of life US aircrew, and miraculous facts that no one on the ground was hurt. 3 H-bombs fell on the ground, one in the ocean. There continues to be some radiation, how harmful is open for the reader to decide. We were able find the sunken bomb just as the Navy was about to quit the search.

There are enough maps and photos to help the reader. The author doesn't have to try to be funny - what the main characters said and did do that for her - one Air Force official was quoted as saying "we did not loose a H-bomb, we just don't know where it is right now". The sometimes strained relationships between those charged with finding the bomb are captured in detail providing the human element that makes this a very good book.

Recommended reading for those interested in the Cold War, the US Air Force, the 1960's and a very compelling story of what could have been a true disaster of huge proportions.

Interesting read but what about the facts!?
An interesting story and an entertaining read but who else has noticed that the author has a somewhat casual way of dealing with known (or so you'd think) facts? Take chapter 1 alone: first Mrs. Moran says that each of the 1.45 MT hydrogen bombs in Captain Wendorf's B-52 has 70 times the destructive power of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima (not quite correct seeing that the explosive energy of the Hiroshima bomb is generally accepted as 15 KT, at the most 18 KT, which doesn't quite add up), then she seems to confuse which bomb was dropped on which city, quote "dropped Fat Man and Little Boy on Hiroshima and Nagasaki" (Fat Man was dropped on Nagasaki, not Hiroshima, which would explain why her 70 times the power of the Hiroshima bomb doesn't add up: Fat Man was a 21 KT device, times 70 is almost exactly 1.45 MT).

A few pages later she drops the bomb on Hiroshima on the 7th of August (it was the 6th), then the second bomb on Nagasaki 9 days later (it was 3 days later) with Japan surrendering in the evening of the same day (Japan surrendered on the 15th of August, 6 days after Nagasaki). Where did a science writer like Mrs. Moran get this "history" from?

Such seemingly "small" errors always make me wonder what else in the book is incorrect in areas I don't happen to know much or anything about (which is why I'm reading a nonfiction book to begin with!).

I'm not in the book business, but in the course of the editing process don't publishers employ someone like a fact checker to make sure that the authors get at least their dates and numbers right!? If they don't, they should!

Anyway, it is an informative and entertaining read with lots of information you don't read in the papers about, so if you're interested in the Cold War, the Air Force or the nuclear defense program, by all means read it, just don't quote it in a million dollar game show!

(This review relates to the Kindle edition.)

How we lost and recovered the A-Bomb in Spain
A nice interesting read about a nuclear accident in the 1960s.SAC bombers flying at the Soviet Union crash with a tanker, and four bombs are lost over Spain.Three are quickly found.The last one has gone in the drink and is in deep water.Most of the book details the search for the last bomb.Both from a technical and scienctific standpoint, this is well documented and researched.

I thought this a very interesting topic and book.The author makes it very readable, and this was a quick fast read.She has not only made this interesting on the scienitific side, but also a page turner.


... Read more

Product Description
This is nonfiction commentary.Chapters: Hindenburg Disaster Newsreel Footage, Independence Day, King Kong, Airplane!, Threads, Airport, in Old Chicago, San Francisco, the Towering Inferno, the China Syndrome, Cloverfield, Sunshine, Seconds From Disaster, 2012, the High and the Mighty, Earthquake, the Poseidon Adventure, the War of the Worlds, the Day After Tomorrow, List of Disaster Films, Knowing, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, Disaster Film, the Hindenburg, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, the Concorde ... Airport '79, on the Beach, Alive, Godzilla, King of the Monsters!, Category 6: Day of Destruction, Speed 2: Cruise Control, Air Force One, Airport 1975, a Night to Remember, Aftershock: Earthquake in New York, Mayday, Titanic, Category 7: the End of the World, the Flight of the Phoenix, Hard Rain, the Perfect Storm, the Crazies, the Core, Mega Shark Versus Giant Octopus, Flightplan, Quarantine, Outbreak, Magma: Volcanic Disaster, H.g. Wells' the War of the Worlds, Without Warning, Flight of the Phoenix, Island in the Sky, End of the World, 10.5, Beyond the Poseidon Adventure, Haeundae, Damnation Alley, the Andromeda Strain, Miracle Mile, Dante's Peak, Starflight: the Plane That Couldn't Land, St. Helens, Airport '77, List of Eco-Horror Films, When Worlds Collide, by Dawn's Early Light, Colossus: the Forbin Project, 1906, Stranded: Náufragos, the Cassandra Crossing, Volcano, the Crazies, Testament, Meteor, the Omega Man, Panic in Year Zero!, Rollercoaster, Orca, Five Came Back, Black Sunday, Supervolcano, the Last Voyage, the Storm, Post Impact, Nihon Chinbotsu, the Great Los Angeles Earthquake, Nihon Chinbotsu, the Quiet Earth, Skyjacked, the Day the Earth Caught Fire, Sst: Death Flight, Solar Attack, Airplane Ii: the Sequel, Atomic Train, Flood, Asteroid, No Highway in the Sky, Atomic Twister, Juggernaut, Goliath Awaits, City on Fire, the Poseidon Adventure, Last Night, the World, the Flesh and the Devil, Passengers, When Time Ran Out, the Rains Came... ... Read more

Product Description
"Vivid, wise, and heartfelt. The crowning achievement of one of America's foremost sailing writers." --Nathaniel Philbrick, National Book Award-winning author of In the Heart of the Sea

"As captivating as it is unusual. Rousmaniere's descriptions of hurricanes and shipwrecks are among the best in the literature of the sea, but his book is far more than a sea story." --Philip Caputo, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of A Rumor of War and The Voyage

After the Storm is John Rousmaniere's most ambitious work ever, the unique expression of a master storyteller. Each of the book's stories of seafaring disaster--many little known, all of deep human interest--tells of the hopes and choices that put these sailors in harm's way and shows us the immense and unopposable power of the sea. After the Storm combines all the harrowing twists of the best adventure writing with a search for meaning on multiple levels. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Historical background and sea stories
John Rousmaniere relates the historical facts that surrounded each disaster and arranges the stories in historical sequence. This background information adds depth to the stories of sailing disasters by relating them to one another. We learn how sailing and attitudes toward sailing influenced the events of each disaster and we get a better understanding of the sailors involved.

Spellbinding analysis
The author goes beyond the simple description of a sea disaster and approaches the subject much as an NTSB accident investigator would look at the reason behind the accident.

Sea storms and the ripples they make.
This is a book full of informative, detailed and engaging stories about disasters and storms at sea.Rousmaniere wrote this book some years after he experienced and wrote about, the tragic 1979 Fastnet yacht race disaster (Fastnet, Force 10).He dissects each from the perspective of a yacht racer, seafarer, philosopher and theologian.He details the causes and factors leading up to the events and the aftereffects in communities and the world.In so doing, he lets out his own heart and soul.If you are interested in just the stories, you'll have to skip portions of the text.If you want to know "the rest of the story", then this book is for you.It is a book that I take off the shelf and revisit when the figurative storms of my life need to be put back into perspective.

Too Academic
I enjoy reading sea stories such as "Working on the Edge", but it was a real chore to get through the maze of details which seemed to be included just to make the book 'thick' and did nothing to really add to the 'story'.Pass on this one and spend your money on something written as less of a text book.

The Literary Side of Nautical Disaster
Be forewarned if you purchase "After the Storm" expecting it to be another in the recent spate of books recounting tales of nautical disasters. It does focus on ten seperate instances of seaborne mayhem dating from the 1820s to the 1990s. But instead of including straightforward narrative accounts, author John Rousmaniere is more concerned with the literary and spiritual aspects of such events. The common thread that runs through these tales is that for the most part they all either affected or were commented upon by notable literary personalites, from Mary Shelley to Robert Louis Stevenson to Joseph Conrad and others. So much so that the accounts of the disasters themselves take a back seat to describing their social, psychological, religious and even political effects.

All in all there is nothing necessarily wrong with Rousmaniere's approach, except that its appeal will be limited to the interest that the reader has in the exteraneous subject matter. Unfortunately, the book's subtitle, "True Stories of Disaster and Recovery at Sea," leads one to believe that it is a collection of adventure tales, which is really not the case.

Overall, I would recommend that potential readers closely scrutinize the summaries of this book's subject matter to determine if it will appeal to them. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

You Built a WHAT?
This is an extremely good book when it comes to some of the world's BEST failures, and not all for the reasons one would think.
Jim Winchester has compiled an extensive group of aeronautic flops, from the early days of aviation, right up to modern times.
Complete with specifications, the aircraft are arranged alphabetically by categories:
BEHIND THE TIMES
BOGUS CONCEPTS
POWER PROBLEMS
CONSTRUCTION DISASTERS
UNINTENTIONALLY UNSTABLE
You will find a plethora of information including photos, color plates, and a good thumbnail "history" of these infamous minions of the air.
And yes, even Howard Hughes has a few entries...(who knew?)
I remember (as a youngster) even BUILDING plastic models of some of these.
So, I guess it goes to show that even the infamous receive their notoriety.
You'd be hard pressed to even FIND such models today.
And if you're very careful, and read closely, you will find the VAST amounts of MONEY that was spent on projects that were mostly all rejected, or at least allowed construction with a very limited production run.

If you're ANY kind of aircraft enthusiast, you WILL find this a very good read, and you might even crack a few smiles as you wind your way through this book.

Happy Landings.
(but not with many of these planes)

B.G.

A Good Guide to Bad Aircraft
Funny thing is I own two books with the same title, "The World's Worst Aircraft."I honestly cannot say which of the two, this one by Jim Winchester and the other, by Bill Yenne, is the better.Both are written by authors I respect; I own other volumes by both gentlemen.Both books are good reads, injecting a bit of humor into the subject matter, as with some of these aerial oddballs one can only laugh.Winchester's book covers a greater number of aircraft from a greater number of countries; Yenne's book, on the other hand, covers his Hall of Shame aviation duds with greater depth.If you really like airplanes and have an interest in aviation history, do what I did - purchase both books.

In this volume, Winchester divides his aeronautical oddities into the following categories: Behind the Times, designs that were worthwhile but came too early or too late to enjoy commercial success; Bogus Concepts, designs that belie the question "What were they thinking?"; Power Problems, aircraft that may have had a chance were it not for their problematic powerplants; Construction Disasters, concepts whose problems lay in the material or manner of construction; and Unintentionally Unstable, aircraft that had the handling of a sport utility vehicle with a flat tire.Here you will encounter flying tanks, bedsteads, and jeeps; planes with barely enough room for the pilot and craft with wingspans larger than that of a Boeing 747; planes with one engine, ten engines, and more; planes with two wings and no fuselage, four wings, flapping wings (not one but two!), and 20 wings; one design that would have been cheaper to build using solid gold and one made of inflatable rubber.

Many readers with knowledge of aircraft are sure to have their ideas as to other aircraft that should have been included in this book. My nominations are these: the various US designs for roadable aircraft, including one that featured the worst of both words, that is, a Ford Pinto mated to the aft fuselage of a Cessna Skymaster; the Shanghai Y-10, a Chinese version of the Boeing 707 or 720 that first flew more than a quarter century after Dash 80 first took to the air; and the Antonov An-10 Ukraine (not to be confused with the Antonov An-8 and An-12, both of which were very fine aircraft), which has the dishonorable distinction of having lost about half the total production run to its poor handling, often with lethal consequences.

For the price, this is a fun and enjoyable book.

Good Introduction to Aerial Edsels!
The history of aviation is littered with dozens of aircraft that were badly designed, poorly manufactured or created to meet outdated or unrealistic mission requirements. Jim Winchester's book takes a sweeping look at these aerial disasters in this nicely illustrated, inexpensively priced volume.

In paging through the 300-odd pages of this book, it's obvious that every nation has had its share of aerial duds, witness the Italian Caproni 'Noviplano,' the French 'Jabiru,' the English Pemberton-Billing 'Nighthawk,' the German Fokker V8 or the American Curtiss XP-62. It's incredible viewing page after page of dead-end designs that make one wonder 'did they really pay someone to design that thing?!'

To be honest, some of the aircraft in this book do not deserve the "worst of" designation. In some cases, they arrived too late on the aviation scene to be successful, were successful designs brought down by powerplant problems or were built as one-off research designs, etc.

Nevertheless, it's great fun to peruse this book and marvel at the incredibly bad designs churned out over the years. Each aircraft is illustrated by two photographs or profiles, many of which are in color.

In short, it's not only an incredibly great buy ($5.99) but a marvelous introduction to 'dead-end' aircraft. ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is an article from Science News, published by Science Service, Inc. on March 27, 2010. The length of the article is 721 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: 'Women and children first' holds only if a ship is sinking slowly: comparison of disasters suggests chivalry takes time.(Humans)
Author: Laura Sanders
Publication: Science News (Magazine/Journal)
Date: March 27, 2010
Publisher: Science Service, Inc.
Volume: 177Issue: 7Page: 11(1)

Distributed by Gale, a part of Cengage Learning ... Read more

Product Description
Spike Walker has spent more than a decade fishing in the subzero hell of Alaska's coastal waters.This collection--coming on the heels of his classic memoir Working on the Edge--is a testament to the courage of those who brave nature's wrath each fishing season, and to the uncontrolled power of nature herself..The crewmen in Nights of Ice face a constant onslaught of roaring waves, stories-high swells, and life-stealing ice.Tested by the elements, these seamen battle for their vessels and their lives, on every page evincing a level of courage and a will to live seldom found elsewhere in modern society.Amazon.com Review
Frantic and entertaining in a guilty sort of way, Nights ofIce is like Endurance onsteroids. The book presents eight true stories of disaster andsurvival involving commercial fisherman off the coast of Alaska (saidto be one of America's most dangerous occupations). Included are talesof subzero temperatures, 100 mph winds, 60-foot-high waves, boatsencased in ice and capsized, men trapped underwater, and otherhorrors. Author Spike Walker, who interviewed many of the survivors incompiling this book, is no stranger to such tales of the high seas; heworked as a commercial fisherman off the Alaska coast and wrote aboutit in Working on theEdge.

Nights of Ice begins promisingly enough butunfortunately gives way to a sensationalism that cheapens the wholeaffair: "At that moment, Bruce Hinman's past life flashed before hisvery eyes. Launched instantaneously through time, he watched theevents of his life play out before him...they flashed and froze therein his consciousness, in a kind of nostalgic collage of all that hadonce mattered in his life." As a result, there are a lot ofunintentionally funny moments. Despite its problems, though, Nightsof Ice is fun to read, and lovers of true-adventure stories orthose interested in the dangers of the Alaskan fishing industry shouldenjoy it. --Andy Boynton ... Read more

Customer Reviews (15)

Another great adventure book from Spike
My husband read this book and could hardly put it down. We both became hooked on stories of adventures of fishing Alask's seas from watching Discoveries "Deadliest Catch." This book tells the incrediable stories of the men who do this for a living. It's great to live these stories through these books as it is something that us everyday people only think about doing. I plan on a cold winter night to cuddle up and read this also.

Chilling Stories
Wow.An edge of your seat book that demands you finish each chapter so you can find out the results--live or die in the Bering Sea.Gave me nightmares at night.Lots of insight into the mistakes that cost peoples lives--some of their own--and some of Mother Nature's doing.Makes you think twice before you decide to the hit the water--wherever you may go.

Amazing survival stories
Excellent book. Spike Walker is a good story teller. His other book "Coming Back Alive is excellent as well.

Deadliest Catch
A MUST READ for anyone interested in surviaval, Adventure, Commercial Fishing or just a great read! If you like the show Deadliest Catch you will love this book!

Must Read for fans of "The Most Dangerous Catch"
Better than anything that could be shown on TV - you feel each and every up and down of the ship as Spike Walker spins the yarn of the life of each and every Berring Sea fisherman... must purchase "Working the Edge" also by him FIRST before reading this book. Like to see it available in a normal paperback format also for easier reading. ... Read more

Product Description

"I told myself, 'Don't panic! You can get out!' . . . I believed that my positive thinking helped me to survive. I did not panic. I did not want to die, and I intended to do everything necessary to prevent it. I decided that if I was going to die, then it was God's will."

Customer Reviews (7)

Plane honest truth
Displays human characteristics under stress, the positives and the negatives. Provides only "snap shots" of what happened in various disasters.Not a bad book although I wouldn't recommend it as a present . . .

Real Words Real Drama
I am a sucker for these type of books.For some reason I can not get enough of them.There is so much drama and excitement, almost regardless of how the author writes just because of the situation that is being described.For these reasons I thought this book was going to be a can't miss hit in my household.It got close.The author took a number of recent airline crashes and detailed out the NTSB interviews with the crash survivors.It makes for some gripping reading, if nothing more then you can picture yourself in the same situation because the descriptions these people give are just what the average person would say.

The author starts each section out with a brief description of the incident that gives the reader a little too few details.I understand that the author was having the book focus on the words of the survivors, but I would have liked more then one paragraph of the crash details.Most times the author did not even tell the reader the cause of the crash.He did, however, always include the death toll of each event.What was interesting was the range of accidents, some were the much covered accidents where multiples of people died and some were little know events.I liked reading more about the smaller events that have lower casualties, but just as much drama.I also appreciated the authors editing of the comments keeping them flowing in a chronological order.

Overall the book was good.It was full of excitement if for no other reason then due to the events that were being covered.I did want more crash details if for no other reason to understand the crash its self a little better.This might just be me being too picky, but I enjoy understanding why the crash took place, not just the outcome.If you enjoy books that cover this topic then I would suggest you pick up a copy of this book.

Must read for the interested layperson
This book presents a deviation from the typical aircraft investigation set, with its dramatic telling from the point of view, through witness statements, of individuals involved in accidents.Hearing their sometimes stark retelling, as well as information from dead-heading crew who *know* what those sounds really are, presents an unusual and compelling read.Macpherson does not dominate the text with commentary and instead lets those with first-hand knowledge tell the story.Very well done and very readable, and will stick with you.

Detailed Information-not for all readers
I bought On a Wing and a Prayer because I really felt like reading about airline disasters. I bought it on a whim, partly because the cover looked interesting and partly because I am interested in aviation. I found the book interesting, but it was alittle too detailed for my liking.

On a Wing and a Prayer not only includes cockpit voice transcripts and alerts, but passenger analysis. In other words, you don't just get the story about the accident, but all the in-depth coverage as well.

Overall, I really didn't like the book because it was too detailed. I would not recommend this book to anyone that just wants to read about disasters. However, if you really like books that break down things step by step, On a Wing and a Prayer is the book for you.

Excellent Reading for Anyone who travels regularly
Mr. Macpherson is to be commended for putting together such an excellent book. I read it all in one day and I just couldn't put it down. Once you read through these stories you realize how very courageous people can be. I was most touched by the gentleman named "Gary" who was a passenger on Northwest Flight 1469. I felt so for this horribly burnt man and have not been able to get him out of my mind. My sincerest hope is that recovered from the accident. I also had my eyes opened in reading the words from the Flight Attendants and Cabin Crew - In an emergency we are all simply human beings and we all have the same fears and worries about an aircraft accident. Each and every accident story leaves the reader with a profound understanding of what it is like to live through an aircraft accident. I will be changed forever and will never board an aircraft again without paying very close attention to the safety briefing. ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is an article from Techniques, published by Association for Career and Technical Education on September 1, 2002. The length of the article is 1364 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Preparing for an aircraft disaster: at a community and technical college in Minnesota, a specialized training program is preparing rescue workers to face one of the most terrifying kinds of accidents.
Publication: Techniques (Magazine/Journal)
Date: September 1, 2002
Publisher: Association for Career and Technical Education
Volume: 77Issue: 6Page: 25(3)

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Great sourcebook, no narrative
Henrietta Drake-Brockman, an Australian novelist who died almost 40 years ago, wrote this book in the late 50s and early 60s - before the Batavia's wreck site was discovered, and the bodies of the men and women who became the victims of a subsequent bloody mutiny were exhumed. It was also a time before email, cheap intercontinental phone calls, and every day air travel. In such circumstances, the fact that the author was able to correctly identify where the East Indiaman was wrecked, and arrange, via letter, for so much detailed research to be conducted in the Netherlands, India and Indonesia can only arouse great admiration. Voyage to Disaster presents the fruits of that research: the first complete English language translation of Francisco Pelsaert's journals (the orginals are in the main Dutch staste archive at The Hague), with supporting material from repositories in Amsterdam and Leiden.

The book divides into two parts. The first consists of a series of thematic chapters covering what could be discovered of the ship, its voyage, and the principal men and women on board. The second comprises a complete translation of the journals, with several supporting appendices. What is missing is any real connecting story - surprisingly, given Drake-Brockman's career as an author, the book has no real narrative and fails, really, to convey the unprecedented drama of the Batavia's wreck and the appalling events that followed it. Drake-Brockman failed, in addition, to uncover any new information concerning Jeronimus Cornelisz, the principal villain of the piece,and he consequently appears as something of a subsidiary character in what should really be his own story.

Voyage to Disaster, then, is an invaluable source book and an important work for anyone interested in the development of the Batavia's story. It is not a narrative history, nor an easy book to read. Recommended for serious students of the subject rather than casual browsers.

The Perils of Treasure
The amazing journey of the ill-fated Dutch VOC ship, Batavia, in 1629, is painstakingly researched and realized in this fine historical epic. History, like this, is unimaginable in the modern sense, though it isevident today in ethnic purging and ruined cultures. The tale of FranciscoPelsaert's incredible survival through adversity where mutiny and massacrewould be the rule of the day is high drama. Ms Brockman became the leadinginvestigator in solving the whereabouts of this lost and infamous shipwreckoff the coast of West Australia.Her information is gleaned primarily fromeyewitness accounts and the diary of Pelsaert to conclude a fascinatingchapter seafaring history. Truly, there is no story quite like it anywhere. ... Read more

Product Description
On February 18, 1952, off the cost of Cape Cod, a fierce nor'easter snapped in half two 503-foot oil tankers, the Pendleton and the Fort Mercer. Human grace and grit, leadership and endurance prevail as Theresa Mitchell Barbo and Captain W. Russell Webster (Ret.) recount the historic, heroic rescue of thirty-two merchant mariners from the sinking Pendleton by four young Coast Guardsmen aboard the 36-foot motor lifeboat CG36500.

A foreword by former Commandant Admiral Thad Allen (Ret.) and an essay by Master Chief John Jack Downey (Ret.), a veteran of thousands of modern-day small boat rescues, round out the special third edition of this classic work on Coast Guard history. ... Read more

Product Description
On a warm spring morning in May 1986, twelve crew members were crossing the Atlantic on perhaps the most historically accurate sailboat of its day, the Pride of Baltimore. The wind was brisk, the mood was relaxed: they were on the journey home. Within hours, a sudden, fierce storm would overwhelm the ship, leaving four sailors dead and eight locked in a terrifying battle against the sea. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

Disaster of the Sea
The sinking of the Pride of Baltimore has always been a distinctive mark in my memory.My husband and I were only a blip on the sea when this sad incident happened, but I recall the news with a jolt.We were anchored at Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, when a very unusual storm surge rolled in from the wrong direction.It was a small part of the same storm that took the Pride some 250 miles north.This book is the well-told story of each of the crew's background and how they came together to sail on this coveted journey.I appreciated the book's true facts up to and surrounding this event, instead of merely speculating about what really happened.A great book with unfortunate circumstances, but with the construction of the Pride of Baltimore II to carry on the tradition, it is a salute to all who were affected.

5 star read
This book had a big meening for me because I knew the crew of the Pride very well.I was on the tall ship Te Vega with Jennifer who was my watch officer. Our crew spent alot of time getting to know the Pride crew.It hit our crew very hard when we heard the Bad news.This book is a must read.

Victims of Nostalgia
The Baltimore clipper schooners, famous for their speed, pestered the British in the War of 1812.They were slender and fast, low in the water but with two extremely tall, swept-back masts.The city fathers of Baltimore in the 1970s figured the city needed something to be proud of.It had lost its football team, crime was up, and the docks were in decay.To boost civic pride, a replica Baltimore clipper was proposed, and eagerly funded, built, staffed and sailed._The Pride of Baltimore_ was a gorgeous ship, looking smart in any display of the beloved Tall Ships.In fact, it was first proposed to be a dockside museum, but it eventually became a seagoing craft, spreading the good name of Baltimore (and business interest in it) to Europe.The plan to resurrect the Baltimore clipper was a resounding success.Unfortunately, lots of the clippers had sunk two centuries ago, largely due to their top-heaviness, and _The Pride_ did so, too, in 1986, in an unexpected storm as she was returning to Baltimore from the Virgin Islands.Four of the crew of twelve perished.In _Pride of the Sea: Courage, Disaster, and a Fight for Survival_ (Citadel Press) Tom Waldron has given the story of the ship and the disaster, a story which ought to please true-life adventure fans.He also comes to some sensible conclusions about how the accident happened, beyond the simple explanation "freak storm."

When the proposal for a new Baltimore clipper was made, one of the first naval architects to consider the job wrote, "... an exact replica of an old sailing vessel is unlikely to meet Coast Guard requirements."Indeed, the civic boosters and the architect who got the job made a conscious decision not to have _The Pride_ certified by the Coast Guard.It was risky to sail on her, but it was authentic, and it appealed to those who loved ships with sails.There was a crew of both old salts and rookies, none of whom were over thirty.Six of them were newcomers to the boat.A violent, unexpected squall of sixty knots simply pushed over _The Pride_; there had been a risky maneuver to bring the ship under better control, but the risk had not paid off.The ship rapidly took on water, and with no compartmentalization, sank quickly.The rafts failed to work properly; only one could be inflated, so that the eight survivors had to make do on a raft that would have been crowded with its recommended crew of six.Waldron expertly describes the chaos of the sinking and the hellish five days on the raft afterwards.Time after time, ships passing near enough to see them did not see them, until a Norwegian supertanker picked them up.The only lightness in the raft comes from a couple who had fallen in love on the boat.The young woman said matter-of-factly, "I don't want to go through life without being proposed to."Her boyfriend, taken aback, issued one of the strangest proposals ever: "Sure, Leslie, if we survive, we'll get married."And so they did, after funerals and investigations and recriminations, all recounted here.

_The Pride_ and its four lost crewmen were sacrificed to nostalgia, a dream of the romantic days of sail without recalling the nightmares the sea can bring.Nothing symbolizes this as much as the hand-held radio beacons that would have sent signals to satellites when the ship was in danger.Both beacon devices were available to anyone who could grab one, but they were inaccessible, mounted on the inside of the doomed vessel.The reason?They were too modern to be kept out on deck and detracted from the vessel's historic aspect.Waldron's terrific account of the loss of _The Pride_ recounts many such lapses._Pride of Baltimore II_ has been built, and to modern standards this time.But as a survivor reminds us, the most modern of boats are going down, too: "When you go out to sea, it's a big place out there and the sea has all the power."

Sad Memory, Wonderful Tribute
Having lived in Maryland until just a couple of years ago, I clearly remember the Pride and when she sank. I was at Martin's Airport with a friend the day the survivors returned, and it was a moving experience. I cried seeing these people, whom I had never met, yet knowing what they'd been through and seeing the sadness on their faces. It's one of those moments in time that you know you'll always remember, but life goes on and it fades into the background. But seeing this book at our local book store brought it all back to me in vivid color. I shared the experience with my husband, told him about this beautiful beloved ship that we were all so proud of and the pain every Marylander felt when we heard the news that she was lost, and that some of its crew were lost with her. This book is a moving, loving tribute to our beloved Pride and her crew and I would recommend it to anyone who appreciates the sea.

A great read
Having grown up on the Atlantic Ocean, this story was captivating to me.It is almost unbelieveable how dangerous the ocean can become in a matter of minutes; the author, Tom Waldron, did a great job of describing the fury of the ocean at it's most violent.

Waldron put the story together in a logical, readable format.He included a lot of interesting information about how the ship was built, the history of sailing ships, especially clipper ships, and even included numerous pictures, so one is able to attach faces with names in the narrative.

Interesting to me was the description of the life on board the Pride -- lack of space below, lack of showers, etc.A very primitive existance.The vivid descriptions of the storms were captivating -- made the book hard to put down.

Finally, the section about the aftermath was most compelling.Waldron described in detail the suffering and emotional roller coaster the survivors went through until their rescue.I recommend this book highly. ... Read more

Product Description
This Elibron Classics book is a facsimile reprint of a 1841 edition by Tilt and Bogue, London. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (6)

Good book, Kindle version sucks
Although the book is good, my comments are addressed to Kindle version for iPad. Full of mistakes where "1" or "T" is equal to "I"; space between words vanish quite often; no margin justification; no way to see 2 pages on landscape format (so you can't see a full map; etc. It looks like amateur edition with no respect for the reader/buyer. No wish to try other Kindle books.

Perserverance
I have been a sailor for many years as well as one with a disability somewhat similar to Nick's.
He showed what we all hope we will show when the shite comes down.

Make a special note of Nick's description of the crew's seamanship. It could not be better. Sail take downs and securing of sails. That took guts and strength as well as teamwork.

Kudos to Nick and a very fine fellow.

Best regards,

James Good

incredible story, beautifully told, riveting
Could not put it down. Stayed up way too late. Unparalleled story - I've read a lot of the sailing disaster stories, and none is as coherent, compelling, or raw as this one. Many lessons for sailors in here, but fascinating reading for non-sailors.

A fascinating book about a sailor's worst nightmare
It took me less than a day to read this book from the first to the last page. Once you start it, you won't want to put it down before the very last word. Nick Ward isn't the greatest writer, but his story is well told and perhaps the lack of perfection underlines the authenticity. First you learn how a few minor errors or too much trust in others can make you sail straight into a hurricane. This adventure happened to Nick Ward only a few dozen miles off England's coast. And then you learn a lot about fellow sailor's behavior under high stress. And how both together may lead, as in Ward's case, to the sailor's worst nightmare : to be abandoned unconscious and left for death on a leaking, uncontrollable, drifting ship, in the middle of a hurricane. The behavior of his fellow crew members is incomprehensible, to Ward and also for the readers. Obviously, Ward wrote the book to understand what happened, how fellow sailor's can be so shabbily selfish and inhuman. He certainly wanted to provoke reactions, and perhaps also settle an account. Happily he was rescued to tell his story. It teaches us a lot about the sea and about us, humans and sailors.

Inspirational
Quite Quickly, you are riding the storm with Nick Ward. The book is so well written, that you can visualise the scenes, feel the torment & genuinely feel for the guy. The situation these people found themselves in, you wouldn't wish on your own worst enemy. I loved this book. You can take inspiration from this book not only by how Nick Ward dealt with what was in front of him, when the storm started to really take hold, but also with how he dealt with finding out the true events that found both himself, & his comrade, alone & at the mercy of the sea. If anything, your respect for the sea will greatly increase. I thoroughly recommend this very inspirational book. ... Read more

Product Description
In June of 1994 a dangerous "bomb" storm caught dozens of cruising sailors by surprise as they voyaged north from New Zealand. This is the true story of how nine yachts struggled to survive the hurricane-like conditions. Boats were battered by fierce winds and capsized by seas towering well over 50 feet high. Equipment was ripped loose and water penetrated every weak point. Masts collapsed, rudders broke, and sailors lost steering control when they needed it most. The crews coped as best as they could with injury, fear, exhaustion, and illness. Their electronic calls for help were picked up by satellites and radio operators, who initiated a massive air and sea search. Royal New Zealand air and navy crews battled their way through the storm to rescue those in peril. Commercial ships were diverted from their own survival routines to find these tiny boats in the vast Pacific. Most were saved--some disappeared under the tumbling seas. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (16)

Great book for cruisers
I'm a powerboat cruiser.This was a great book for both both cruisers and sailors.The book will keep your attention and you will not want to put it down.The book confirmed the reason I prefer cruising vs sailing.A cruiser may have been able to out run the storm.

Exciting Read
This is an exciting read.I found myself like other reviewers unablel to put the book down.It is an easy book to read.After reading the book I ordered Fastnet Force 10 and At The Mercy Of The Sea that are human dramas on the ocean.If you liked Rescue In The Pacific you should enjoy both of the above mentioned books.

Timely
Haven't actually read the book yet but it came in a timely fashion. No complaints.

surprisingly good
This book is surprisingly good considering the book tells the story of many boats through the accounts of dozens of people.I am not a sailing person, I have never even been on a sailboat, but this is still a great book full of suspense, horror, and heroism.As the reader you feel drawn into the story, with vivid descriptions of the incredible storm, the sea, and the constant struggle for survival.

Gripping Tale!
I've read numerous sailing adventure books, but this one is a true page turner!You learn about all of the differnt sailors on board each boat that gets swallowed up in a Force 12 storm.You begin to bond with these people and feel their anxiety and fears right along with them.One thing that stands apart in this book, verses others that I've read: is the author takes time to pay tribute to the heroics of the rescuers who are sent out to sea, to risk their own lives to save the lives of others. If you want fast paced, gripping suspense and adventure; then you'll certainly want to read this book! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (17)

Anyone can write a book...
Don't waste your money or time. I read everything in print, OCD that way. This belongs in the trash. As a disaster survivor, it would be about as helpful as using chopsticks to repair a car engine. It contains so many incorrect information that it's dangerous. Oh well...anyone can write a book. Helpful suggestions would have been nice: buy in bulk, get a vacuum sealer, stock up on water, purification tablets or a filter, multi-vitamins and antibiotics, have a first aid kit, batteries, a solar/crank radio w/shortwave, etc.

Great book. Full of valuable information.
This is a very well written book. I got it from the library and I had to buy it for my own personal library. By no means does it have all the information, but it has a great list of about 30+ books to also buy.None of which are written by this author. This is the first survival book I have ever read. It was so good that I started buying all the books it recommends, which are also full of great information. A lot of other reviewers poke fun at some of the information in this book but a lot of it is taken out of context. A must for any survivalist library and a great start off point for anybody interested in starting one.

Genius or madman?
You have to love this book.

I know I do.

My favorite parts are the fore-mentioned alien-attacks and the gang-wars that take over your city. The author suggests that the gangs will completely outnumber your police/army/navy/special-ops/national-guard completely and that you should find a safe place to hide while they over-run your city.

I'm sure.

He later suggests that you attempt to create an uprising by gathering munitions and what-not to do so, but BEFORE all that, try to gain money by selling food to the gangs that have infected the inside of your city limits...HUH?!?!

And just so you know...there is NO way to survive completely after a nuclear-strike! Not unless you have building beneath the Earth, perfecting a culture that can survive without the sun or fresh water and been building it all underground for years just in case something like this happens!

If any of THAT sounds insane, then you're game for this joke of a "survival-guide".

--Matt

Genius or madman?
You have to love this book.

I know I do.

My favorite parts are the fore-mentioned alien-attacks and the gang-wars that take over your city. The author suggests that the gangs will completely outnumber your police/army/navy/special-ops/national-guard completely and that you should find a safe place to hide while they over-run your city.

I'm sure.

He later suggests that you attempt to create an uprising by gathering munitions and what-not to do so, but BEFORE all that, try to gain money by selling food to the gangs that have infected the inside of your city limits...HUH?!?!

And just so you know...there is NO way to survive completely after a nuclear-strike! Not unless you have building beneath the Earth, perfecting a culture that can survive without the sun or fresh water and been building it all underground for years just in case something like this happens!

If any of THAT sounds insane, then you're game for this joke of a "survival-guide".

--Matt

EXCELLENT !!!
Excellent book. Covers many scenarios. I purchased it in 99', but didn't really read much of it until this week. The section on External Terrorism applies to today. Amazingly, things are playing out as written here. ... Read more