Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for Deadliest Sea:
This is why I hate fishing.
Quick Synopsis:
The story of the sinking of the Alaska Ranger and subsequent rescue by the Coast Guard in 2008.
Fun Fact Non-History People Will Like:
People have been revived from drowning an hour after they were thought dead. This may be dubious. Never let the truth get in the way of a good story.
Fun Fact for History Nerds:
When a rescue helicopter tries to lower people onto a boat via their metal gurney, they have to wait for it to touch the ground otherwise you get electrocuted by the static electricity caused by the helicopter.
My Take on Deadliest Sea:
This is a good “rescue at sea” book. What makes this different from a lot of other books of this ilk is that there is a lot of things done right instead of a lot of things done wrong.
Since this occurred in 2008, many of the safety features ignored for years are actually on the Alaska Ranger when it sinks. Most books covering sea rescues follow a very familiar pattern. Boat owners and officers are incompetent and lazy then the boats sink and most of them die. See any of the books below for this storyline (but they are still good!).
However, in Deadliest Seas, the story is only half right. The Alaska Ranger actually had the water survival suits, the strobe lights, and the life rafts. Now, the owners and captain still didn’t take care of the ship as well as it should have, but most of the crew were saved by the Coast Guard and a Good Samaritan boat.
It makes for a much longer story than you would usually see and actually illustrates that life saving equipment actually saves lives. What a concept!
Also, Alaska is really cold.
Verdict:
A really good rescue story. If you don’t care about sea rescues at all then skip it. However, how can you be one of those people? They are very exciting! Buy it here!
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.