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.
"Tougias delivers a well-researched, vividly written tale of brave men overwhelmed by the awesome forces of nature. An absorbing account..."
Publishers Weekly
"Arguably the best story of peril at sea since Sebastian Junger's Perfect Storm. His balancing of human and technical detail is nearly perfect, and he has made the book accessible even to relative newcomers to maritime literature. All readers may sincerely hope that Tougias will produce further such superb chronicles."
Booklist, starred review
"Ten Hours Until Dawn is every bit as gripping as the best adventure fiction."
