One of the Best Movies I Have Ever Seen

Rating: 10/10 (9 February 2016)

I walked into this movie looking for a good adventure/drama and walked out believing in miracles. First, this tanker breaks in half directly in the middle of a tank causing very little damage to the water-tight bulk-head. Second, a young Coast Guardsman does the near impossible and not only gets his boat out of the harbor, but does so without losing any of his men. Third, without a compass, stars or visibility he finds the Pendleton's stern. Fourth, the tanker has ended up on a shoal making the coast guard boat the only that that has to be maneuvered around (if I understand correctly a little movie-license was taken here as the crew was actually trying to stay off the shoals). Fifth, 33 men climbed down the ladder in near impossible conditions, dropping into either the boat or water and only 1 was lost. Sixth, a boat designed to carry a crew of 4 with 12 passengers (where an experienced crewman estimated the most they could hold was 22) actually carried 36 people. And finally, without any navigational aide the massively over-loaded boat made it back into the bay and to the town's dock - without losing one person along the way. If I didn't know it was a true story I would have thought I was watching somebodies over-done imagination. But each of the above items is true and did happen. Forget the incredibly great special effects, the story alone is worth going to see.