A Storm Too Soon: A True Story of Disaster, Survival and an Incredible Rescue
It was supposed to be a straightforward Atlantic crossing: three men in a sailboat, well ahead of the bad-weather season, sailing from Florida to Saint-Tropez, France. But sometimes the weather does something unpredictable, and about 250 miles from the nearest land, in the treacherous Gulf Stream, the three men were attacked by a fierce storm. Their boat, the Sean Seamour II, capsized and sank. They had only a damaged life raft to keep them alive while they waited for rescue (a rescue that might never come, as they weren’t sure their distress beacon had worked). Unlike, say, Sebastian Junger’s The Perfect Storm (1997), this isn’t a creative retelling of an incident in which there were no survivors. The three-man crew of the Sean Seamour II survived the ordeal, and the book is based on their memories. It’s a story of heroism, for sure (the captain, despite being seriously injured and near death, kept his two shipmates alive), but also of sheer terror. Cast adrift in the angry seas, the men seemed to have little chance of survival. And, if it hadn’t been for a rescue effort that carried its own share of life-threatening risks, they would not have. Readers of true-life adventures, especially those involving disaster and rescue at sea, should find this one very much to their liking. --David Pitt