The Gathering Wind: Hurricane Sandy, the Sailing Ship Bounty, and a Courageous Rescue at Sea
Freeman, author of such books as The Forgotten 500 (2007), about a WWII mission to rescue Allied pilots stranded in Yugoslavia, turns his attention to the recent sinking of the Bounty, the tall ship that sailed into Hurricane Sandy in October 2012, most of its crew saved from certain death through a daring rescue by the U.S. Coast Guard. The author chronicles the events leading up to the disaster, the rescue itself, and the aftermath: the Coast Guard’s investigation into the Bounty’s sinking, during which there was much debate about who was responsible for the tragedy (the captain, who knowingly sailed into the path of a hurricane, or the ship’s owner, who was apparently pushing to keep the boat on a very tight schedule? Freeman is a fine nonfiction writer, with a sharp analytical eye, who always asks the important questions (in this case, What did the captain know, when did he know it, and why didn’t he tell his crew?). An intelligent, even-keeled, and dramatic look at a much-publicized maritime disaster. --David Pitt