Simple Courage
Subtitle: A True Story of Peril on the Sea
Publisher: Random House
Published: June 27, 2006
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 320
ISBN-13: 9781400065240
Subjects: Transportation; Shipwrecks; Travel - General; Ships & Shipbuilding - History; Special Interest - Adventure; History / Modern / 20th Century; History - General History; Carlsen, Kurt; Flying Enterprise (Ship); North Atlantic Ocean
Description: In December 1951, laden with passengers and nearly forty metric tons of cargo, the merchant marine freighter S.S. Flying Enterprise steamed westward from Europe toward America. A few days into the voyage, she hit a ferocious storm. Within 28 hours, the ship was slammed by two rogue waves--solid walls of water more than sixty feet high--cracking the decks and hull almost down to the waterline. The captain, Kurt Carlsen, mustered all hands to patch the cracks and try to right the ship. Then he helped transfer, across 40-foot waves, the passengers and crew to lifeboats from nearby ships. Then, to the amazement of the world, Carlsen defied all entreaties to abandon ship. Instead, for the next two weeks, he fought to bring Flying Enterprise and her cargo to port. His heroic endeavor became the world's biggest news.--From publisher description.