|
npz5
, December 26, 2008
An Emotionally Charged Night in the "Graveyard of the Pacific".
They Had to Go Out!
By Gary Hudson
I read the book in 2 nights! Could not put it down. I must say the research was fantastic, and actually unbelievable in its detail. It makes the story seem as if you were a crew member and seeing it happen through your eyes as you read the author’s printed words. You truly experience the gambit of emotions the people who lived through this must have felt.
What made it even more thorough, it points out all the conditions in, on, and around the mouth of the Columbia River Bar. Especially the North Buoy line, its dangers, limitations and handicaps as to the way it was wet up.
This book provides insights into the limitations of the boats and the mistakes the Coast Guard made, and kept making through the steel 52's with cable steering, exhaust systems and the first 44's with the cable steering. It seemed to take them forever to get it right.
Having experienced first hand these types of conditions, it brought back a flood of memories and emotions for me. By reading this book you too can experience what these brutal conditions can be like with the limitations of equipment and gear. It will surely evoke intense emotions in you, too!
Given all the research that had to be done and the writing that was done in such detail, I can see why it took the author 4 years to compile and write. The author gives amazing insight into things that I did not know and straightens out a few key points that had been incorrectly relayed to me!
I would recommend this book to anyone that is thinking, or has ever thought, about taking a small boat across the Columbia River Bar or any other one. It will give you an idea just how fast conditions on a River Bar or the Sea can change. It also shows how dedicated are the members of the United States Coast Guard, then and now. No matter what the weather, conditions or limitations of their equipment and gear, their motto "Semper Paratus" (Always Ready!) lives in all of them, those that have returned and those who gave their all!
The author has given me and will give you an unbelievable emotional ride through the "Graveyard of The Pacific" during one of its many brutal and deadly times; when men put their lives on the line so others might live, even though some never returned. The Coast Guard Boat Crews are, were and always will be, ‘Semper Paratus’!
|