Product Description

A true story of catastrophe and survival at sea, Fatal Forecast is a spellbinding moment-by-moment account of seventy-two hours in the lives of eightyoung fishermen, some of whom would never set foot on dry land again.

On the morning of November 21, 1980, two small Massachusetts lobster boats set out for Georges Bank, a bountiful but perilous fishing ground 130 miles off thecoast of Cape Cod. The National Weather Service had forecast typical fallweather, and the young, rugged crewmen aboard the Sea Fever and the Fair Wind had made dozens of similar trips that season. They had no reasonto expect that this trip would be any different.

But the only weather buoy on Georges Bank was malfunctioning, and the NationalWeather Service had failed to share this fact with the fishermen who dependedon its forecasts. As the two small boats headed out to sea, a colossal storm wasbrewing to the southeast, a furious maelstrom the National Weather Service didnot accurately locate until the boats were already caught in the storm's grip,trapped in the treacherous waters of Georges Bank.

Battered by sixty-foot waves and hurricane-force winds, the crews of the FairWind and the Sea Fever (captained by Peter Brown, whose father ownedthe Andrea Gail of Perfect Storm fame) struggled heroically to keep their vessels afloat. But the storm soon severely crippled one boat andoverturned the other, trapping its crew inside.

Meticulously researched and vividly told, Fatal Forecast is first andforemost a tale of miraculous survival. Most amazing is the story of Ernie Hazzard, who managed to crawl inside a tiny inflatable life raft and then spentmore than fifty terrifying hours adrift on the stormy open sea. By turns tragic,thrilling, and inspiring, Ernie's story deserves a place among the greatestsurvival tales ever told.

Equally riveting are the stories of the brave men and women from the Coast Guardand the crew of a nearby fishing boat who imperiled their own lives that day inorder to save the lives of others.

As gripping and harrowing as The Perfect Storm - but with a miracle ending - Fatal Forecast is an unforgettable true story about the collision of two spectacular forces: the brutality of nature and the human willto survive.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #169102 in Books
• Published on: 2007-07-17
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 240 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Tougias (Ten Hours Until Dawn) narrates this dramatic, pared-down account of what happened to a pair of small fishing boats caught in the path of the devastating November 1980 storm off the coast of Cape Cod. When the storm blew up, the Fair Wind and the Sea Fever—captained by Peter Brown, son of legendarily hard-nosed Bob Brown, owner of The Perfect Storm's Andrea Gail—were fishing for lobster on Georges Bank, a plateau on the Atlantic floor that provides some of the richest fishing in the area, but is also the kind of place where boats have a way of disappearing. Due to a malfunctioning weather buoy, the National Weather Service drastically underestimated the magnitude of the storm that engulfed the two small boats. Seventy-foot waves overturned the Fair Wind, trapping inside the whole crew save for Ernie Banks, who made it into a life raft, while the Sea Fever was barely staying afloat under the watery onslaught. Tougias smartly leavens his spare narrative with similar worst-case scenarios that resulted when other seamen miscalculated the sea's wrathful power. Most astonishing of all is Banks's three-day odyssey of being tossed about like a cork in heaving, freezing seas; as related by Tougias, Banks's calm, reasoned actions in the face of astonishing adversity are practically a how-to lesson in high seas survival skills.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review
"A passionately recounted peril-at-sea adventure...described with excruciatingintensity. A blustery seafarer's delight, rendered with gusto." - Kirkus Reviews

Review
"A passionately recounted peril-at-sea adventure...described with excruciatingintensity. A blustery seafarer's delight, rendered with gusto." - Kirkus Reviews

Customer Reviews

Gripping adventure
If you liked "The Perfect Storm," you'll love "Fatal Forecast."

Michael J. Tougias' book is a gripping page-turner about fishermen fighting for their lives amid a severe storm off the New England coast.

Tougias' taut storytelling puts the reader in the middle of the action. Like the best survival stories, you can feel yourself in the characters' place, trying to figure what to do next.

I also like that Tougias includes related stories of fishing boat disasters (and near-disasters).

I do have one small complaint. This book, like many of this type, includes a batch of pictures in the middle. I suppose it's cheaper to print the photos altogether like this rather than insert them at the appropriate place in the story. But in this case, if you look at the pictures (and what reader wouldn't?), some of them give away the ending of the book.

That said, it's still a great story. Allow yourself plenty of time when you pick up "Fatal Forecast" -- it's hard to put down.

harrowing story on the Georges Bank...
I was totally enthralled by this true story of 2 fishing boats from Massachusetts caught in a ferocious storm off the Georges Bank. A storm as severe as 'the Perfect Storm' exept no on knew this one was coming because of a malfunctioning weather buoy in the Bank. Michael Tougias writes a well-researched almost documentary style epic with no filler. The brave fishermen and heroes of the Coast Guard stand out. The will to survive and what it takes for one man to survive is amazing.

Oh my god!!
Fatal Forecast is one of the most riveting books I have ever read. The way Tougias describes the sea and the men that work it, brings you right into the boat with them. His description of the communities and the families of the men that experience the sea are timeless in nature, his story could be 100 years ago, 20 years ago or even tonight, who knows at any given time when an undetected storm batters those that earn their livelihood from the vast expanses of the sea.

This book is a must for anyone who enjoys adventure or the facination of the will to survive. Tougias does justice to those men as well as those who constantly patrol our coasts to help those in need. Anyone spending time around the ocean this summer must read this book!!