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Zusatztext “A blockbuster account of tragedy at sea.” -- The Providence Journal Informationen zum Autor Michael J. Tougias and Casey Sherman Klappentext "The Finest Hours "is a work brimming with excitement and suspense, and packed with gripping authentic descriptions of an actual Coast Guard rescue The Finest Hours CHAPTER ONE CHATHAM LIFEBOAT STATION The sea is master here—a tyrant, even—and no people better than ours, who have gone down to the sea in ships so often in so many generations, understand the subtle saying…“We conquer nature only as we obey her.” —E. G. Perry, 1898 CHATHAM, MASSACHUSETTS February 18, 1952 Boatswain’s Mate First Class Bernie Webber held a hot mug of coffee in his large hands as he stared out the foggy window of the mess hall. The cup of mud wasn’t half bad. It came from a three-gallon pot and was brewed by mixing the coffee with a couple of eggshells to help the grounds settle at the bottom. The minister’s son from Milton, Massachusetts, watched with growing curiosity and concern as the storm continued to strengthen outside. The midwinter nor’easter had stalled over New England for the last two days, and Webber wondered if the worst was yet to come. He watched as windswept snow danced over the shifting sands and large drifts piled up alongside the lighthouse tower in the front yard of the Chatham Lifeboat Station. At one time, two lighthouses had stood here; together they were known as the Twin Lights of Chatham. All that remained of the second lighthouse was an old foundation, and on this morning it was completely covered by snow. Taking a sip of his coffee, Webber thought of his young wife, Miriam, home in bed with a bad case of the flu at their cottage on Sea View Street. What if there was an emergency? What if she needed help? Would the doctor be able to reach her in this kind of weather? These questions were fraying his nerves and Webber fought to put them out of his mind. Instead he tried to picture the local fishermen all huddled around the old woodstove at the Chatham Fish Pier. They would be calling for his help soon as their vessels bobbed up and down on the waves in Old Harbor, straining their lines. If the storm is this bad now, what will it be like a few hours from now when it really gets going? he thought. Webber, however, wouldn’t complain about the tough day he was facing. The boatswain’s mate first class was only twenty-four years old, but he had been working at sea for nearly a decade, having first served with the U.S. Maritime Service during World War II. Webber’s three older brothers had also served in the war. Paul, the eldest, had been with the Army’s 26th Division in Germany. The so-called Yankee Division had fought in the Battle of the Bulge, joining General George S. Patton’s Third Army in capturing the fortified city of Metz. Bob, his next brother, helped protect the homeland with the U.S. Coast Guard. The third, Bill, had helped build the Alaska Highway as a member of the Army Transportation Corps. Bernie had followed his brother Bob into the Coast Guard, but it was not the kind of life his parents had planned for him. From early childhood, Webber’s father, the associate pastor at the Tremont Temple Church in Boston, had steered him toward a life in the ministry. The church deacon even paid for Bernie to attend the Mount Hermon School for Boys, located 105 miles away in Gill, Massachusetts, a small town hugging the Connecticut River. Established in 1879, the school boasted prestigious alumni such as Reader’s Digest founder DeWitt Wallace and James W. McLamore, who founded Burger King. Needless to say, Bernie was something of an economic outcast amongst the prep school crowd. He arrived at Mount Hermon carrying se...
