It is the summer of 1588 and a pair of unlikely shipmates is traveling on the Vixen, a privateer that will soon be drafted to join a flotilla of English ships bound for a fiery clash with the Spanish Armada. Seventeen-year-old Sherwin is aboard to repay a debt he owes the ship's roguish captain, Brandon Fletcher. Sixteen-year-old Katharine is sailing with them in a desperate bid to save her noble family's fortune. The fight will be harrowing and bloody, and the unfolding tumult will challenge the character of both Sherwin and Katharine, who are about to discover the deeper meaning of strife and of honor. This fascinating tale affords an unusual view of one of the most important naval encounters in history, as a kindling romance between two young people takes place amidst a reluctant race to battle.
Trouble the Waters gathers the tidal force of bestselling, renowned writers from Lagos to New Orleans, Memphis to Copenhagen, Northern Ireland and London, offering extraordinary speculative fiction tales of ancient waters in all its myriad forms. Meet techno savvy water spirits, bayou saints and sirens, robots and river rootwomen, a pod of joyful space whales, and a castle of water-born terrors and mysteries. Including work by Nalo Hopkinson, Jaquira Diaz, Andrea Hairston, Linda D. Addison, Rion Amilcar Scott, Marie Vibbert, Maurice Broaddus, and other breakout beautiful voices, these stories and poems celebrate the most vital of elemental forces, water.
In Peril on the Sea is the story of missionary widow Ethel Bell and her children--Mary, 14, and Robert, 11--uprooted by the war from their West African station, find themselves on a small freighter bound for America. It is 1942. Sights and sounds of war envelop the world. And in the arena of the South Atlantic the infamous German submarine U-66 prowls the gray waters. Suddenly, on a peaceful August afternoon, a shrieking alarm pierces the stillness. Torpedoes explode. Fire engulfs the ship and within two minutes it disappears beneath the oil-slimed, shark infested waters. What follows is an almost unbelievable saga of death and despair as mother, daughter and son find themselves on an eight-by-ten foot raft along with two orphaned missionary children and fourteen male crew members. For twenty days aboard the bobbing vessel, Ethel Bell becomes pastor, peacekeeper, teacher, mediator and caregiver. But the story does not end with the surprising rescue. Years later, in a poignant moment, Robert Bell meets his "enemies" face to face. The war is over. God's love and forgiveness have triumphed.
Primarily set in the northern Bahamas, this book weaves its story of post-apocalyptic survival into the local sub-tropical seascape and the sailing culture that can be found there. With its evocative use of real locations haunted by zombie-like infected and atmospheric depictions of the trials of life at sea drawn from the author's own experiences, For Those In Peril On The Sea provides a new and unusual take on the traditional post-apocalyptic genre. From the back of the book: After a six week voyage across the Atlantic, they couldn't wait to get to shore. When they got there, they found the land would never be safe again... There was nothing to suggest it would be anything more than a routine delivery. Four people thrown together by chance, sailing a newly-built catamaran from South Africa to Miami. But while they were away, something happened, something none of them could ever have imagined. When they get back to civilisation, they find it no longer exists. The land is no longer safe. Their only option is to stay on the boat and try to survive. Join Bill, Rob, Jon and CJ as they travel around their frightening new world. One where they must struggle against the infected that now rule the land, the elements and each other.
Around the shores of the Pacific Ocean, along the western coastline of California, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia and Alaska, lie the remains of legions of vessels of every description and every flag. Some lie buried in the depths, never to be found. Others lie as twisted remains along the beaches or entombed down in the sands. Still others have been completely eradicated by the forces of nature. A few carried treasure; some have been recovered but most never will be. Though the greatest treasure has been discovered along the Caribbean and eastern seaboards, most of it was originally lost there while much of the Pacific lay undiscovered. The Pacific rim may yet yield finds of fabulous value. These ideas and many others are explored in Jim Gibbs' most recent book, Peril at Sea. This is a fascinating work on peril at sea and the continuing battle of man against the elements. Each chapter is an accurate chronicle by location of the ships and their sailors who met fateful ends along the Pacific Coastline.
When deformed frogs-many with missing legs or eyes, footless stumps, or misshapen jaws-began to emerge from Minnesota wetlands, alarm bells went off. What caused such deformities? Pollution? Ultraviolet rays? Biological agents? And could the mysterious cause also pose a threat to humans? Former government biologist Judy Helgen provides an inside view of a highly charged environmental issue that continues to spark controversy among scientists, politicians, and government agencies. Book jacket.
The transition from President Donald J. Trump to President Joseph R. Biden Jr. stands as one of the most dangerous periods in American history. But as #1 internationally bestselling author Bob Woodward and acclaimed reporter Robert Costa reveal for the first time, it was far more than just a domestic political crisis. Woodward and Costa interviewed more than 200 people at the center of the turmoil, resulting in more than 6,000 pages of transcripts—and a spellbinding and definitive portrait of a nation on the brink. This classic study of Washington takes readers deep inside the Trump White House, the Biden White House, the 2020 campaign, and the Pentagon and Congress, with eyewitness accounts of what really happened. Intimate scenes are supplemented with never-before-seen material from secret orders, transcripts of confidential calls, diaries, emails, meeting notes and other personal and government records, making Peril an unparalleled history. It is also the first inside look at Biden’s presidency as he began his presidency facing the challenges of a lifetime: the continuing deadly pandemic and millions of Americans facing soul-crushing economic pain, all the while navigating a bitter and disabling partisan divide, a world rife with threats, and the hovering, dark shadow of the former president.
My encounter with several soldiers on the road to destiny has revealed to me that many of us are not fully ready for what lies ahead. The hard truth is: we cannot avoid perils. If you aren’t seeing them, then consider changing your route because you might as well be taking the wrong path. They are there at every bend like the check points along our roads to destiny. There is no man who has ever journeyed this path that escaped them. On the journey of purpose, perils are not only necessary, but they are also mandatory.
“HEAVEN HELP THE SAILOR ON A NIGHT LIKE THIS.” –old folk prayer In late December 1951, laden with passengers and nearly forty metric tons of cargo, the freighter S.S. Flying Enterprise steamed westward from Europe toward America. A few days into the voyage, she hit the eye of a ferocious storm. Force 12 winds tossed men about like playthings and turned drops of freezing Atlantic foam into icy missiles. When, in the space of twenty-eight hours, the ship was slammed by two rogue waves–solid walls of water more than sixty feet high–the impacts cracked the decks and hull almost down to the waterline, threw the vessel over on her side, and thrust all on board into terror. Flying Enterprise’s captain, Kurt Carlsen, a seaman of rare ability and valor, mustered all hands to patch the cracks and then try to right the ship. When these efforts came to naught, he helped transfer, across waves forty feet high, the passengers and the entire crew to lifeboats sent from nearby ships. Then, for reasons both professional and intensely personal, and to the amazement of the world, Carlsen defied all requests and 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. In a narrative as dramatic as the ocean’s fury, acclaimed bestselling author Frank Delaney tells, for the first time, the full story of this unmatched bravery and endurance at sea. We meet the devoted family whose well-being and safety impelled Carlsen to stay with his ship. And we read of Flying Enterprise’s buccaneering owner, the fearless and unorthodox Hans Isbrandtsen, who played a crucial role in Kurt Carlsen’s fate. Drawing on historical documents and contemporary accounts and on exclusive interviews with Carlsen’s family, Delaney opens a window into the world of the merchant marine. With deep affection–and respect–for the weather and all that goes with it, he places us in the heart of the storm, a “biblical tempest” of unimaginable power. He illuminates the bravery and ingenuity of Carlsen and the extraordinary courage that the thirty-seven-year-old captain inspired in his stalwart crew. This is a gripping, absorbing narrative that highlights one man’s outstanding fortitude and heroic sense of duty. “One of the great sea stories of the twentieth century… [a] surefire nautical crowd-pleaser.” --Booklist é (starred review) “Frank Delaney has written a completely absorbing, thrilling and inspirational account of a disaster at sea that occasioned heroism of the first order. In the hands of a gifted storyteller, the ‘simple courage’ of the ship’s captain and the young radio man who risked their lives to bring a mortally wounded ship to port reveals the essence and power of all true courage– a stubborn devotion to the things we love.” –Senator John McCain
