Product Description

"Utterly compulsive and unputdownable--the most exciting, authentic, and humanly moving of all the recent Storm books. Brilliantly paced and perfectly balanced. . . . Carrier is a marvelously trustworthy narrator. . . . A terrific book."--Jonathan Raban, author of Passage to Juneau: A Sea and Its Meanings and Bad Land: An American Romance

"A wonderful story. An extremely well-written account of the events as I knew them. I commend Jim Carrier for a magnificent job."--Jerry D. Jarrell, Director, National Hurricane Center

In October 1998, the majestic schooner Fantome came face-to-face with one of the most savage storms in Atlantic history. The last days of the Fantome are reconstructed in vivid and heartbreaking detail through Jim Carrier's extensive research and hundreds of personal interviews. What emerges is a story of courage, hubris, the agony of command, the weight of lives versus wealth, and the advances of science versus the terrible power and unpredictability of nature. (20010112)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #226324 in Books
• Published on: 2000-10-16
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 288 pages

From Amazon.com
In October 1998, a wayward tropical storm blossomed into one of the most powerful hurricanes in modern history. When it finished its devastating course throughout the Caribbean, Hurricane Mitch had killed thousands of people, left hundreds of thousands more homeless, and destroyed whole towns. Journalist Jim Carrier turns up a small but telling incident: the disappearance of a 282-foot schooner called the Fantome. Guided by a young but accomplished English captain and manned by seasoned West Indian sailors, the cruise ship put into port in Belize to discharge its passengers, then set out to sea in an attempt to outrace a storm that, defying expectation, changed its course and in the end sent the Fantome and its crew beneath the waves. All that was terrible enough; added to it was the legal battle that awaited the crew's survivors, one that hung over the disaster "like a poisonous cloud." Following the Fantome's course hour by hour, Carrier covers all aspects of the incident thoroughly and sympathetically. His book makes a compelling companion to Sebastian Junger's The Perfect Storm as a fine reconstruction of a maritime tragedy, one that does honor to the unfortunate dead. --Gregory McNamee

From Booklist
In October 1998, Hurricane Mitch terrorized the Caribbean and Central America, leaving thousands dead, causing billions of dollars in damage, and crippling countries. In the midst of it struggled Guyan March, captain of the Fantome, the largest ship owned by Windjammer Barefoot Cruises. Having determined the Fantome was too big to seek safe harbor in any of the nearby ports, Windjammer and Captain March made the last-minute decision to take the ship out to sea in an attempt to get out of the storm's path. Carrier's account of this desperate race traces the development and erratic path of the storm as it consistently defied all predictions, relates the communications between Windjammer and the Fantome as they ran out of options, and pieces together what must have been the last few minutes of the ship and of the crew's lives. The heart-wrenching testimony of the crew's families, horror stories of survivors on land, and scientific background from the meteorologists provide a thoroughly detailed context in which to view one of the worst hurricanes in recorded history. Gavin Quinn
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
It's a wonderful story, a triumph, really of human determination to do what seems undoable and to never yield in the face of my adversity. (The Log )

Customer Reviews

When God's Not On Your Side
It is impossible to overpraise this hurricane account as presented here by Jim Carrier. Brilliant, masterful, harrowing, heroic, foolhardy, and heartbreaking are not overstatements. This is a story told by an experienced seaman who knows his subject all too well and who poignantly points out how life-or-death decisions can have ambiguous, rather than strictly right-or-wrong, answers.

The book is frighteningly vivid in its descriptions of what experiencing a 'Cat 5' at sea would be like. It also beautifully balances the tragedy that was befalling the 'Fantome' with the simultaneous tragedy that 'Mitch' was wreaking on land; particularly the Honduran side of the story.

As Carrier, the old salt, so aptly puts it in his dedication to the crew of the 'Fantome' at the beginning of the book: "There but for the grace of God go I."

This is indispensable reading.

Good meteorological detail
This book was unique in that in went into detail on what went on in the minds and decisions of forecasters at the National Hurricane Center, as well as specific details on the meteorological events of Hurricane Mitch. I enjoyed the book's arrangement of detailed events aboard Fantome, with an intermittent change to events with Mitch, and events at the NHC and Windjammer management. Very suspenseful and detailed. Good sea adventure.

Amazing Grace
This book captured my attention and my heart for almost 6 hours last night- I could not put it down until 4am when I had finished. I had heard only in passing the name of the boat, but the author did such a good job illustrating the cruise and the crew that I felt like I had been onboard. Even if you aren't a sailor or a weather buff, read this book for the beautifully told personal insight into a tragedy that we all can learn from.