Product Description

Captain Guyan March had spent his entire professional career aboard Windjammer Barefoot Cruises' fleet of extravagant tall ships that carry passengers on weeklong fantasy cruises spiced with rum and sun. When he agreed to command the Fantome, Windjammer's marquee ship, a beautiful 282-foot schooner that "sailed like a pig" in the Gulf of Honduras, he knew that a storm would leave him little space to run. In the southern reaches of the Caribbean, Tropical Storm Mitch whirled to life like a nebula and became Captain March's worst nightmare--a category five storm with 180-mile-per-hour winds and fifty-foot seas. After discharging his passengers in Belize, Captain March and his crew, most of them West Indians, took the $20 million uninsured tall ship out to sea to dodge the approaching storm. What ensued was a deadly game of cat and mouse that confounded experts' predictions and cornered the Fantome with eerie precision. Based on journalist Jim Carrier's exhaustive research and hundreds of interviews, The Ship and the Storm explores the story of the Fantome and Hurricane Mitch from every angle. From the deck of the ship, to the research planes flying into the eye of the hurricane, to islanders and coastal villagers in a desperate battle for survival, The Ship and the Storm is the heartbreaking and horrifying story of the most destructive hurricane in Western Hemisphere history.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #608229 in Books
• Published on: 2002-06-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 336 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
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. (Amazon.com Review - Gregory McNamee )

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. (Booklist - Gavin Quinn )