Author Robert R. Frump has written a story of one of the most famous rescues in U.S. Coast Guard history. Two oil tankers, the SS Pendleton and the SS Fort Mercer, split in half off Chatham, MA., on February 18, 1952. More than 1,000 Coast Guard rescuers in planes and cutters rushed to the scene. In the end, though the lifeboatmen, rescuers in small boats challenging huge seas, were key to some of the most dramatic rescues ever performed. Bernard Webber and the CG 36500 rescue boat played a central role in the Cape Cod rescue, but Frump's book breaks new ground in detailing the Fort Mercer rescue.
Chatham, MA (PRWEB) April 14, 2008 -- "Two Tankers Down," a book about the U.S. Coast Guard's most incredible small boat rescue, will be published by Lyons Press in August 2008.
The book, authored by maritime writer Robert R. Frump, chronicles the heroism of dozens of Coast Guard rescuers as they struggled through 40-foot seas to reach the survivors of the SS Pendleton and the SS Fort Mercer. Both tankers split in two about 20 miles off Cape Cod because of faulty construction.
Two Tankers Down
"No helicopters were available," said Frump. "So the rescue efforts largely depended on the skill of lifeboatsmen." The informal Coast Guard motto of the time was, "You have to go out, you don't have to come back."
This is the second maritime book written by Frump. "Until the Sea Shall Free Them" told the wreck of the SS Marine Electric and other World War II ships kept in service far past their "shelf date."
"In a sense, 'Two Tankers Down' is a 'prequel' to 'Until the Sea Shall Free Them,'" he said. "It chronicles one of the most spectacular examples of the flaws of World War II vessels used in post-war commerce."
The story of Bernard C. Webber and the CG 36500 play a central role in the book, but Frump's account draws on the story of survivors of the two ships as well. "Webber and the rescue of the Pendleton crew is justifiably famous," the author said. "The lesser known rescue efforts of those on the bow of the SS Fort Mercer are in many ways just as incredible, but up until this time, not fully told."
The book can be pre-ordered now at a five percent savings over Amazon prices.
Two Tankers Down
Both tankers were of the T-2 type -- an advanced design and one of the first all-welded ships. The tankers helped win the war, but many cracked in two, some at dockside, because of construction flaws.
Robert R. Frump, a nationally recognized journalist, was formerly the maritime writer for The Philadelphia Inquirer. He received the George Polk Award for reporting on the wreck of the SS Marine Electric.
SS Marine Electric.
He also has written about Africa and human animal conflict in Kruger National Park in "The Man-eaters of Eden." Human-Animal Conflict.
He has written for Men's Journal, Africa Geographic, Lloyd's List, The Washington Post and other publications and was managing editor of The Journal of Commerce.
Frump is a resident of Summit, New Jersey.
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