Burning Cold: The Cruise Ship Prinsendam And the Greatest Sea Rescue of All Time - Hardcover

Jeffers, H. Paul

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0760320799 ISBN 13: 9780760320792

Publisher: Zenith Pr, 2006

Synopsis

During the evening of October 4, 1980, in the Pacific Ocean nearly 330 miles from Valdez, Alaska, a fire engulfed the engine room of the Prinsendam, a Holland America cruise ship carrying 320 passengers, most of them elderly. As the fire raged out of control, the ship’s captain faced the most dire decision of his career: Could he give the order to abandon ship in the face of a typhoon bearing down on the Prinsendam’s position? The story of this disaster at sea, and of the near-miraculous rescue that ensued, is recounted in heart-stopping detail in this powerful book. Drawing on extensive interviews with passengers, crew, and coast guardsmen, combined with exhaustive research, Saving the Prinsendam brings to life the last moments of the doomed cruise ship and the heroic efforts of the Coast Guardsmen who managed to transport every passenger to safety before the Prinsendam rolled and slid bow-first to the bottom on October 11. Told in the hour-by-hour style of Walter Lord's Titanic classic: A Night to Remember, the book recreates the drama of one of the most memorable—and successful—rescue operations ever to be conducted at sea.

About this title

About the Author

H. Paul Jeffers is the well-respected author of more than fifty works of both fiction and nonfiction including the recently published, critically acclaimed biography of General Billy Mitchell, the legendary air force leader, titled Billy Mitchell: The Life, Times, and Battles of America's Prophet of Air Power. He lives in New York City.

Reviews

In October 1980, the Holland America cruise ship Prinsendam rolled over on her starboard side and sank in 1,473 fathoms of icy water in the Gulf of Alaska. Amazingly, none of the 320 passengers or 190 crew went down with her, recounts Jeffers (The 1,000 Greatest Heroes) in this workmanlike account of disaster and rescue on the high seas. After a fire broke out in the vessel's engine room and spread unchecked, everyone aboard was forced to abandon ship in a rising gale. Through the heroic efforts of the U.S. Coast Guard, whom Jeffers affectionately calls "Coasties," the evacuation resulted in no lives lost. While the story is laden with built-in drama, the prose is deadened with banal clichés: "Still unwilling to meet her maker just yet, Jeanie Gilmore was increasingly concerned about so much thick, black, acrid smoke." Jeffers has done a tremendous amount of research and the tale is packed with detail, but in his mundane recounting, the story fails to take off. 32 b&w photos not seen by PW. (Mar.)
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The rescue of all the passengers from the burning cruise liner Prinsendam may not deserve the label given it by the book's subtitle, but when the Dutch vessel caught fire off the Alaskan coast in 1980, the rescue effort was undeniably conducted with the greatest of skill. Coast Guard helicopters retrieved many of the aging and ill passengers from the lifeboats, as did the cutter Boutwell. A piece of good fortune was the presence of the supertanker Williamsburg, whose crew displayed consummate seamanship as they turned their vessel into a combined helipad, first-aid and warming station, and command post. Although Prinsendam eventually sank, everyone involved displayed courage, clear-headedness, and a strong sense of organization. Jeffers' prose is no more than workmanlike, but his research has been thorough, and the story he tells is quite thrilling enough without authorial boosting. Maritime buffs of every variety will enjoy the book, not least for recounting a story that shows the Coast Guard at its best. Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Zenith Pr
• Publication date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0760320799
• ISBN 13: 9780760320792
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 304