Capsized: The True Story of Four Men Adrift for 119 Days

The tale of four men who survived on their partially submerged boat for 119 days reveals how each man faced almost certain death, overcame their fears, and found the will to live. 50,000 first printing. $50,000 ad/promo. Tour.

After four months adrift in the South Pacific in 1989, the survivors were in such relatively good health that at first their story was disbelieved. Though upside down and half-submerged, their boat was well made. Its captain, John Glennie, a shrewd old salt, and his three companions--including Nalepka, an Outward Bound guide and the sole American--had originally set out from New Zealand for Tonga, and after capsizing they made living quarters in a compartment in the hull the size of a double bed with 18 inches of head- room. Nalepka tells how they caught fish and rigged a rain-collecting contraption, but he focuses most on the changing relationships among the men as they coped with stress and were forced to become a team to survive. Glennie lost his macho authority, the tentative Phil Hoffman, a heart patient, grew surer, and a loving tenderness developed between Nalepka and Rick Hellreigel, a young man with a brain tumor. Aided by Callahan (Adrift), Nalepka tells an intriguing tale of personal victories claimed from disaster. Illustrations not seen by PW
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Nalepka, an American, along with three New Zealanders, survived 119 days adrift in the South Pacific on an overturned trimaran boat. In this account of the ordeal, Nalepka's focus is on the relationships that developed among them; both their dependencies upon one another and their conflicts. Sea survival stories are grueling, but they usually end happily with rescue. While the four men eventually make it to shore, the account goes on to describe an equally grueling account of the drawn-out death of a crewmember from a tumor months after reaching land. Skipper John Glennie has written a competing account of the ordeal, The Spirit of Rose-Noelle (Fawcett, 1992). Recommended for large public libraries.
- Harold M. Otness, Southern Oregon State Coll. Lib., Ashland
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.