Synopsis
Relates the December 1969 voyage of the S.S. Badger State, an American merchant ship carrying a cargo of bombs to Vietnam, as violent storms caused the cargo to break free of its packing, causing the crew to abandon ship before it was destroyed by explosions.
Reviews
A thoroughly gripping story of disaster at sea reveals aspects of modern seafaring not always brought to light. The WWII freighter Badger State was bound for Vietnam in December 1969 with 5,000 tons of bombs in her hold. Heavy weather and faulty cargo stowage by the Bangor Munitions Depot caused bombs to start breaking loose—first one, then many, including the 2,000 pounders. Capt. Charles Wilson and a crew inspired by his leadership worked heroically but unsuccessfully to fight the weather and their own cargo. Most of the casualties came when a loose bomb overturned an already-launched lifeboat, throwing most of the crew into 48-degree water. The 14 survivors (out of 40 crewmembers) owed their lives to the presence of the Greek freighter Khian Star and her Captain Nikos. Benedetto, an attorney and former shipping commissioner, interviewed survivors and combed news reports and court documents to construct his compelling narrative, which he sometimes interrupts with extensive accounts of other maritime disasters (the Titanic; the Port Chicago explosion) and interludes about the history of the U. S. Merchant Marine.Most of these asides are readable and informative, but they may frustrate readers eager to get back to the page-turning story of the Badger State sailing to her doom. This book probably won't achieve the classic status of The Perfect Storm among maritime-disaster narratives, but students of seafaring will be drawn to it in solid numbers.
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Benedetto has written a horrendously thrilling account of the December 1969 disaster aboard the S.S. Badger State, an American merchant ship hired to carry a cargo of bombs from the Bangor naval station to Vietnam. The method of packing the bombs wasn't good enough to keep them in place during the heavy seas encountered in the Pacific, and when one bomb broke out of its casing, it touched off a chain of events that eventually required the crew to abandon the ship before it was completely destroyed by explosions. Benedetto proves a master storyteller as he weaves together the day-to-day events on the ship and historical anecdotes about the American merchant marine, and builds suspense. A high-quality disaster narrative, an anecdotal account of a service that seldom makes news in the general media, and the story of a seldom-mentioned but important aspect of Vietnam war logistics--this is some book. Frieda Murray
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