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TEN HOURS UNTIL DAWN.
By Michael J. Tougias. paperback, 138mm x 210mm, 322 pages, black & white photographs.
In the midst of the blizzard of 1978, the tanker Global Hope floudered on the shoals in Salem Sound off the Massachusetts coast. The Coast Guard heard the Mayday calls and immediately dispatched a patrol boat. Within an hour, the Coast Guard boat was in as much trouble as the tanker, having lost its radar, depth finder, and engine power in horrendous seas. Pilot boat Captain Frank Quirk was monitoring the Coast Guard's efforts by radio, and when he heard that the patrol boat was in jeopardy, he decided to act. Gathering his crew of four, he readied his forty-nine-foot steel boat, the Can Do, and entered the maelstrom of the blizzard.
Using dozen's of interviews and audiotapes that recorded every word exchanged between Quirk and the Coast Guard, Michael J. Tougias has written a devastating and true account of bravery and death at sea.
NZ$30.00 + delivery.
WRECK.
By Jean Hood. paperback, 130mm x 198mm, 400 pages, black & white photographs.
What is the greatest maritime disaster of all time? In her remarkable collection of stories, Jean Hood certainly challenges the popular belief that Titanic should hold the title. Dramatic and enthralling the common theme throughout is the strength of human character - or lack of it -that reveals itself when people are placed in the most appalling and extreme circumstances.
Read about the crowded emigrant liner whose officers abandoned her after striking a reef; the captain of an unseaworthy ferry who refused to put back to Liverpool because he would have to refund the fares; the inexperienced frigate captain who entrusted his ship to a passenger and whose voyage ended in cannibalism and national scandal.
Yet for every instance of cruelty, criminal negligence and bad luck, there is another of courage, leadership, humanity and resourcefulness. The French fisherman who swam for almost a mile through the wild tide to try and help a stranded convict ship; the captain who stole international headlines by remaining aboard a doomed cargo ship in mountainous seas; the crew of a dismasted timber carrier who suffered for more than a month in the bitter North Atlantic winter; the U-boat which went to the rescue for those whose ship she had just sunk.
NZ$25.00 + delivery.
THE WAHINE DISASTER DVD, the documentary providing a new look at the disaster.
From TVNZ, 45 minutes approximately.
The inter-island ferry Wahine sank in Wellington Harbour on April 10, 1968 after it was overcome by the worst storm recorded in New Zealand. Fifty-one people lost their lives.
Stunning new animation brings to life the last moments - with wind gusts reaching an amazing 276 kilometres an hour, the realistic animation shows how a giant wave picked up the 9,000 tonne Wahine and flung her sideways. In zero visibility the ship's master tried to manoeuvre his vessel back out of the harbour but instead, he struck Barrett Reef.
The Wahine then drifted helplessly before rolling over and sinking just hundreds of metres from land. The 735 passengers and crew had to jump for their lives. Many were swept across the harbour to a remote and rocky shoreline. Rescue attempts were difficult and dangerous.
This TVNZ documentary provides a new look at the disaster by concentrating on some of the survivors and their day of horror, together with animation which illustrates, for the first time, how the Wahine succumbed in a terrible storm, to become one of New Zealand's worst sea tragedies.
NZ$30.00 + delivery.
NEW ZEALAND SHIPWRECKS, Over 200 years of Disasters at Sea.
By Lynton Diggle, Edith Diggle & Keith Gordon. Pbk, 218mm x 251mm, 576 pages, full colour and monochrome photographs and drawings.
Since the first publication of New Zealand Shipwrecks in 1936, this monumental work has been The authority on maritime disasters in our waters. This hugely readable reference records the details of more than 2300 shipwrecks and highlights those of special significance and drama, telling exciting tales of daring, bravery or treasure never found. This 8th edition covers 1795 to 2007 and includes 245 new entries as well as updated information on many wrecks. For those keen on history, diving, genealogy or who just enjoy a tale well told, New Zealand Shipwrecks is an indispensable record of a fscinating aspect of New Zealand's maritime history.
NZ$50.00 + delivery.
FULL ASTERN!.By Gavin McLean. Paperback, 210mm x 250mm, 240 pages, monochrome photos.
The sea may be our highway, but it can charge appallingly high tolls. Our ancestors rightly feared death and destruction at sea. In the last 200 years over 2000 ships have been fatally wrecked on New Zealand shores, sometimes with horrific loss of life. Many more have been salvaged only after epic struggle.
In this lively book, leading historian Gavin McLean examines some of New Zealand's most interesting wrecks. In Full Astern! he explores some of the iconic wrecks that wrote themselves into New Zealand history: the Orpheus, General Grant, Tararua, Wairarapa, Penguin, Wahine and Mikhail Lermontov. But others will be new to readers, the ordinary, everyday vessels on which New Zealanders depended.
Full Astern! is a story of terrifying storms, of inhospitable coastlines, of human error, of the malicious hand of fate, and of courtroom dramas as stunned communities picked through the evidence of disaster. It is also testimony to courage, endurance and self-sacrifice such as that displayed by the stewardesses on the Wairarapa who saw to the needs of their passengers with little thought of their own safety.
But there is more to wrecks than ships hitting rocks, and in a unique feature, Gavin McLean places maritime risk in its broader context. No dry catalogue of accidents, this book tells how people responded to the challenge of making our coast safe, a quest that continues in the era of GPS and satellites.
More than 300 superb photographs bring alive dramatic days in New Zealand history.
NZ$40.00 + delivery.
DEEP WATER GOLDBy Keith Gordon. Pbk, 150mm x 230mm, 240 pages, full colour and monochrome photographs.
This is the complete story of RMS Niagara, a famous Pacific liner sunk in 1940 with eight tonnes of gold bullion off the Northland Coast of New Zealand by the German raider Orion. Keith Gordon links past with present in his story of the history of the Niagara, the German raid, the epic gold salvage ventures and exploring the shipwreck in deep water. A famous ship, wartime action, lost treasure and underwater exploration - a true adventure story to hold the interest of all.
NZ$40.00 + delivery.
SHIPWRECKS- GRAVEYARDS OF THE DEEP DVD.By Madacy Entertainment. DVD, 5 disc set, 10 hours running time.
Filmmaker and underwater buff John Stoneman and his crew uncover the mysteries of the sea in Shipwrecks, a 5-DVD glimpse into sunken ships and the hidden secrets they reveal about years gone by.
Stoneman explores the wreckage of the Loralie, a German ship that disappeared under mysterious circumtances during World War II, and goes back even further when he and his crew uncover shipwrecked artifacts from the 18th century. In one fascinating segment, he travels all the way to the Red Sea to gather footage of a 2000-year-old shipwreck! Witness the daring and bravery of Stoneman and his team of researchers from the Foundation for Ocean Research as they risk frigid waters, oncoming hurricanes, shark attacks and much more to uncover the gems and stories that lay deep beneath the waves.
NZ$30.00 + Delivery
BLOWOUT.By Robert Orrell. Paperback, 135mm x 215mm, 194 pages, black and white photos.
Life on an oil rig is tough, brutal and highly dangerous, as Bob Orrell discovered when he worked as a radio operator on the Hewett ‘A’, drilling for gas in one of the wildest and most hostile seas in the world. At the height of a fierce winter gale, the rig suffered a disastrous blowout. Bob Orrell gives a harrowing account of events leading up to the blowout, and how rescue boats and helicopters battled against gale-force winds, icy conditions and raging sea to evacuate terrified men from the gas-filled platform.
This is a dramatic insight into the hard work, isolation, humour and danger of everyday life on a North Sea rig.
NZ$35.00 + Delivery
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