Deadly Bermuda Voyage Featured On US TV
The power of the book “Overboard!” — the story of an ill-fated voyage to Bermuda — is much like that of an Atlantic storm, one reviewer has said.
American author Michael Tougias lures readers into a routine voyage from the US East Coast to Bermuda with an experienced crew aboard a sea-tested vessel – until we find ourselves utterly tossed about not only by the nightmare that ensues but also the courage, tenacity and selflessness displayed by all caught up in the tempest.
Published last year by Simon & Schuster, “Overboard” — subtitled “A True Blue-water Odyssey of Disaster and Survival” — has been an international bestseller in both hardback and paperback.
The late Dodge Morgan – who completed the first circumnavigation of the globe by an American in an epic voyage which began and ended in Bermuda – said of the book: “I was frightened or astonished by every page of this beautifully told story of raging elements and human survival.
“And then the tale is ultimately and heartrendingly inspirational. You will not be able to put this book down.”
Critics have been as enthusiastic about the book as readers, with one Rhode Island newspaper saying: “Michael Tougias has done it again, this time delivering an edge-of-your-seat chronicle of what happens when a sailboat goes up against a fierce storm in the Gulf Stream.
” One of Tougias’ great skills as a writer is to put you right there, in the storm (making) it easy to visualize what happens. He builds the drama expertly, and ‘Overboard’ hits the jackpot once again.”
Recently “Overboard!” was the subject of a Boston TV documentary report featuring footage of the small yacht “Almeisan’s” [pictured] dramatic 2005 five-day journey from Connecticut to Bermuda which ended in death and rescue on the high seas.
And survivors of the “Almeisan” disaster chronicled in “Overboard!” told interviewers from ABC affiliate WCVB’s “Chronicle” show they now plan to one day complete the aborted voyage to Bermuda
In May 2005, Tom Tighe, captain of the 45-foot sailboat named the “Almeisan”, and his first mate, Loch Reidy, welcomed three new crewmembers for a five-day voyage from Connecticut across the blue waters of the Gulf Stream to Bermuda.
The new crew included 46-year-old Kathy Gilchrist, 72-year-old Ron Burd, and 34-four-year-old Chris Ferrer.
Although Captain Tighe had made the Bermuda trip 48, with Mr. Reidy accompanying him on 20 of those voyages, the rest of the crew had joined to learn more about offshore sailing.
Four days into the voyage, an enormous storm struck, sweeping two of the crew into the towering sea. The remaining crewmembers managed to stay aboard the vessel as it was slowly torn apart by the rampaging ocean. “Overboard!” follows the simultaneous desperate struggles of both those still on the boat and those fighting for their lives in the sea.
The US Coast Guard, alerted to the “Almeisan’s” distress, rushed to the storm-tossed scene. Their ensuing search and rescue mission proved so spectacularly difficult and dangerous that it was later selected—from among thousands of incidents—as the Coast Guard’s search and rescue case of the year.
Highly trained helicopter pilots and rescue swimmers alike found themselves in almost as much trouble as those trapped by the ferocious ocean.
By turns tragic, thrilling, and deeply inspiring, “Overboard!” has been favourably compared to “The Perfect Storm” and other heart-stopping, true-life tales of maritime disaster.
Author Mr. Tougias is a Massachusetts-based lecturer and award-winning author of 18 books. His book “Fatal Forecast: An Incredible Tale of Disaster and Survival at Sea” was praised by the “Los Angeles Times” as “a breathtaking book – Tougias spins a marvelous and terrifying yarn.”
He also co-authored the bestseller “The Finest Hours: The True Story of the Coast Guard’s Most Daring Rescue”. The author’s other true adventure book, “Ten Hours Until Dawn: The True Story of Heroism and Tragedy Aboard the Can Do in the Blizzard of 78″, was selected by the American Library Association as one of the “Top Books of the Year” and described as “a white-knuckle read, the best book of its kind”.
Hello!
I just finish viewing your piece on “Deadly Bermuda Voyage Featured on US TV. At the end of the segment the clip spoke of the surviving crew recently getting together for a sail during which they talked about another voyage to Bermuda to complete what they had attempted in May of 2005. I was in the same storm aboard my vessel Cosmos. My encounter during the storm was mentioned in Michael’s book Overboard. If the three surviving crew are truly interested in doing the voyage to Bermuda it might make sense to do it aboard a surviving vessel of that storm. I sail to Bermuda quite often and just recently arrived from there August of 2010 as a port of call returning from England to Virginia. I will be voyaging to Bermuda within a month or so and if they are interested I will be happy to have them aboard. Plenty of room and good company… Ted Weber