Come Hell and High Water

The drunken captain of an unseaworthy ferry who refuses to return to port in bad weather because he would have to refund the fares the naval captain who entrusts the navigation of his frigate to a passenger the crew who callously ignored freezing survivors on a dismasted wreck the passengers who seriously believed a ship could be unsinkable. All these stories and more are told in gripping detail by the author, an expert in shipping losses and disasters, in this new collection of grimly fascinating tales of real events at sea from the age of sail to the modern day. But for every instance of cruelty, criminal negligence and bad luck over the past 250 years there is another of courage, leadership, humanity and sheer audacity: the six Italians who took on two battleships the Americans who went to save the crew of the Squalus submarine trapped at a depth beyond the capability of any previous rescue equipment the French fisherman who swam through heavy seas to a convict ship in distress the German commander who risked his life and his U-boat to help survivors the Spaniard who used his bowsprit as a lifeline and the officers and crew of a British frigate fighting to save their lives in a hurricane. This collection of stories covers merchantmen and naval ships, steam and sail, the prestigious and the humble - and asks the question: what are the ingredients of a great maritime drama? It brings dramatic stories, some barely known outside their own countries, some inexplicably neglected in their own, to vivid life. The author also questions the received wisdom that the sinking of the Titanic stands head and shoulders above the rest in terms of the tapestry of human drama.