The Ship and the Storm: Hurricane Mitch and the Loss of the Fantome [Paperback]

Jim Carrier (Author)

Book Description

Series: Harvest Book | Publication Date: June 3, 2002

Captain Guyan March had spent his entire professional career aboard Windjammer Barefoot Cruises' fleet of extravagant tall ships that carry passengers on weeklong fantasy cruises spiced with rum and sun. When he agreed to command the Fantome, Windjammer's marquee ship, a beautiful 282-foot schooner that "sailed like a pig" in the Gulf of Honduras, he knew that a storm would leave him little space to run. In the southern reaches of the Caribbean, Tropical Storm Mitch whirled to life like a nebula and became Captain March's worst nightmare--a category five storm with 180-mile-per-hour winds and fifty-foot seas. After discharging his passengers in Belize, Captain March and his crew, most of them West Indians, took the $20 million uninsured tall ship out to sea to dodge the approaching storm. What ensued was a deadly game of cat and mouse that confounded experts' predictions and cornered the Fantome with eerie precision.
Based on journalist Jim Carrier's exhaustive research and hundreds of interviews, The Ship and the Storm explores the story of the Fantome and Hurricane Mitch from every angle. From the deck of the ship, to the research planes flying into the eye of the hurricane, to islanders and coastal villagers in a desperate battle for survival, The Ship and the Storm is the heartbreaking and horrifying story of the most destructive hurricane in Western Hemisphere history.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In October 1998, a wayward tropical storm blossomed into one of the most powerful hurricanes in modern history. When it finished its devastating course throughout the Caribbean, Hurricane Mitch had killed thousands of people, left hundreds of thousands more homeless, and destroyed whole towns. Journalist Jim Carrier turns up a small but telling incident: the disappearance of a 282-foot schooner called the Fantome. Guided by a young but accomplished English captain and manned by seasoned West Indian sailors, the cruise ship put into port in Belize to discharge its passengers, then set out to sea in an attempt to outrace a storm that, defying expectation, changed its course and in the end sent the Fantome and its crew beneath the waves. All that was terrible enough; added to it was the legal battle that awaited the crew's survivors, one that hung over the disaster "like a poisonous cloud." Following the Fantome's course hour by hour, Carrier covers all aspects of the incident thoroughly and sympathetically. His book makes a compelling companion to Sebastian Junger's The Perfect Storm as a fine reconstruction of a maritime tragedy, one that does honor to the unfortunate dead. --Gregory McNamee

From Booklist

In October 1998, Hurricane Mitch terrorized the Caribbean and Central America, leaving thousands dead, causing billions of dollars in damage, and crippling countries. In the midst of it struggled Guyan March, captain of the Fantome, the largest ship owned by Windjammer Barefoot Cruises. Having determined the Fantome was too big to seek safe harbor in any of the nearby ports, Windjammer and Captain March made the last-minute decision to take the ship out to sea in an attempt to get out of the storm's path. Carrier's account of this desperate race traces the development and erratic path of the storm as it consistently defied all predictions, relates the communications between Windjammer and the Fantome as they ran out of options, and pieces together what must have been the last few minutes of the ship and of the crew's lives. The heart-wrenching testimony of the crew's families, horror stories of survivors on land, and scientific background from the meteorologists provide a thoroughly detailed context in which to view one of the worst hurricanes in recorded history. Gavin Quinn
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Mariner Books (June 3, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0156007401
• ISBN-13: 978-0156007405
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (43 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #98,070 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #37 in Books > Professional & Technical > Transportation > Ships > History
  • #47 in Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Earth Sciences > Natural Disasters
  • #56 in Books > Science & Math > Nature & Ecology > Ecosystems

More About the Author

Jim Carrier is an award-winning journalist, author and civil rights activist. In a 45-year career, Jim has worked as a radio newsman, AP editor and correspondent, newspaper managing editor, roaming columnist, freelance writer and filmmaker.

Author of nine books, he also has been published in the National Geographic, the New York Times, USA Today, the Washington Post, the San Francisco Chronicle, and Orion and Cruising World magazines. His work is included in BEST AMERICAN SCIENCE AND NATURE WRITING 2010.

For 13 years Jim roamed the American West as the Rocky Mountain Ranger for The Denver Post, which took him through 500,000 miles, 7,665 sunsets and 87 pairs of Levis. In 1997, Carrier bought a sailboat, named it Ranger, and set out to sail the Pacific. He diverted to Alabama because of a hate crime against a black man. Volunteering at the Southern Poverty Law Center, he wrote Ten Ways to Fight Hate, a community guide distributed to one million officials and human rights activists. In 1999, Carrier developed Tolerance.org, which has won two Webbys for activist Web sites.

In 2002, Carrier sailed Ranger across the Atlantic and into the Mediterranean, journeys chronicled in Cruising World magazine. In 2003 he combined his love of navigation and story telling in IntelliTours, a technology company that created GPS-guided audio tours.

In 2005, after losing his home and office in Hurricane Katrina, he returned to Montgomery where he wrote, directed and narrated, Faces in the Water, a documentary film featured in the Civil Rights Memorial Center.

Carrier and his daughter, Amy, descend from Martha Carrier who was hanged as a witch in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. Carrier resides in Madison, Wisconsin with his wife, Trish O'Kane, a journalist and PhD candidate in environmental studies at the University of Wisconsin. In Madison he founded the nonprofit Wisconsin Film School (www.wisconsinfilmschool.org) and Wild Warner (www.wildwarner.org). Jim is an avid banjo player and cook.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

48 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A thoroughly reseached tale of a tall ship and her crew, October 23, 2000

By 

Dean Dey (Lewes, DE USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Ship and the Storm (Hardcover)

This book tells the story of the Sailing Vessel Fantome, and its final encounter with Hurricane Mitch. This story is more compelling than Perfect Storm, in that much of what happened to the ship and crew is known. The majesty of tall ships adds to the dramatic atmosphere in a way a fishing boat cannot. This thoroughly researched and documented story is more meaningful and interesting than Isaac's Storm because of the timeliness and contemporary interviews.

This is a story of the most basic man versus nature. It is easier to follow this storm than the one in Perfect Storm. Hurricane Mitch was followed by the modern world from its earliest moments to its predatory fury over Honduras.

Jim Carrier has carefully researched and told the story of the Fantome and her history. He has recounted the last month of the ship and its aftermath without any of the sensationalism and second-guessing that was common in so much of the press and in magazine articles afterwards. And finally, he applied "Forensic Journalism" to draw some conclusions about those moments that we don't know what happened. This is a story that is a fine addition to anyone with an interest in stories of the sea and human drama. Of course, those who have been fortunate to sail on the tall ships will insist on owning this book.

As I read this book, I was sailing aboard the S/V Polynesia, another ship of the Windjammer/Barefoot Fleet. To my east, two hurricanes were on the prowl. This added to the chill of reading this book. I knew the Fantome and her crew, and they have a permanent place in my heart. I followed the news closely and shared it with others. I imagined myself in Captain Guyan's place, and thought of the decisions that he would have made. And I cried with the memories as Amazing Grace was played when the sails went up.

Jim Carrier had done a remarkable job with his research and this book. Once you read this book, you will understand the truth and the known details of what happened to this beautiful ship and her crew.

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Human Wreckage of Hurricane Mitch..., December 10, 2000

By 

L. Alper (Englewood CO) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Ship and the Storm (Hardcover)

In "The Ship & the Storm" Jim Carrier has given us a valuable memorial to a tragic loss of life. Additionally, it is an exciting page turner which vividly describes the experience of a killer hurricane.

Hurricane Mitch devastated Honduras in October 1998. As readers discover in this book, it also amazed seasoned hurricane researchers with it's unpredictability & bizarre readings. In 24 hours Mitch exploded from being a tropical wave that weathermen were writing off as it weakened, into a killer Category 4 hurricane that would become one of the strongest ever recorded.

Meanwhile, off the coast of Honduras, Windjammer Cruises' flag ship "the Fantome" was herding it's flock of vacationers thru the Bay Islands of Honduras. The Captain, Guyan Marsh, was the "golden boy" of Windjammer, beloved by both crew & passengers. Jim Carrier introduces us to Guyan & the crewmembers. We come to know them as individuals & care about them. We also get to experience Fantome's last 2 cruises day by day thru the eyes of her passengers.

"The Ship & the Storm" builds suspense inexorably, alternating between the Fantome & the hurricane watchers in Miami. When Mitch & Fantome do meet, the descriptive passages of what the experience of a Category 5 hurricane is like will terrify you.

The author is extremely fair, refusing to assign blame for the loss of the Fantome to anyone. The most valuable aspect of "The Ship & the Sea" tho, is as a memorial to the wonderful crew of Fantome. Guyan Marsh & his men sound like exceptional people, & the world is a lesser place for having lost them.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A gift from Carrier to all who sailed the Fantome, November 27, 2000

By 

Christopher T Fisher (Powell, OH United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Ship and the Storm (Hardcover)

It's hard to be unbiased having honeymooned on the Fantome, but I think most readers will agree - this is a good book. For me, it brought some closure to the story that I have followed since first hearing that Fantome was missing. I had searched the internet, the wire services, Windjammer's chat room for news as the drama of Mitch unfolded. Like flotsam and jetsam of the wreckage, news of Fantome's demise came in incomplete pieces. This book assembles these pieces from several perspectives and does an admirable job of illuminating Fantome's storm shrouded fate. Jammers will certainly enjoy the book, but Carrier's book transcends the Windjammer audience. Carrier has crafted a compelling story illustrating the irony of judgement based on the advanced technology of hurricane forecasting to pilot an anachronistic tall ship into the eye of one of the century's most destructive storms.