Customer Reviews

Simple Courage: The True Story of Peril on the Sea

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Even today at age 68 I can still remember the excitement and concern that my family felt 57 years ago for the Captain of the FLYING ENTERPRISE as his lonely ordeal was reported on local television night after night from a station in San Francisco. TV news coverage then was generally limited to 15 minutes per evening yet this drama was covered nightly for at least a week and was discussed daily by everyone we knew. Captain Carlsen became the hero of the hour as millions feared for his life. In recent years I have often wondered why this event was not the subject of a book and what had become of Captain Carlsen in later life. This fine book brought it all back for me and is a fitting tribute to an admirable life.

The author was about eight years old as this tale of sheer, uncorrupted courage and seamanship unfolded in the seas off the English Channel. I was nine and just 6 years later joined my first ship. However Delaney was a landlocked Irish kid with little connection to the sea, other than a kindly teasing Grandfather who, as an ex-stevedore, escorted Frank around the docks to see ships and seamen. I was born on an island in the Thames estuary in a family and a community of seafarers, Naval Officers and Marine Engineers. But he was as equally fascinated, obsessed and impressed with the unfolding drama to which we all eavesdropped, by courtesy of the BBC radio reports, presented in among the twice daily Shipping Forecast and News. As was pretty much the whole of Britain at the time.

Captain Kurt Carlsen declined to join his rescued crew and passengers and elected to fulfill what he saw as his simple duty to stand-by his wrecked vessel until he could bring it safely to port ... or she sunk. He was of that "Great Generation" mold and the vicious storms, in 1952, occurred while we were still on rationing for basic foodstuffs after WWII. His examples of sheer seamanship and professional ethics offered a hero and an honorable courage to respect, without the bloodshed of our wartime heroes, and a `role model' that could more easily be adopted as it was in an area of skills and an environment to which many of us could directly relate.

Delaney's book is well crafted, tells the tale in a straightforward chronological structure and does not avoid the various technicalities and terminology of the sea, the accident, the rescues attempts and the sad, frustrating but nearly inevitable end. It is in fact the ending, of his book, that creates a problem. He seems unable to let the story conclude and having identified a genuine hero then explores the nowadays almost equally inevitable need to pull him down. The introduction of the author's own troubled relationships with his father, the usual muck-racking and questioning of the motivation for Captain Carlsen's simple courage do not add to the book's worth and detract from the value the author crafts in recounting this hero's story.

I came across this book on a clearance shelf--what a find! The story is almost spell binding! From minute to minute, it feels like you are there, riding the endlessly threatening waves of the North Altantic. I actually felt seasick from time to time, and had to look up "at the horizon!" I loved The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger, so I figured I would enjoy this. This is a great story of bravery and determination, and not only by Captain Carlson! His crew, and the crews of the ships who were sent to assist in the rescue rose to the occasion as well. I highly recommend it!