Until the Sea Shall Free Them (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "At the loading pier near Norfolk, Bob Cusick, the veteran chief mate, spread steam coal into the holds of the Marine Electric like a pastry..." (more)
Key Phrases: sea shall free, engine room guys, crack arrestors, Coast Guard, Marine Electric, Bob Cusick (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Beneath the surface of Frump's overblown, melodramatic writing style lies the intriguing story of Robert Cusick, one of only three crew members to survive the sinking of the Marine Electric, a coal ship that ran aground in the waters off Norfolk, Va., in 1983. Cusick knew that the vessel, a converted WWII rust bucket, was riddled with problems that had not been addressed by its owner. The book chronicles not only its foundering, but also Cusick's fight to expose the system that fostered such an avoidable tragedy, as Frump revisits the story for which he won two national reporting awards when he broke it for the Philadelphia Inquirer. While the account does boast a wealth of facts and details, it is undone by Frump's purple prose. In a typical passage, he writes, "And then, when Kelly could go no higher, as he tried to climb another rail that wasn't there, climb toward the sky away from it all, the sea was upon him. He bellowed into the storm with all his might.... A plaintive, savage, primordial cry, a desperate hollering for help, the sort of sound a zebra might make as the lions bring it down." Frump also employs a staccato, ersatz Hemingway tempo that quickly grows old: "The flames did not care. The steel did not care. Most particularly, the ocean did not care." While Cusick's struggle is noble, it is overshadowed and rendered ineffective by such histrionics.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Review

"...a first-rate account of the sinking of the Marine Electric." -- Steve Weinberg, TomPaine.com

"...a masterfully told tale...it makes...The Perfect Storm read like child's play." -- Jim Haner, The Baltimore Sun

"...a powerfully told story of a marine disaster, carries ''The Perfect Storm'' forward into ''A Civil Action.'' -- Michael Kenney, The Boston Globe

"...spellbinding and eloquent...Frump is a master reporter, and his prose grabs you and doesn't let you go." -- Mark Bowden, author, "Black Hawk Down"

"This is a story told with riveting intensity..."Until the Sea Shall Free Them" is maritime journalism at its best." -- Paul Stilwell, Paul Stillwell, author of "Battleship Arizona: an Illustrated History"

Frump...meticulously reconstructs the sinking...in this page turner. -- The Washington Post

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Doubleday; 1 edition (May 14, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385501161
• ISBN-13: 978-0385501163
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.1 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #255,101 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Publishers Weekly is Wrong, May 20, 2002

By A Customer

What was the reviewer from Publishers Weekly smoking? I read the excerpt from Men's Journal, read the favorable Washington Post review Sunday and just finished the book. It is wonderfully written and a riveting story. Anyone interested in what really goes on in the Merchant Marine should read this story.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A non-fiction page turner you won't put down., May 19, 2002

By	Brian P. Sullivan "bpsullivan" (Dana Point, CA United States) - See all my reviews

I received the book on Friday in the 4pm mail. Finished it on Saturday, 4 pm. In between I kept stealing time to relish the quick pace of "Until the Sea Shall Free Them." Frump knows his stuff, but doesn't bog the book down with insider jargon. This is journalism, not academia, and it reads like a novel. Too bad the owners of the Marine Electric and the Coast Guard bigwigs wouldn't talk - the lawsuits are all settled and the book would have benefited from their insights. But after reading the book, you won't doubt that this is a ship, like so many other rust buckets, that simply should not go to sea. Thanks in large part to this kind of excellent journalism, they won't, and lives will be saved as a result.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Truth IS stranger than fiction, May 21, 2002

By	Richard C. Hiscoc "R Hiscock" (Fairfax, VA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Robert Frump who with Tim Dwyer wrote an award wining series of articles entitled "Death Ships" about the American Merchant Marine and specifically the loss of the MARINE ELECTRIC for the "Philadelphia Inquirer" in 1983 has completed the story in his just published book "Until the Sea Shall Free Them - Life, Death, and Survival in the Merchant Marine."

This book is a must read for anyone interested in marine safety, and should be required reading for every Coast Guard cadet, officer (including the Commandant), inspector, investigator - anyone responsible for the safety of life and property at sea.

While the book is specifically about the loss of the MARINE ELECTRIC off the Virginia Capes in February 1983 and the survival of just three crewmembers it is more importantly the story of how 'the system' permitted an obviously unseaworthy vessel to go to sea and take the lives of 31 merchant mariners, including one young cadet who was just learning his way around the engine room.

But there are heroes in this story - including the author himself who persevered to write this book. Chief mate Bob Cusick who decide that the truth would set him free and told it. And Coast Guard Captain Dom Calicchio who as a member of the Marine Board was determined to discover what really happened and why. And Navy rescue swimmers Jim McCann who when beyond exhaustion went back and back into turbulent seas to rescue or recover the ill-fated crewmembers. (As a result of this casualty Congress required the Coast Guard to establish its own rescue swimmer program, and required immersion suits (called exposure suits in the original legislation) on all vessels operating on cold waters regardless of whether they had covered lifeboats.

The Marine Board's report on the loss of the MARINE ELECTRIC is the finest casualty report I have every read. But the book gives a behind the scenes look at what was going through the minds of the players.

Enough said. Read the book.