2 May, 2014
May 20th 7pm at Hopkinton High School Auditorium
Author Michael Tougias will give a slide presentation on his new book The Finest Hours: The True Story of the U.S. Coast Guard’s Most Daring Sea Rescue. The Disney Corporation is making a movie based on the book. Tougias will also share the leadership lessons from this event that can help all of us in our decision-making. The program is part of Hopkinton’s “Desire to Inspire” community-wide initiative.
On February 18th, 1952 an astonishing maritime event began when a ferocious nor’easter split in half a 500-foot long oil tanker, the Pendleton, approximately one mile off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Incredibly, just twenty miles away, a second oil tanker, the Fort Mercer, also split in half. On both fractured tankers men were trapped on the severed bows and sterns, and all four sections were sinking in 60-foot seas. Thus began a life and death drama of survival, heroism, and a series of tragic mistakes. Of the 84 seamen aboard the tankers, 70 would be rescued and 14 would lose their lives. (Disney is making a movie of the Finest Hours and the book was a finalist for the Massachusetts Book Award, selected as a “must read”)
Michael Tougias, co-author of The Finest Hours, will use slides of the storm, the sinking tankers, the rescues, the victims, the survivors and the heroes to tell the story of this historic event.
“I enjoy doing these programs,” says Tougias, “because I like to transport the audience into the heart of the storm so that they ask themselves ‘what would I have done?’ Tougias goes on to say, “This event was--and still is-- the greatest and most daring sea rescue ever performed by the Coast Guard, and it happened right here off the New England coast. I felt this episode of heroism and tragedy needed to be told in its entirety because it’s an important piece of overlooked history. A book signing will follow the program, and the presentation is suitable for all ages.
Tougias has a new book just released from Simon and Schuster, Rescue of the Bounty, and two co-written books for both young adults and adults: Derek’s Gift: A True Story of Love, Courage and Lessons Learned, and The Cringe Chronicles: Mortifying Misadventures with My Dad (with Kristin Tougias) The author’s’ previous book Ten Hours Until Dawn: The True Story of Heroism and Tragedy Aboard the Can Do During the Blizzard of ‘78 received an Editor’s Choice Selection from the American Library Association which selected it as one of the top books of the year. Visit www.michaeltougias.com for more information.
