This on-the-spot narrative of the February 1997 loss of
three U.S. Coast Guardsmen from the Quillayute River Station during a
maritime rescue is both a commemoration and a report of the failure of
the Coast Guard's senior leadership to appreciate and support the work
of enlisted men and women at often remote and dangerous small-boat
stations.
The first in-depth look at a small-boat maritime rescue
by the U.S. Coast Guard, this book is also the first to describe the
role of those at small-boat rescue stations and of the policy setters at
Coast Guard headquarters in Washington, D.C. Its author was in the
right place at the right time on a night when everything went wrong.
From the first alarm to the dramatic helicopter rescue of the crew of a
foundering sailboat, from the onshore rescue of the sole survivor of the
first dispatched Coast Guard crew to the tragic losses, this
man-against-the-sea tale is told largely in the words of the
participants and others who were with author Dennis Noble at the station
near La Push, Washington, on the night the tragedy unfolded.
Noble
also provides an analysis of the state of the Coast Guard, how its
current problems have developed, and what effect they have on the
service's operations. As the story unfolds, the views of senior enlisted
personnel at the station paint a picture of an overworked small-boat
rescue force and their feelings toward what they perceive as a distant,
and in many cases unaware, officer corps. Noble contrasts these
perspectives with those voiced by the investigating commissioned
officers and higher-ups at Coast Guard headquarters.
Illustrated
with 29 photos and maps, Noble's contribution to the annals of maritime
history is a riveting account of extraordinary heroism in the face of
regrettable human tragedy.