The Ship and the Storm: Hurricane Mitch and the Loss of the Fantome
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Product Description
"Utterly compulsive and unputdownable--the most exciting, authentic, and humanly moving of all the recent Storm books. Brilliantly paced and perfectly balanced. . . . Carrier is a marvelously trustworthy narrator. . . . A terrific book."--Jonathan Raban, author of Passage to Juneau: A Sea and Its Meanings and Bad Land: An American Romance "A wonderful story. An extremely well-written account of the events as I knew them. I commend Jim Carrier for a magnificent job."--Jerry D. Jarrell, Director, National Hurricane Center In October 1998, the majestic schooner Fantome came face-to-face with one of the most savage storms in Atlantic history. The last days of the Fantome are reconstructed in vivid and heartbreaking detail through Jim Carrier's extensive research and hundreds of personal interviews. What emerges is a story of courage, hubris, the agony of command, the weight of lives versus wealth, and the advances of science versus the terrible power and unpredictability of nature.
Spotlight Customer Reviews:
Summary:
Chilling Account
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Comment:
I had the occaision to sail through a storm on the Fantome several years before it went to the bottom. I remember some of the crew from my trip and I have many photos of the ship and its crew before, during, and after our storm. The book brought back some chilling memories. If you ever sailed the Fantome or other ships in Barefoot Cruises fleet you will find this an engrossing read.
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Summary:
the ship and the storm
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Comment:
Excellent book for those who have traveled on the windjammer cruises. The description of the rooms - very true and the daily working of the ship very well deswcribed. Good book
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Summary:
Refreshes memories
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Comment:
Having been aboard the Fantome in the 70s. I heard stories about her sinking. It is a sad to know the details. With the woes of the Windjammer fleet it is a shame that many future generations may never see or have the opportunity to be on board a true sailing ship. This book is a great tribute to the people who gave this experience to many of us in a safe and fun manner.
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Summary:
Hurricane Mitch and the Fantom, April 3, 2007
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Comment:
Jim Carrier tells the story of The Ship and the Storm by using crew accounts, passenger interviews, surviving crew relatives and official weather related records.
Anchored in the quiet waters of the Bay at Omoa, Honduras passengers excitedly board the Windjammer Cruise Ship Fantome. Feted with the finest cuisine and free flowing rum swizzle the fun and excitement is just beginning as the tall ship prepares to sail from one tropical paradise to another.
Two mornings later as the Fantomes' guests finished their Bloody Mary and sticky bun breakfast a weather station on the West Coast of Africa was recording a drop in the barometric pressure. The Miami Hurricane Center labeled the system #46 and indicated in the margin that it was impressive.
One week later on the evening of October 17, 1998 while Fantome passengers partied tropical wave 46 was moving west past Barbados in the Windward Islands. A day later the National Hurricane Center using satellite pictures and computer models predicts that tropical wave 46 will become a hurricane.
October 21st the day Fantome arrived at the island of Guanaja off the north shoulder of Honduras a C-130 Hurricane Hunter located a weather system created by wave 46 and notified Miami that they had located a tropical depression.
However, weather in the Western Caribbean is good and Fantome passengers were still enjoying their cruise vacation. But change came the next morning and Captain Guyan March advises crew and passengers on the report of the storm.
BULLETIN: 5AM EDT SAT OCT 24, 1998. MITCH STRENGTHENS RAPIDLY INTO A HURRICANE
Storm tracks in the direction of Cuba and the Cayman Islands and forecasters are calling Mitch a potentially dangerous hurricane.
Fantome was at Omoa, Honduras where locals advised Captain March to drop both anchors and stay in port. March consults his boss in Miami by phone.
October 25th National Hurricane Center forecasters are dumbfounded by the rapid escalation from a low intensity storm to a Category 4 hurricane within a 24-hour period.
Following prolonged discussions with Windjammer Headquarters in Miami it was decided to cancel the Fantomes' cruise. Passenger safety was uppermost in their minds and they discharged the passengers at Belize City. They didn't consider Belize a safe harbor to ride out the storm so Fantome with 31 crewmembers aboard left Belize to try and outmaneuver the storm.
Hurricane Mitch was coming up on Swan Island and conventional wisdom as well as the National Hurricane Centers computer models predicts that the storm will turn to the northwest. Fantome headed southeast from Belize toward the Bay Islands north of Honduras and had the storm tracked to the northwest as was expected there would have been plenty of separation between the ship and the storm. But the monster storm called Mitch with a mind of its own defied convention and turned south where it continued to spin its Category 4 and sometimes 5 winds over the waters and islands destroying everything in it's path. High winds and waves produced by the storm extended out some 200 miles from its center. Fantomes' engines and Captain March's skilled seamanship was no match for the tall waves and winds produced by Hurricane Mitch. Eventually the powerful waves broadside Fantome and breach the ships watertight bulkheads.
The story of The Ship and the Storm is tragically compelling.
Tom Barnes author of "Doc Holliday's Road to Tombstone."
"The Hurricane Hunters and Lost in the Bermuda Triangle."
"The Goring Collection."
The Hurricane Hunters And Lost in the Bermuda Triangle
Doc Holliday's Road to Tombstone: The Life and Times of John Henry Holliday
The Goring Collection
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Summary:
the ship and the storm
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Comment:
The Fantome was the first windjammer ship that I sailed on in 1983. Being the first ship I always compared other ships to her. The book is about a small group of brave men trying to save a gallant lady!
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