Until the Sea Shall Free Them: Life, Death, And Survival In The Merchant Marine

by Robert Frump

A devastating disaster at sea . . . an officer who refuses to hide the truth. . . a courtroom confrontation with far-reaching implications . . . The Perfect Storm meets A Civil Action in a gripping account of one of the most significant shipwrecks of the twentieth century.

In 1983 the Marine Electric , a “reconditioned” World War II vessel, was on a routine voyage thirty miles off the East Coast of the United States when disaster struck. As the old coal carrier sank, chief mate Bob Cusick watched his crew–his friends and colleagues–succumb to the frigid forty-foot waves and subzero winds of the Atlantic. Of the thirty-four men aboard, Cusick was one of only three to survive. And he soon found himself facing the most critical decision of his whether to stand by the Merchant Marine officers’ unspoken code of silence, or to tell the truth about why his crew and hundreds of other lives had been unnecessarily sacrificed at sea.

Like many other ships used by the Merchant Marine, the Marine Transport Line's Marine Electric was very old and made of “dirty steel” (steel with excess sulfur content). Many of these vessels were in terrible condition and broke down frequently. Yet the government persistently turned a blind eye to the potential dangers, convinced that the economic return on keeping these ships was worth the risk.
Cusick chose to blow the whistle.

Until the Sea Shall Free Them re-creates in compelling detail the wreck of the Marine Electric and the legal drama that unfolded in its wake. With breathtaking immediacy, Robert Frump, who covered the story for the Philadelphia Inquirer , describes the desperate battle waged by the crew against the forces of nature. Frump also brings to life Cusick's internal struggle. He knew what happened to those who spoke out against the system, knew that he too might be stripped of his license and prosecuted for "losing his ship," yet he forged ahead. In a bitter lawsuit with owners of the ship, Cusick emerged victorious. His expose of government inaction led to vital reforms in the laws regarding the safety of ships; his courageous stand places him among the unsung heroes of our time.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Maritime, Survival, Nautical, Adventure, Audiobook

352 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

“It was not his time. [Bob] Cusick knows this and only this for certain…He does not believe in a God who reaches down and singles someone out. He believes in a God who creates tides, waves, strong men, weak men, songs, gravity, greed, grain, and anchors and chains, and then washes them all together…”
- Robert Frump, Until the Sea Shall Free Them: Life, Death, and Survival in the Merchant Marine

In early October 2015, I got a breaking news alert on my phone that caught my attention. The container ship El Faro, owned by TOTE Maritime, had sailed into Hurricane Joaquin, but had not come out the other side. Something happened amid wind and wave; something terrible happened near the eye wall of that hurricane.

Ships have something called a Voyage Data Recorder that records conversation on the bridge. Unlike an airplane’s CVR, the VDR runs throughout the voyage. It captured the final moment's on the doomed ship's bridge. At first, even in the midst of a tremendous blow, there remained an air of calm confidence. Things began to spiral after the captain reported a hatch had blown off, and water was coming in. At 7:29 a.m., the captain rings the abandon ship. At 7:31 a.m., you hear him yelling “Get off! Get off the ship! Stay together!” The helmsman is scared, yells “Help me!” at 7:36 a.m. The captain responds “Don’t panic. Don’t panic… You’re okay. Don’t freeze up.” At 7:38, the helmsman asks the captain if he’s leaving them. “I’m not leaving you,” the captain responds. “Let’s go!” A low frequency rumble begins. The last clear words, screamed by the captain at 7:39 a.m., are “It’s time to come this way!”

Then the sea took them.

Thirty-three people died when the ship slipped below the surface of the Atlantic. It didn't seem like something that could happen in 2015, to one of those monstrous ships. They have radar and 24-hour weather forecasts and all the lessons of hundreds of years of sailing built into them.

I followed the story obsessively. There came a point where I’d be in my room, late at night, squinting at a computer screen with my office door closed. My wife would burst in, expecting me to be watching pornography. Instead, she found me – perhaps just as disturbingly – following every word of the U.S. Coast Guard Marine Board Investigation.

To listen to these hearings, or read the transcripts, is to enter a world most of us don’t think about, yet play such a huge role in our lives. Globalization happens because of these ships. We can get cheap products from all over the world because of these ships. I wanted to know more about this world. I started looking for books.

I found Robert Frump’s Until the Sea Shall Free Them.

Unlike the El Faro, the Marine Electric was a coal carrier plying the coastal trade. She was not a fancy modern vessel, but a converted World War II-era Liberty Ship. She had an old bow, an old stern, and a newer midsection welded in between. Like the El Faro, she met a tragic end. On February 12, 1983, just 30 miles offshore, the Marine Electric ran into a storm. After helping the Coast Guard find a small fishing boat, the Marine Electric found trouble herself. She took on water. Her bow rose a little less in the surging ocean. The captain ordered the ship abandoned. The Marine Electric went down fast.

Only three men out of thirty-four were plucked from the sea, despite the best efforts of a crazy-brave Navy rescue swimmer. (The Coast Guard did not yet have a rescue swimmer program; that was one of the changes to follow the foundering of the Marine Electric). One of those survivors was Chief Mate Robert Cusick. Following a daring swim from his stricken vessel, he lucked onto a lifeboat, which got him out of the murderously cold water. He kept his spirits by singing Stan Rogers’ Mary Ellen Carter, a lost-ship ballad that gives Gordon Lightfoot a run for his money.

At the Marine Board Inquiry, the owners of the Marine Electric, Marine Transport Lines, tried to argue the ship had run aground, damaging her hull. Chief Bob Cusick surprised everyone by refusing to toe the company line. He testified to the criminally shoddy condition of the Marine Electric. Holes in the deck. Hatch covers that didn't fit. A barely-floating coffin that kept getting passed during inspections because sailing these old ships helped their owners make a profit. For his temerity, Marine Transport Lines tried to ruin Bob Cusick.

Until the Sea Shall Free Them tells this story, and much more.

Frump’s book came out in 2001, and certainly got lost in the shadow of Sebastian Junger’s bestselling The Perfect Storm, published in 1997 and turned into a Wahlberg-Clooney blockbuster in 2000. There are times – right down to the epigrams before each chapter – where you can sense Frump aping Junger’s style. I’m here to tell you he needn’t have bothered. This book stands on its own as one of the best sea stories I’ve ever read. It might be better than The Perfect Storm, and The Perfect Storm has long been one of my favorites.

At the time of the sinking, Frump was a journalist for the Philadelphia Inquirer under famed editor Gene Roberts. In the aftermath of the Marine Electric, Roberts unleashed his investigative journalists on the U.S. Merchant Marine, exposing the deplorable conditions of the ships, and the collusion of the U.S. Coast Guard in allowing them to continue to sail. That reportage is the genesis for this book; yet this goes far beyond a journalistic expose.

Frump begins with the final voyage of the Marine Electric, her sinking, and the valiant rescue attempt by the USCG. He handles the sinking with aplomb, combining scientific factoids (the fast and fatal process of hypothermia) with unforgettable images (a cluster of dead men kept afloat by their life preservers, their arms moving in the waves, so it looked as though they were beckoning for help).

Dramatically, the Marine Electric’s last night should have been the book’s peak. But in my opinion, things only get better when Frump moves ashore. He does an excellent job laying out the history of the U.S. Merchant Marine, sprinkling in tales of daring (during WWII, the USMM suffered casualty rates comparable to the U.S. Marines), and tales of neglect that ended in lost ships and lost lives. Frump structures the Marine Board of Inquiry like an old fashioned courtroom battle, while also delivering an astute systems analysis.

Frump is scrupulously evenhanded, and delivers the story from every point of view. There are no endnotes, so I can only assume that he talked to everyone, since all sides are represented. At its heart, Until the Sea Shall Free Them revolves around Bob Cusick standing up to his company’s misdeeds. But Frump puts those misdeeds into context. He presents the corporate side, how ship owners had to deal with powerful unions and protectionist laws. He gives the union side, with sailors forced to choose between sailing an unsafe ship or finding a new career. He gives the Coast Guard view, especially from the perspective of Marine Board Judge Domenic Calicchio, an indefatigable advocate of maritime safety. Frump even manages to be sympathetic to the lawyers involved.

I found Frump to be an excellent writer. At times this comes across as overwritten, as it strives for lyricism. That’s all right with me. There is ambition in the style, and I respect that.

Until the Sea Shall Free Them is filled with memorable characterizations. It’s beating heart, though, is Bob Cusick. He made for an unlikely hero. At the time of the sinking, he was a portly man in later middle age; not quite the image you have of someone able to defeat the terrific primal forces of cold, and wind, and water. He comes across as competent, intelligent, humble, and capable of deep insights. For whatever reason, his saga hit me in just the right way. I found his post-sinking journey through the thickets of grief and survival to be heart-achingly poignant. Frump weaves his ruminations into a final lament on the fragile edges upon which life is lived.

“A lifeboat drifts this way, a good man turns that way. A wave washes a line over here, a man reaches out over there. He hears a song. He is saved or lost. A good man acts, a weak man does not. Life and God wash together all the good and bad little things. Together, those little things can say when, where, and why. Save men. Drown men. Keep systems. Change systems. Say in their sum what will happen, to a man, to a society.

Your time is either up or it is not.”

[Eric_W · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Marine Electric was a very old ship, originally a WW II tanker which had been converted to carrying coal up the east coast. Trains would deliver it to the ship and then the ship would haul it to Boston. The coal would be carefully loaded to prevent "hogging" (too much weight fore and aft) and "sagging" (too much weight in the center. Both conditions could be quite dangerous at sea. Every trip the mate noted a few more cracks in the hatch covers. The owners were a good company but they were building a brand new replacement and no one wanted to spend a lot on the old lady.

The crew had even warned the Coast Guard but the inspectors were careful not to trip over the defects while failing to mention them on their reports. The crew scrapped and painted but sometimes scrapping through the rust revealed daylight.

The inevitable happened. A huge winter storm, a magnificent blizzard with high winds and awful conditions caused water to ship over the bow and then into the hold through a cracked hatch cover. Soon the bow was down, and the ship developed a list. Inevitability the crew were forced to abandon ship, but the ship capsized so quickly all the engine room crew could not escape quickly enough to escape and went down with the ship. Most of the others were thrown into the 33-degree seas, Then to make things worse, they were pushed under the deckhouse as the ship rolled over. In this situation, life jackets made things worse because then pushed the sailor toward the surface against the deckhouse.

Lifeboats such a reassuring word: life-boat. Regretfully, the little known truth about them is that once in a lifeboat, it's extremely difficult to get people out, especially if conditions are not ideal (and why get into one if conditions are good?) They bash up against hulls of larger ships attempting rescue, they are often hard to launch, even the new ones can turn turtle, making them prone to sink, altogether not a really good experience for anyone.

There was a truism in the Merchant Marine: "First the Coast Guard heroically rescues officers from sinking ships. Then they line up the officers in front of Marine Boards of Investigation. And summarily shoot them." Only three people survived the sinking of the Marine Electric. Someone had to take the fall, and by golly, it wouldn't be the company that owned the ship. The case of the Smith Voyager is illustrative. She was carrying grain and fitted only with plywood dividers and loaded beyond the Plimpson level contrary to the master's orders. The owners insisted. The ship began taking on water during a storm and the grain then shifted causing a further list. The courts ruled against the owners, but the Coast Guard overruled the court and charged everything against the master's responsibility.

"...unsteady ships were being sent to sea under great pressure from the owners, . . .yet it was not the owners who were blamed or the old, inform ships themselves. The operational managers--the officers-- were blamed for the sins of the system. system. Years later, Dr. Charles Perrow, a Yale University professor of sociology, would write a book entitled Normal Accidents and find that this behavior was typical in the maritime system, a system that alone among major industrial bureaucracies was actually organized to induce errors, not correct them.An enterprising Perrow student, Leo Tasca, had painstakingly examined four Marine Board of Investigation cases and their findings. Then he took the same cases and analyzed how they came out in courts of law. In each case, the owners and operators were found clearly liable and paid handsome sums. Yet the heart of each case was essentially ignored by the marine boards. The results were so clear-cut, said Perrow, who previously had viewed the Coast Guard as above reproach, that he could only conclude the Coast Guard was “highly biased” toward owners.

The editor of the Philadelphia Inquirer had a special interest in following maritime stories or the story of the Marine Electric probably would never have been covered at all. He was also the best editor for the story, one who supported the reporters with whatever they needed and let them go deep into the story. They soon discovered that the class of ships the Marine Electric was part of, had been know as "sinkers," having been built of "dirty" steel and the age of the ship had not made it any cleaner. Now the iron was "tired", too. There were three survivors and soon the battle lines were drawn. "The law was clear. The company was liable if the company knew unseaworthy conditions existed. But if the officers knew and did not communicate that to the company, well, case law was clear there, too. If the company paid at all, the sum was millions less. They had no “privity” of the knowledge that the ship was unseaworthy."

When the Maritime Board began its hearing, there was one hero present, Commander Calicchio, a man who would probably never be promoted to Captain in the Coast Guard because he had a tendency to do things the right way because they were the right thing to do, not because they were expedient or political. When in charge of the Florida ports, he had forced cruise ship owners to increase the number of lifeboats with a simple demonstration of how the regulations had been designed by formulas for the average person under average conditions. The story of how he did it is worth the price of the book. He knew the problem was the system: "Mostly, he thought, the proliferation of rules was designed to cover the ass of the brass and then assign blame to people who weren’t really to blame at all. A thousand passengers died because they couldn’t get to the lifeboats soon enough? They would call a Marine Board and cruise through a buffet of regulations to see whom they could blame. You could bet the captain and the officers would go down on something like that. You could bet there would be more rules and regulations, when the simple fact was right in front of you: There weren’t enough lifeboats."

I won't do any more spoiling by detailing the hearing board and its decision.

This is a really good book: lots of maritime history, personal anecdotes, a trial, stormy seas, a couple of heroes, explanation of a system fraught with problems, and nicely put together. Terrific read.

[Judi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This true story has it all... a devastating disaster at sea, an officer who refuses to hide the truth, courtroom drama, and how all of this changed the Merchant Marine ships. In 1983, the Marine Electric went down 30 miles off the east coast. Thirty four men died, three survived. One of the three had the courage and determination to tell the truth about the abysmal conditions of the Merchant Marine ships in order to stop all of the sinkings and deaths that had continued for years due to the blind eye of the government and the huge shipping owners. The most amazing part of this story is the fact that this man, Bob Cusick, lived in Hillsboro with his family, and he passed away only 2 months ago. I was privileged to know him his wife and daughter, and I highly recommend this book. It is a compelling and fascinating book that took me inside a profession that I knew little about.

[Corinne Johnston · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sometimes when we hear about ship disasters, we focus so much attention on the mighty battleshps and battlecruisers, or the RMS Titanic, RMS Lusitania or the Empress of Ireland collision.

In World War two, dozens of T-2 Tankers were built for the sole purpose of helping take much needed supplies to the Allies. One brave and crippled T-2 Tanker made it into port, literally leaning on two destroyers. The tide of the Battle near Libya changed with the arrival of that tanker, now the allies had fuel and the Germsns did not. Forced to fall back due to lack of fuel

After the war, the T-2 Tankers were converted into bulk carriers that sailed the East Coast of The United States for a number of years. But the T-2 Tankers had a fatal flaw. Sulphur mixed in with the steel when they were built meant that they could not go from warm salty water (T-2 Tankers SS Fort Mercer and SS Pendleton split into two on the same night in the same storm - covered in Robert Frump's excellent novel 'Two Tankers Down). Many of the men who sailed on T-2 Tankers were afraid but what could they do - like miners, firefighters and police officers among others, they needed to feed their families.

The SS Marine Electric and her sister ship the SS Marine Marine Sulphur Queen were converted T-2 tankers and both of them broke in half. None of the Sulphur Queen's crew. but there were survivors of the Marine Electric and they stood up to management on behalf of those who didn't make it.

Only four T-2 Tankers are left and soon they will be retired and scrapped, which is the right thing to do. Thank you Mr. Frump for opening our eyes to dangerous job the merchant marines are.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent book. Well researched and characters were well developed. An incredible story and meaningful conclusion. I would recommend this book to anyone.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was assigned as a Coast Guard reservist in Buffalo, New York, and I found this book on the shelf of a Coast Guard marine inspector at that base. That was ironic, as the author criticized the Coast Guard for being too cozy with the merchant marine industry in the early 1980s, and for allowing ships to sail that were in poor condition. Perhaps the book's presence on that shelf, though, was emblematic of the change that occurred, in part due to the series of articles the author and others wrote for The Philadelphia Inquirer after the sinking of the SS Marine Electric off the coast of Virginia in 1983. Robert Frump does an excellent job of capturing some of the challenges of the U.S. merchant marine fleet and industry, the horror of the capsizing and sinking, personalities of the survivors, and the tensions during the Marine Board of Investigation into the Marine Electric disaster. He captures the change that increased the professionalism of marine inspectors, and that got rid of the old, tired T-2 tankers that were long past their prime. This book is well worth the time for those who have an interest in the merchant marine industry, shipboard life, the Coast Guard, and how bureaucracies do and do not work. I was glad to have stumbled upon the book.

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

This would not have been a book I would typically read, but I had run out of reading material on the long flight back from Africa, so Phil gave me this one. As a true story it contained plenty of technical details about ships and the Merchant Marines. What I liked best was how the ordinary seaman and their families whose lives had been so affected by this tragedy DID win out in the end and good came from their loss.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

An in-depth account of the sinking of a merchant ship off the coast of Virginia and the subsequent investigation. Written by an investigative journalist, it is an indictment of the U.S. Merchant Marine, greedy shipowners, and lax enforcement of safety regulations by the Coast Guard.

[Mike Rad · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a phenomenal non fiction narrative about a ship sinking that changed the course of history. It was a enthralling read that had me engaged end to end. If you love the sea or have any association with professional mariners it’s an absolutely great read.

[Marcelmuise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Should be required reading at CG Inspector school.

[Kaitlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible story and phenomenal read. I cannot stress enough the importance of this book for anyone in the maritime industry. Even for those who are not, an amazing book.

[Cropredy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the third book I've recently read on the nexus between sea disasters and the commercial ship business. The best was Into the Raging Sea: Thirty-Three Mariners, One Megastorm, and the Sinking of El Faro but I also recommend Dead in the Water: A True Story of Hijacking, Murder, and a Global Maritime Conspiracy.

With Until the Sea Shall Free Them you get a story you most likely do not know that occurred 1983-85. The backdrop is a worn-out WW II tanker converted to be a bulk carrier (coal in this case) that set sail in February 1983 on a milk run from Philadelphia to Boston. The sailors liked this duty as it meant they weren't at sea too long and would always be close to shore (and Coast Guard rescue) in case something went awry with the rust bucket vessel.

And rust bucket it was - one hole had been patched with a coffee can top and another hole was circled with white paint to ensure the inspectors would see it (yet they walked right over it and approved the ship for sailing). And there were lots more issues.

Well, something did go wrong one night in a Force 10 storm and the ship rolled over and sank.

Without giving away any spoilers, the book is divided into three parts

(1) The voyage, sinking, and rescue attempts

(2) The aftermath and investigation

(3) The court cases and clash between vested interests - ship owners, Coast Guard, mariners.

Part (1) kept me up past my bedtime. Parts (2) and (3) were fascinating and an excellent narrative of how two individuals changed the safety trajectory of the American Merchant Marine despite intense pressure to do nothing, to be "business-as-usual". You'll see the corporate legal machinations to pin the blame on the crew for not safely operating the ship (when it was the owners who refused to refurbish the ship to be "whole" as opposed to "hole-y").

The book was written by the head of the Philadelphia Inquirer's investigative team (book was published in 2001). Their (expensive) expansive coverage of the sinking and aftermath was instrumental in supporting the reform efforts. Such local journalism might be unimaginable today.

No photos or maps. You'll learn a lot about US merchant marine accidents (disasters really) post WW-II. They are like aviation disasters except the victims are entirely the crew and since the public doesn't sail on merchant ships, less newsworthy. The book will make you think more about this part of our supply chain.

Recommended.

[Bizzy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is partly a disaster/rescue story, partly courtroom drama, and partly an exploration of the psychological toll of being one of few survivors of a disaster, and I was impressed that Frump could write about all three subjects so compellingly and weave them together into one overarching narrative. Frump managed to take a long, complicated, and highly technical process by the Marine Board of Investigation and make it not only digestible but also informative and entertaining. As a lawyer, I know I’m predisposed to find amusement in trial transcripts that would probably bore other people to death, but some of the hearing scenes probably could have worked on Law & Order, except with the bonus of being accurate and not embellished. Not every nonfiction writer could create tension and humor out of a cross-examination of an expert witness testifying about anchor chains. And the description of the conditions the Coast Guard pilots and Navy divers had to endure was harrowing, and a true testament to their skill and dedication.

I’m also glad the book was written long enough after the disaster that details about the long-term consequences were available, because it strengthened the book’s already strong message about failings in maritime law and regulation and the price paid by mariners just trying to do their jobs.

Most of all, I appreciated the deeply personal, nuanced story of Bob Cusick, the highest ranking officer who survived the sinking of the Marine Electric, of his testimony before the Board, and of his decision to go back to sea after the disaster. Disaster books often gloss over these details, focusing instead on what went wrong and the conclusions the author wants to impart on the reader. This book did have those elements as well, but they would have been less memorable and impactful if we hadn’t gotten to see things through Cusick’s eyes.

[Pat Watt · Rating 5 out of 5]

A real page turner, for everyone interested in ships and shipping. Throughly well done investigative reporting. Aging WWII tankers had been kept going with duct tape and sealing wax for decades and still certified seaworthy despite numerous sinkings and huge loss of life. These rusty tankers shipped coal, grain, and other loose cargo around the world regardless of their deteriorating condition year after year. Until, one survivor and a Coast Guard judge produced the last straw. They, with the help of Philadelphia Inquirer reporters, forced US regulators to finally call the owners, agents, unions, Coast Guard and Bureau of Shipping inspectors to account, and required them to give equal weight to safety instead of eking out the last almighty dollar at all costs.

[Jen Benoit · Rating 5 out of 5]

I typically don’t read non- fiction, but I have come to know one of the survivors of this tragedy quite well. When he told me his story and mentioned this book, I knew it was essential to read more. I’m so grateful to have worked with him, and I truly feel forever changed. This is a must read!

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

A recounting of tragedy on the sea, with the sinking of the converted WWII tanker Marine Electric in the 1980s, and the loss of most onboard. But the book also details how journalists reported on the disaster to expose the broken regulatory system that allowed ancient, broken ships to be patched up and sent out, over and over again, to face the deadly seas.

[Dawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I knew almost nothing about the Merchant Marine when I started this book and learned an incredible amount about how shipping works. A fascinating subject and some very impressive people were involved in making the business better and safer.

[Kay Wells · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book based on the American Merchant Marinesailing vessel. The book tells about the family and victims of some of the crew working aboard the Marine Electic ship. The rescue coast guard and finally bringing it all to a head the court proceedings. Good Read.

[Lois · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was led to this by references in Into the Raging Sea to the Marine Electric disaster, with which I was unfamiliar. Now I am only sorry I read that book first. This is really very well done and sets the stage for some of the issues which redounded during the El Faro disaster.

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

My second book regarding Coast Guard and downed ships. This one happening in 1983 along the north east atlantic coast. The marie electic an old T2 tanker just like the last book (The Finest Hour) which was more about the brave men who rescue vs this one about the old aging WWII era ships that should be retired and how a few different men finally stepped up and complained and force change.

I guess I can understand a bit about the longing to be out at sea, but yet it also appears to be a very different almost lonely life to some degree. At least it is a hard job on these tankers in the middle of winter for sure.

If you have an interest in the coast guard, and stories of survival and disaster at sea then this is a good read.

[alphonse p guardino · Rating 5 out of 5]

On 02/12/2018 I happened on an Instagram post commemorating the 35th anniversary of the SS Marine Electric's sinking. Shared the post in an unofficial SUNY Maritime alumni Facebook group. This book got mentioned in the comments.

Almost bought a copy at Amazon, but instead got it through the Suffolk County Library system. Picked it up late Friday afternoon and finished it by noon on Sunday. The book was well researched. And reading about the SS Marine Electric brought back memories of the one time I shipped on a US cargo ship. I suspect that if I'd read this book first I would have run away instead of boarding. But I sailed in the SS Samuel Chase from November 1979 to March 1980, almost three years before the SS Marine Electric sank.

[Jtufts · Rating 4 out of 5]

Started listening to this audiobook after finishing Rachel Slade’s “Into the Raging Sea,” about the sinking of the El Faro. Expecting a similar structure, I was surprised when the Marine Electric had sunk and the book was only half over, or less. Meticulously researched, the book effectively combines an at-sea survival story with a courtroom drama, with a particular emphasis on the characters of the men and women who were involved at every level. While it would be hard to fault the thoroughness of Frump’s, the detail sometimes come at the expense of the narrative pacing. While not reflected in the rating, worth noting the narration on the audiobook at times made for a challenging listen.

[DeAnn Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Deep

I love the depth of this account of the loss of the Marine Electric. The minute by minute account of Cusick and Kelly's struggle for survival in that stormy sea is better than a 3D movie. I felt quite involved in the heroic struggles to change a failing system that kept junk ships cruising and loved how the author captured all sides to the story. And the fact that men held their ground, and moved that mountain to get safer ships for sea faring workers -- is graciously inspiring.

[Rose]

“Little actions, done or not done, make a difference. Little people, little acts. A small lie, a little compromise, a chain is broken, change dies, crashes, burns… Little people. Little decisions. Little quiet acts of courage. They would be done. Or not. Drops of water, little ones, formed a path down a mountain, coursed to make rivers. Little acts, small ones, formed cultures, coursed one way to form great tradition. Took another and soaked unseen into the ground.
Little acts made all the difference, but by their nature being little - rarely ever were they seen.”

[Alysia · Rating 4 out of 5]

At one point in his book, Frump writes that there has been no major marine casualty in the US fleet since Marine Electric went down so tragically. Well, that's not true any more, and unfortunately, reading this book is enough to help you guess what happened to El Faro without a single clue. The men who died when Marine Electric sank on top of them have a brave legacy of safety improvements, but we aren't there yet, and maybe never will be.

[Erik · Rating 5 out of 5]

There’s a lot of lenses to view this book: Harrowing disaster tale? Labor vs. capital? Plea for the importance of independent journalism?

Whatever your take, this is as fine a piece of craftsmanship as you find these days. Thorough but not overwrought, flowing but not terse, impassioned without being polemic - my only beef is the lack of sourcing. If I wanted to tell a tale in this vein, this is the model I’d start from.

[Amber Huppertz · Rating 5 out of 5]

wow- just wow!!

I have watched tv depictions of many ship sinking stories and especially, this one but the in depth stories and backgrounds were heart wrenching and uplifting at the same time.
I cried ,shook my fist and laughed along with all of the many various stories. My heart was so full and absolutely torn with the tragedy of unnecessarily lost lives just for the sake of money. How much is a life worth?
Well worth the read!!!

[K · Rating 4 out of 5]

A mindblowing and horrifying story. The first part (on sea) was hard to follow at times, as there were other stories in between, but still captivating. The second part (on land) made me angry, sad and absolutely shocked when I learned that there are connections to the Pendleton and Fort Mercer incidents (The Finest Hours movie). The biggest tragedy of all was and still is the bureaucracy and the limited options to change an established system.

[Ken · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maybe one of the best-researched books on the subject. I was a deep sea sailor in the 60s and 70s; the scenes and conversations among sailors rang true. I sailed some of the ships described accurately in this book. Frump was able to write it in great part because he had the support and guidance of a great newspaper. He acknowledges that more than once and I admire him for doing so.

[Bonita Braun · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent

Compelling story of a merchant ship that capsized in 1983 resulting finally, in the scrapping of old, un-seaworthy ships. Excellent organization, great job describing the character of the central participants. Easy to follow the marine jargon and the physics of the sinking.

Hard to put this book down.