Farallon: Shipwreck and Survival on the Alaska Shore

by Steve K. Lloyd, Frank Wright (Narrator)

In 1910, the Alaskan Steamship Company's Farallon struck Black Reef in Cook Inlet. The vessel carried no wireless radio to broadcast an SOS. Thirty-eight men scrambled into lifeboats, to be cast up on the rugged shore when they huddled under make-shift tents constructed from the Farallon's sails. Exposed to a bitter northern winter with meager equipment and clothing, a disturbing awareness sank in-rescuers may arrive too late.

In a daring attempt to find help, six men launched a lifeboat on the open sea. During two months of relentless travail, the brave mariners were all but given up for lost.

One of the stranded men created a startling record of the shipwrecked party. John E. Thwaites, an amateur photographer and the ship's mail clerk, shot dozens of haunting, stark images of the ice-shrouded derelict, the castaways' barren camp, and frostbitten men with burlap-wrapped feet. Lloyd brings to life a riveting tale of hard seafaring men and tough sourdoughs who survived cold and despair against difficult odds in Alaska's storm-swept wilderness.




RUNNING TIME => 6hrs. and 12mins.

©2000 Board of Regents of Washington State University (P)2014 Redwood Audiobooks

Genres: Nonfiction

Audible Audio

First published August 1, 2000

Reviews

[Jean · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I was a kid I loved stories about survival and shipwrecks, I still do. This book is the story of the shipwreck of the S.S. Farallon, a wooden schooner steamship that was used to transport lumber. On a snowy morning January 5, 1910 the S. S. Farallon struck Black Reef in Cook Inlet Alaska. With no radio to call for help, the crew scrambled into lifeboats and headed for the shore.

The book tells of how the crew survived being castaways in the barren wilderness in midwinter with temperature plunging to -40 degree Fahrenheit. The author provides background of the various mariners and ships that played a part in the events that unfolded while pacing the narrative in a compelling manner. The author’s research was extensive and the book is well document. One of the crew members was an amateur photographer; he grabbed his Kodak camera when he went into the lifeboat. He took one hundred photographs of their ordeal. The photograph collection is at the University of Washington.

It is hard to believe that these men actually managed to survive their ordeal. The book tells of the courage and stamina that it takes to come through alive. The author states that pieces of the ship are still on the rocks of the uninhabited coastline, undisturbed a century later. The book was published in 2000 by the Washington State University press and contains some of the pictures of the ordeal. The audio book was released on November 11, 2014. I read this as an audio book downloaded from Audible. Frank Wright narrated the book.

[John Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story of the Farallon's grounding and subsequent ordeal of the survivor's should have been a much more interesting read. There are incredible stories here but it is all delivered with the excitement of a government report.
The author undoubtedly struggled with a lack of secondary sources, the sailors and passengers apparently left no records of their ordeal. Or the research was insufficient to uncover even a letter or diary entry. Consequently, the story unfolds with a cast of barely delineated participants in a mostly nondescript landscape.
Despite the montone writing the book is interesting enough, primarily because the story itself is noteworthy.
An epic journey in a 12 foot skiff.
The survival ordeal in the Alaskan winter.
Fans of expedition histories will enjoy this book, especially those familiar with the Alaskan landscape and maritime culture.