The Reader's Advisor

Tragedy and Triumph:
True Stories of Disaster & Survival

At Sea

Albatross: A True Story of a Woman's Survival at Sea, by Deborah Scaling Kiley & Med Noonan. Houghton Mifflin, 1994. [910.54 Kiley]
Riveting account of the author's five precarious days and nights on a raft buffeted by heavy seas during a storm.

All Brave Sailors: The Sinking of the Anglo-Saxon, August 21, 1940, by J. Revell Carr. S&S, 2004. [940.54293 Carr]
After the freighter Anglo-Saxon is attacked by the Germans, seven men escape in an 18-foot boat and begin a 10-week ordeal at sea.

Caliban's Shore: The Wreck of the Grosvenor & the Strange Fate of Her Survivors, by Stepehn Taylor. Norton, 2004. [968.7032 Taylor]
When their ship ran aground in heavy seas off Africa on August 4, 1782, 125 of the well-to-do passengers, children among them, and crew. But this was just the beginning of their nightmare.

Capsized, by James Nalepka and Steven Callahan. HarperCollins, 1992. [910.91648 Nalepka]
How an American and three New Zealanders survived 119 days adrift in the South Pacific on an overturned trimaran boat.

Coming Back Alive: The True Story of the Most Harrowing Search and Rescue Mission Ever Attempted on Alaska's High Seas, by Spike Walker. St. M., 2001. [910.452 Walker]
When a fishing vessel sinks at night in 100-per-hour winds and record ninety-foot seas during a savage storm, her five crewmen are left to drift without a life raft in the freezing Alaskan waters and survive as best they can until a desperate rescue mission can be launched.

The Custom of the Sea: The Shocking True Tale of Shipwreck, Murder and the Last Taboo, by Neil Hanson. Wiley, 1999. [910.542 Hanson]
In 1884, Capt. Dudley and his three-man crew were hit by a rogue wave in a storm, leaving them in a 13-foot dinghy with little more than two pounds of turnips to subsist upon. After nearly two weeks, Dudley announced they would have to resort to "the custom of the sea"-- drawing lots to decide who would be sacrificed and eaten to save the others.

Desperate Hours: The Epic Rescue of the Andrea Doria, by Richard Goldstein. Wiley, 2001. [910.0916 Goldstein]
Eleven hours after colliding with the Swedish liner, Stockholm, the world-renowned Andrea Doria tragically sank. But during that time, 1,700 lives were saved in an unforgettable rescue punctuated by countless acts of heroism, amid confusion, terror, and even cowardice.

Endurance: An Epic of Polar Adventure, by F. A. Worsley et al. W.W. Norton, 1999, 1931. [919.8904 Worsley]
In 1914, after the HMS Endurance became trapped in the pack ice and eventually sank, her stranded crew of 25 struggled to survive (including an 800-mile trek across land, sea and ice) until they were rescued in August of 1916. Read also: Shackleton's Forgotten Man: The Untold Tragedy of the Endurance Epic (Adrenaline, 2000), by Lennard Bickel.

Fatal North: Adventure and Survival Aboard USS Polaris, the First Expedition to the North Pole, by Bruce Henderson. NAL, 2001. [919.804 Henderson]
How America's first attempt to reach the North Pole ended with the suspicious death of the expedition's captain, a brutal struggle for survival on the polar ice, and a government cover-up.

Five Against the Sea, by Ron Arias. New American Library, 1989. [910.45 Arias]
In 1988, five fishermen set off on a week-long trip off the Costa Rican coast. Five days later, a strong north wind struck the 29-foot craft with full force. Adrift in their leaking vessel, they faced the perils of more storms, shark attacks, near-madness, a mutiny, and bouts of starvation and thirst for 142 torturous days.

Four Against the Arctic: Shipwrecked for Six years at the Top of the World, by David Roberts. S&S, 2003. [919.81 Roberts]
When a Russian ship bound for Arctic walrus-hunting grounds was blown off course and trapped in ice in 1743, four of its crew went ashore and upon their return found that the ship had apparently been destroyed by the ice. The men survived more than six years until another ship blown off course rescued them.

A Furnace Afloat: The Wreck of the Hornet and the Harrowing 4,300-mile Voyage of Its Survivors, by Joe Jackson. Free Press, 2003. [910,91649 Jackson]
In 1866, the clipper ship Hornet caught on fire and went down, casting its crew adrift for forty-three days on the open ocean. In addition to being stalked by sharks and waterspouts, desiccated by heat, and driven mad by lack of food and water, the social divisions among those struggling to survive erupted into class war.

Ghosts of Cape Sabine: The Harrowing True Story of the Greely Expedition, by Leonard F. Guttridge. Putnam, 2000. [919.804 Guttridge]
In July 1881, twenty-five men set sail to establish a scientific base in the Arctic region of Lady Franklin Bay. Three years later only six returned. Their tragic story is one of mutiny, madness, suicide, and cannibalism.

Godforsaken Sea: Racing the World's Most Dangerous Waters, by Derek Lundy. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 1998. [797.1246 Lundy]
Hair-raising account of the world's most dangerous sailing race.

In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex, by Nathaniel Philbrick. Viking, 2000. [910.9164 Philbrick]
After being rammed by a sperm whale in the middle of the South Pacific the Essex sank, leaving its 25-man crew drifting in three tiny whaleboats for 90 days. By the time 8 survivors were picked up the men had endured squalls, shark attacks, another encounter with a whale, starvation, dehydration, and the eating of the flesh of their own comrades, not all of whom died due to natural causes.

Island of the Lost: Shipwrecked at the Edge of the World , by Joan Druett. Algonquin, 2007. [919. 399 Druett]
In 1864 Capt. Thomas Musgrave and his crew of four aboard the schooner Grafton wreck on the southern end of Auckland island. Unbeknowst to them, at the other end of the island, the Invercauld, with its crew of 19, has also been wrecked. Under Musgrave's leadership, his men survive their harrowing two-year ordeal and set off on one of the most courageous sea voyages in history. But the captain of the Invercauld falls apart under the cirsumstances. His men fight and split up. Some die of starvation, others turn to cannibalism. And in the end, only 3 survive. This is a gripping story about the nature of leadership and the fine line between order and chaos.

The Last Run: A True Story of Rescue and Redemption on the Alaska Seas, by Todd Lewan. Westbow, 2004. [363.1231091 Lewan]
In 1998, five fishermen took a calculated risk and ultimately lost when their boat sank during an angry Arctic storm off the coast of Alaska. The horrifying hours they spent fighting to keep from freezing to death in thirty-eight-degree water and the impossibly courageous efforts of the helicopter rescue crews make for a gripping story.

Left for Dead: Surviving the Deadliest Storm in Modern Sailing History, by Nick Ward, with Sinead O'Brien. Bloomsbury, 2007. [797.124 Ward]
In August of 1979, Nick Ward began the 600-mile course of the UK’s Fastnet Race with perfect weather. Within 48 hours, the deadliest storm in the history of modern sailing had blasted through the Irish Sea, killing 15 racers and sinking five boats. When his boat capsized and the skipper was lost overboard, three of the crew fled the boat for the life-raft, leaving Nick and his crewmate Gerry, presumed dead, behind.

A Night to Remember, by Walter Lord. Bantam, 1955. [910.453 Lord]
A vivid recreation of the horrible night in 1912 when the "unsinkable" liner Titanic struck an iceberg and sank to the bottom of the North Atlantic with great loss of life. Read also: Titanic Survivor: The Newly Discovered Memoirs of Violet Jessop, Who Survived Both the Titanic and Britannic Disasters (Sheridan House, 1997) by Violet Jessop.

Nights of Ice, by Spike Walker. St. Martin's, 1997. [639.22 Out]
Eight true stories of disaster and survival in commercial fishing boats working the Alaskan coast.

The Perfect Storm, by Sebastian Junger. Norton, 1997. ]974.45 Junger]
In October of 1991, when "the perfect storm"--a nor'easter created by a rare a combination of factors that created waves ten stories high and winds of 120 miles an hour--hit, the crew of the fishing boat Andrea Gail are doomed, but the Coast Guard launches a dangerous rescue of a sailboat also caught in the storm.

The Sea Shall Embrace Them: The Tragic Story of the Steamship Arctic, by David W. Shaw. Free Press, 2002. [910.916344 Shaw]
The 1854 collision at sea between the American ship Arctic and the Vesta, a much smaller French steamship, set in motion one of the most harrowing events in maritime history.

The Sinking of the Eastland: Amereica's Forgotten Tragedy, by Jay Bonansinga. Kensington, 2004. [910.452 Bonansin]
More than 800 people lost their lives when the liner Eastland--whose owners had covered up its serious problems-- capsized in the Chicago River in 1915...while it was still docked!! The tragedy brought out the best and worse of human nature as men desperate to escape the ship trampled children and some horrified onlookers risked their own lives to save other.

66 Days Adrift: A True Story of Disaster & Survival on the Open Sea, by William Butler. Int'l Marine, 2005. [910.91649 Butler]
After their sloop was rammed by whales and sunk, Bill and Simmone Butler drifted helplessly, with few provisions, in a flimsy 6' raft, weathering storms, exposure, and sharks before they were finally rescued.

Survive the Savage Sea, by Dougal Robertson. Praeger, 1973. [910.0916 Roberts]
The Robertson family struggles for 37 days to survive one trial after another after their 43-foot schooner is damaged by a pod of killer whales.

The Terrible Hours: The Man Behind the Greatest Submarine Rescue in History, by Peter Maas. HarperCollins, 1999. [910.916345 Maas]
On the eve of World War II, the Squalus, America's newest submarine, runs into trouble and disappears during a test dive off the New England coast. The fate of its 33-member crew was dependent upon U.S. Navy officer Charles "Swede" Momsen, visionary, scientist, and man of action.

Ten Hours Until Dawn: The True Story of Heroism & Tragedy Aboard the Can-Do, by Mike Tougias. St. Martin's, 2005. [363.1239163 Tougias]
In 1978 a blinding blizzard hit the Massachusetts coast causing 90-mile-per-hour winds and 40-foot waves. As the tanker Global Hope floundered on the shoals in Salem Sound, the Coast Guard patrol boat dispatched to assist it also found itself in need of rescue. That's when pilot boat captain Frank Quirk, who had been monitoring the rescue efforts by radio, went into action. Gathering his crew of four into his 49-foot steel boat, Quirk entered the maelstrom.

The Wreck of the Carl D.: A True Story of Loss, Survival, and Rescue at Sea, by Michael Schumacher. Bloomsbury, 2008 [917.44 Schumacher]
A dramatic recounting of the sinking of the Carl D. Bradley on Lake Michigan during a violent storm in 1958, the survival of four crewmen, and the desperate search-and-rescue mission to bring them to safety. By the author of Mighty Fitz: The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

On Land

Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors, by Piers Paul Read. Lippincott, 1974. [982.6 Read]
The harrowing tale of a rugby team whose plane crashed in the Andes mountains and what the survivors had to do in order to survive. Read also: Miracle in the Andes: 72 Days on the Mountain and My Long Trek Home, by Nando Parrado and Vince Rause (Crown, 2006).

Am I Alive? A Surviving Flight Attendant's Struggle and Inspiring Triumph Over Tragedy, by Sandy Purl, with Gregg Lewis. Harper & Row, 1986. [B Purl]
First-hand account of the crash of Southern Flight 242 when it went down in a violent hailstorm in New Hope, Georgia.

Between a Rock and a Hard Place, by Aron Ralston. Atria, 2004. [796.522092 Ralston]
The nightmarish experience of a mountaineer who, finding himself pinned between a boulder and a canyon wall in a remote area of Canyonlands National Park in Utah, makes a fateful decision in order to save his life.

The Circus Fire: A True Story, by Stewart O'Nan. Doubleday, 2000. [974.63 O'Nan]
It was biggest disaster in Connecticut history. On July 6, 1944, the big top of the Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus caught fire during an afternoon performance. Although thousands survived during the ensuing chaos, among them clown Emmet Kelly and the Flying Wallendas, the tragedy left 167 people dead, among them a young girl whose body was never claimed, who remains were buried simply as "Miss 1565."

Chosen to Live: The Inspiring Story of a Flight 232 Survivor, by Jerry Schemmel, with Kevin Simpson. Victory, 1996. [363.12465 Schemmel]
Dramatic re-telling of the fiery crash of a crippled DC-10 into a cornfield outside of Sioux City, Iowa, in 1989.

Curse of the Narrows: The Inspiring Story of a Flight 232 Survivor, by Laura M. MacDonald. Walker, 2005. [971.6225 Macdonald]
During World War I, two crowded ships collided in the Port of Halifax, Nova Scotia. One of them, the Mont Blanc, exploded with such force (it was the largest explosion in world history before the atomic bomb) that it leveled much of the city, killing and injuring more than 6,000. MacDonald recreates both the tragedy and its aftermath, describing how many of the people miraculously survived, as well as the extraordinary relief efforts made, even as a snowstorm descended upon the alread traumatized populace.

Death and Deliverance: The Haunting True Story of the Hercules Crash at the North Pole, by Robert Mason Lee. Fulcrum, 1993. [363.1248 Lee]
In 1991, a Canadian military transport carrying diesel fuel and personnel from Greenland to a top-secret facility on Ellsmere Island, crashed near the North Pole. Their rescue was complicated by a fierce blizzard and both survivors and rescuers alike found themselves in a life-and-death battle against the elements.

Disaster at the Pole: The Tragedy of the Airship Italia and the 1928 Nobile Expedition to the North Pole., by Wilbur Cross. Lyons, 2000. [910.9163 Cross]
In 1928, General Umberto Nobile, one of Italy's premier aeronautical engineers, decided to repeat his successful journey to the North Pole in a dirigible. But this time, disaster struck. Their disappearance inspired one of the most far-reaching rescue missions ever undertaken.

Everest: Alone at the Summit--A Survival Story., by Stephen Venables. Adrenaline Classics, 2000. [796.522 Venables]
Nail-biting account of an ascent up the East, or Kangshung, Face of Everest--a sheer, avalanche-swept wall of snow and ice only first conquered in 1983.

Hunted: A True Story of Survival, by C&G, 2002. [796.522 Fletcher]
Fletcher recounts his battle with a giant grizzly bear that stalked, hunted, frequently outwitted, and, finally, attacked him furiously.

In the Zone: Epic Survival Stories from the Mountaineering World, by Peter Potterfield. Mountaineers, 1996. [796.522 Pottersfield]
True-life accounts of three climbers who faced the ultimate challenge in passionate pursuit of their sport.

Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster, by Jon Krakauer. Villard, 1997. [796.522 Krakauer]
As Jon Krakauer turned to begin the perilous descent from the summit of Mt. Everest, 29,028 feet high, 20 other climbers were still pushing doggedly to the top, unaware that the weather was about to turn treacherous. Read also: Climbing High: A Woman's Account of Surviving the Everest Tragedy (Seal Press, 1999) by Lene Gammelgaard, Left for Dead: My Journey Home from Everest (Villard, 2000) by Beck Weathers, with Stephen G. Michaud, and The Other Side of Everest:Climbing the North Face Through the Killer Storm (Times Books, 1999) by Matt Dickinson.

Island of the Lost: Shipwrecked at the Edge of the World, by Joan Druett. Algonquin, 2007. [919.399 Druett]
Auckland Island, 285 miles south of New Zealand, is one of the most forbidding places in the world. To be shipwrecked there means almost certain death. Island of the Lost tells the story of the very different fates of two crews from ships shipwrecked on opposite side of the island at the same time in 1864.

Isaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History, by Erik Larson. Crown, 1999. [976.4139 Larson]
A chronicle of one man's heroic struggle and fatal miscalculation in the face of a storm of unimaginable magnitude that struck the seaside town of Galveston, TX, in September, 1900. Read also: Galveston and the 1900 Storm: Catastrophe & Catalyst, by Patricia Bellis Bixel & Elizabeth Hayes Turner. Univ. of TX, 2000.

The Last River: The Tragic Race for Shangri-La, by Todd Balf. Crown, 2000. [915.49204 Balf]
Story of an ill-fated October 1998 expedition of an American whitewater kayaking team who traveled deep into the Tsangpo Gorge in Tibet to run the Yarlung Tsangpo, known in paddling circles as the "Everest of rivers."

The Longest Winter: The Incredible Survial of Captain Scott's Lost Party, by Katherine Lambert. Smithsonian, 2004. [919.8904 Lambert]
In addition to the doomed team Scott was leading back from the South Pole in 1912, there was a six-member scientific expedition stranded several hundred miles to the north. The men endured almost seven months living in an igloo dug out of a snowdrift. Due to their will to live and the leadership of Dr. Murray Levick, the group began a grueling 37-day, 230-mile journey to safety--and all survived.

Lost in Tibet: The Untold Story of Five American Airmen, A Doomed Plane, and the Will to Survive, by Miriam Murcutt. Lyons, 2004. [951.504 Starks]
During WWII, while flying supplies from India to China over the Himalayas, five American airmen were forced to bail out. Once on the ground, they learned that the real challenge was just beginning. Caught in the political turmoil raging around Tibet’s right to be independent from China, the men set out, in the middle of winter, on a perilous journey across the Tibetan plateau. Miracle on the Mountain, by Mike & Mary Couillard, with William & Marilyn Hoffer. Avon, 1998. [956.3039 Couillard]
When Mike Couillard, a Lt. Colonel Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Air Force on assignment in Ankara, Turkey, decided to take his son skiing down the 7,300-foot-high Kfartalkaya Mountain, he never anticipated the test of strength and faith it would become.

Nine Minutes, Twenty Seconds: The Tragedy and Triumph of ASA Flight 529, by Gary M. Pomerantz. Crown, 2001. {363.12465 Pomerantz]
The fates of twenty-nine people take a dramatic turn when the commuter plane they are on suffers a major engine malfunction and crashes in a west Georgia hayfield.

Sudden Sea: The Great Hurricane of 1938, by R. A. Scotti. LB, 2003. [363.349 Scotti]
This detailed retelling of the 1938 hurricane that ripped across seven Northeastern states and killed 682 people focuses on the recollections of the survivors, some of who watched in horror as their loved ones were swept away. Read also: A Wind to Shake the World (LB, 1976) by Everett S. Allen and The Great Hurricane--1938 (Atlantic Monthly, 2005), by Cherie Burns.

urvive!: My Fight for Life in the High Sierras, by Peter DeLeo. S&S, 2005. [363.12409794 Deleo]
After his single-engine plane crashed in the Sierra Mountains, the author was forced to hike through the wilderness for two weeks with more than a dozen broken bones to find help.

Wave of Destruction: The Stories of Four Families and History's Deadliest Tsunami, by Erich Krauss. Rodale, 2006. [959.3044 Krauss]
Tells the story of four families in the small Thai village of Nam Khem, devastated (nearly 5,000 dead) by the tsunami of December 26, 2004, their fight to survive, to find and bury their loved ones, and deal with the inevitable looters, swindlers, corrupt officials, and even a Christian organization that withhled help until the mostly Buddhist people agreed to "convert."