Until the Sea Shall Free Them: Life, Death, and Survival in the Merchant Marine

by Robert R. Frump

Overview

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: The old coal carrier sank in the frigid forty-foot waves and subzero winds of the Atlantic, and of the thirty-four men aboard, only three survived. Until the Sea Shall Free Them recounts in compelling detail the wreck of the Marine Electric and the legal drama that unfolded in its wake—a lawsuit that led to vital reforms in the laws regarding the safety of ships.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781591142843
Publisher:	Naval Institute Press
Publication date:	04/15/2012
Series:	Bluejacket Books
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Robert R. Frump is a nationally recognized journalist who won several major awards while a journalist and investigative reporter at The Philadelphia Inquirer. He grew up in the small farm town of Paxton, Ill, graduated from the University of Illinois and received a master's degree from Northwestern University— all in journalism. He received, with Tim Dwyer, the George Polk Award, for his reporting on unsafe U.S. ships, and the Gerald Loeb Award for National Business Reporting. He was also a member of an Inquirer task force that won the Pulitzer Prize. He is married to Suzanne Saxton-Frump. They have two daughters, Sarah, a student at Brown University, and Caitlin Dean, a software engineer. He is the former managing editor of The Journal of Commerce.

Table of Contents

At Sea
Casting Off     3
The Rescue of the Theodora     21
Into the Water     34
The Survivor     56
The Slow Scramble     67
When Up Means Down/When Inches Are Miles     75
The Air Cavalry Rides     85
The Open Boat     89
The Day of the Swimmer     97
Closing Time     103
On Land
The Survivors     111
The Frog     127
Why You?     132
The Coast Guard Captain     146
The Dream     158
The Board     170
The Dive     181
The Serial Sinkers     185
Memorial     202
The Bang and Hang     208
Death Ships     326
Reversal     228
Toward Home
Tigers in the Tall Grass     241
The Hiring Hall     253
Anchor Men     256
The Killer Card     277
Ships on the River Kwai     279
Schooner Rigged     295
Beau Geste     297
Home     312
Epilogue     315
Notes and Acknowledgments     339