Republic of the Philippines
Region VI- Western Visayas
JOHN B. LACSON FOUNDATION MARITIME UNIVERSITY (AREVALO) INC.
Sto. Nino Sur, Arevalo, Iloilo City
I.COVER
"THE FINEST HOURS"
True Story of the U.S. Coast Guard's Most Daring Sea Rescue.
SAM NIÑO V. ROBLES
GRADE 11- BOW..
Ms. Joanna Jacinth Ferrer
TEACHER
II. ABOUT THE AUTHOR & BOOK BACKGROUND
Michael J. Tougias
Casey Sherman
Casey Sherman is the author of two novels, Black Irish and Black Dragon. He’s also the author of the acclaimed true crime thriller A Rose for Mary: The Hunt for the Real Boston Strangler. Sherman has been nominated for an Emmy Award, has appeared on dozens of national television programs and has been profiled by numerous magazines and newspapers. He lives in Massachusetts.
The Finest Hours is a 2016 American historical drama-thriller film directed by Craig Gillespie and produced by Walt Disney Pictures. The screenplay, written by Eric Johnson, Scott Silver, and Paul Tamasy, is based on The Finest Hours: The True Story of the U.S. Coast Guard's Most Daring Sea Rescue by Michael J. Tougias and Casey Sherman. The film stars Chris Pine, Casey Affleck, Ben Foster, Holliday Grainger, John Ortiz, and Eric Bana, and chronicles the historic 1952 United States Coast Guard rescue of the crew of the SS Pendleton, after the ship split apart during a nor'easter off the New England coast.
III.SUMMARY
CHAPTER 1: CHATAM LIFEBOAT STATION
While Bernie Webber is relaxing and holding a cup of tea in the mess hall. The minister's son at Milton, Massachusettes watched the sea with curiosity and was concerned about the storm that continues to strengthen outside. While taking a sip of his coffee, Webber thought of his young wife, Miriam, home in bed and sick. Webber also thought about what if Miriam needs help and he's not there to take care of her?. Bernie, however, wouldn't complain about the tough day he was facing. The boatswain's mate first class was only 24 years old, but he had been working at sea for nearly a decade, having first served with the U.S. Maritime Service during WWII. Bernie had followed his brother Bob into the Coast Guard; it was not the kind of life his parents had planned for him. From early childhood, Bernie's father, the associate pastor at the Tremont Temple Baptist Church in Boston, had steered him toward a life in the ministry.
Webber went to a school where it is far from their place, Webber didn't like the environment in his new school. When Bernie Webber turned 16, his mind changed about what course will he gonna take. Bernie Webber heard that the U.S. Maritime Service was looking for a young men to train in New York. They said that if Bernie Webber completed the training camp, he could serve at the Merchant Ship during a war. In Cape Cod, about many years ago, there was an incident happened, a boat also sank in that area. Bernie Webber heard the story and still, Webber wouldn't trade it for any other job.
CHAPTER II: THE PENDLETON
Captain John J. Fitzgerald Jr. was new to the Pendleton, but he was not new to the unpredictability of the New England weather. Fitzgerald, the son of a sea captain, had taken over command of the 503-foot, 10,448-ton T2 tanker just one month prior. The square-jawed resident of Roslindale, Massachusetts, was familiar with these waters and had a healthy respect for the dangers of the North Atlantic. Fitzgerald thought that sailing through the Boston Harbor could risk the lives of his sailors. So, Fitzgerald immediately ordered to make the boat out of the stormy areas. Instead, Fitzgerald and his crew waited for the weather to be calm enough for them to sail again.
Hours passed by and they noticed that the ship is in the middle of a full gale with arctic winds blowing. At 4 am. the Pendleton was pushed by the winds over the tip of the Provincetown and into the ocean just east of Cap Cod. The ship was riding well, navigated by the captain, Fitzgerald. At approximately 5:30 am, Chief Engineer Sybert slowed the boat to 7 knots. At about 5:50 am, a thunderous roar echoed through the bowels of the ship. This was followed by a shudder and an earsplitting crash when the Pendleton nosed down seconds later. Seaman Charles Bridges was asleep before the ship lurched and cracked, but the sound waked him up. When he waked up, he immediately grabbed his clothes and pants, he gets his flashlight and pointed the light on the men on the bow of the ship, to see what they're doing. Fred brown thought that the ship had hit a rock. Fred Brown also heard a cracking noise. After what he heard, other crew members where hit by blasts of freezing sea spray. At the time of the break, Captain Fitzgerald and several of his officers were in the forward bridge house just above the main deck.Now they were gone.
49 year old Wallace Quirey, the ship's third assistant engineer, had so many experiences at sea. But this is the first time he encountered this kind of storm. Quirey located the ship's youngest crew member, 16 year old Caroll Kilgore, he encouraged the kid as the wind and waves continued to knock them around. A month later, he now found himself crouched on the stern getting slammed by waves, terribly frightened, on what was his first and possibly last voyage. The bow brushed against the stern and then drifted away like and apparition, with Captain Fitzgerald and seven of his crew men aboard. Now that the Pendleton was torn in two, the strong waves began carrying the stern section of the ship south from Provincetown down the jagged arm of Cape Cod. The bow section was drifting in an nearly identical path, but moving faster and was farther offshore. Captain Fitzgerald wanted to send an SOS signal. When the ship split in half, the circuit breakers kicked out and there were no light, heat and power on board the ship. The crew members must have looked at one another with the same question running through their minds. " Who will come to save us?"
CHAPTER III: THE FORT MERCER
About the same time the Pendleton split, the fort Mercer was locked in its own battle with the seas off caped Cod. Captain Frederick Paetzel was not taking any chances on the vicious waves. The captain had guided the ship safely since leaving Norco, Louisiana. The waves grown 50 to 60 feet. The Mercer took a terrible pounding, yet rode the seas as well as could be expected, without any excess pitching or rolling.
Captain Paetzel heard a noise and saw that the oil spewing over the coean from the starboard side of the Mercer, and he knew the hull had cracked. Captain Paetzel immediately slow the vessel's speed. After alerting the crew members heard about the emergency, he radioed the coast guard, reporting that the ships seams had opened up. Approximately 150 miles away, there is a coast guard boat named Eastwind, aboard that ship is the radio operator Len Whitmore that is broadcasting. The Eastwind was in the last know vicinity of the fishing boat, Len broadcasted and hoping to make a contact. Len had learned Morse Code when he attended the U.S. Coast Guard radio school in Groton, Connecticut.
After boot camp, Len attended radio school, and upon graduation, his first long-term assignment was on Eastwind, a 280 foot icebreaker. Len continued communicating with the Fort Mercer, trying to get the ship's position and determine the nature of the emergency. Len had notified other coast guard vessels in the vicinity about the emergency. A lot of our crew was seasick, but still working. Oliver Petersen, the captain of Eastwind, was put in charge pf the rescue operation. In Provincetown, Massachusetts, the cutter Yakutat was also dispatched to the scene. Aboard the Fort Mercer is tensed every time each wave hit the vessel. Paetzel prepared life vests for crew members.
Paetzel sent a message to the coast guards that the situation was worsening. The stress on the ship was enormous, especially as one wave lifted the bow and another the stern, leaving no support in the middle.
The stern section, where the engine was located, was in much better shape, and all of it was above the seas. Right after the split, engineers immediately shut the engine down, but now crew on the stern could see waves pushing the bow back toward them like a battering ram. The engineers restarted the engine and put the propeller in reverse. They were able to back the stern away before the bow ran them down. Their troubles, however, were just beginning.
CHAPTER IV: "IT CAN'T BE TRUE. . ."
Len tried to keep the Mercer crew encouraged, letting them know that the Eastwind and Yakutat were on route. With 43 crewmembers of the Mercer in danger of losing their lives, coast guard commanders knew they needed boats on the scene as quickly as possible. The first motor lifeboat snet into the maelstrom left from Brant Point Station, Nuntucket. chief boatswain's mate Ralph Ormsby with a crew of three: Alfred roy, Donald Pitts, and John Dunn.
Station commander Daniel W. Cluff received orders to send the boat out, and he in turn told Chief Donald Bangs of Scituate, Massachusetts, to select a crew and head to Mercer.
Webbers concern that the men might freeze to death. One of the body's first responses to fight the onset of hypothermia is to decrease the blood flow to the limbs and thereby reduce heat loss from the body's extremities, especially the feet and hands. Both Ormsby's and Bangs crews would be tested by the frigid sea and air- if their boats did not capsize first and end their lives. The airplanes reported that they haven't saw any sign of lifeboats floating on sea.
There was this radar they tried, and somehow it malfunctioned, later that time, they tried again the radar and they were surprised of what they saw, it's an object floating and it is near the area of the Mercer, they wondered how far the Mercer drifted.
Wagner struggling to control the plane in the storm, wondered what in the world was the message for, and thought that it is impossible that its bow could have drifted 25 miles toward Chatham. And what did it mean that Chatham radar picked up two target? Wagner flew at a low altitude and was buffeted by the wind but quickly made it to the known landmarkof the Pollock Rip Lightship. Wagner noticed that the superstructure on the bow below was brown, a different color than the white superstructure on the stern he had come from. Then his jaw dropped. On the bow, in large white lettering, was the name Pendleton! When he reported what he saw, everyone in the coast guard was stunned of what they heard.
Eastwind radioman Len Whitmore sat in astonishment, wondering if he had heard the pilot's words correctly. Another tanker? up to this point, no one had even mentioned the name Pendleton. Len thought, it can't be true. There must be some mistake.
CHAPTER V: " YOU GOT TO TAKE THE 36500 OUT"
Several fishing boats had broken their moorings and lay scattered on the shore at Old Harbor. Webber and crew used the lifeboat CG 36500 to help fishermen pull the boats off the beach and reattach them to their moorings before the surf damaged them. Webber was assisted by his long time friend, Richard Livesey, engineman first class Mel Gouthro. Richard Livesey was born in South Boston, Massachusetts, in 1930 but was raised 58 miles south in Fairhaven, a fishing village on the shore of Buzzard's Bay.
Livesey was one of those young men who seemed to have salt water coursing through his veins. He wanted to join the navy for as long as he could remember. Their excitement flickered out briefly when the recruiter informed them that there was a ten-month wait for enlistment. As they walked out of the recruiting office, Richard told his father he would join the U.S. Air force instead. At that moment, they noticed a sign for the coast guard recruiting office just a few doors down. The teenager's hopes for an adventure at sea were not dashed after all. He left the coast guard briefly in 1951 after his enlistment period was over. When the work was completed, Webber, Livesey, and Gouthro secured the motor lifeboat to its mooring, then hopped in the dory, a small boat used for transportation to and from larger vessels, and headed to shore. They were all exhausted. Webber, Livesey, and Gouthro finally reached Orleans and met the rest of the crew from the Nauset Lifeboat Station. They spotted a gray hulk, an object darker than the ocean, it was half a ship, drifting swiftly south toward Chatahm. The coast guard issued a directive to all the ships currently involved in the Fort Mercer rescue operation. The alert was classified "operational immediate" and was printed in bold type: DEFINITE INDICATION THAT TANKER PENDLETON HAS BROKEN IN TWO-STERN SECTION IN BREAKER OF CHATHAM-BOW SECTION DRIFITING NEAR POLLOCK RIP LV-NO PRIOR INDICATION REGARDING CASUALTY TO PENDLETON-PENDLETON DUE IN BOSTON YESTERDAY AND NOT ARRIVED-THIS IN ADDITION TO FORT MERCER.
The storm had become too severe to risk sending the young engineer out in a tiny rowboat.
Webber was the tallest, at six foot two, with a lanky build and reserved demeanor. Livesey, about four inches shorter, had a happy-go-lucky outlook with a good sense of humor. Andy. Just short of six feet tall, had a ready smile and made friends wherever he went. Maske, the shortest of the group, was a relatively quiet young man,but certainly one with gumption-not many men would risk their lives for just saving others. All four felt gripped by fear, thinking of the storm-tossed seas, but each mustered the determination to keep his anxiety in check and do what had to be done.
CHAPTER VI: BLOWOUT AT CHATAM BAR
The four men departed at the Chatham Lifeboat Station and drove back down to the Chatham Fish Pier. The coast guardsmen walked to the side of the pier and climbed down a ladder and into a small dory. Bernie had not spoken to his wife in two days. He thought of her home sick in bed, and his heart ached. Webber could handle risking his own life on what looked to be a suicide mission, but a wave of emotion swept over him when he thought of the life he had begun to build with Miriam.
Bernie and Miriam's relationship had been one of the great persistence, especially on her part. It had begun over the phone two years earlier. Webber walked until he found a pay phone and called his date to explain the mishap. A young woman called the Chatham Lifeboat Station looking for a gentleman named Webb.
Bernie and Webber eventually married and made a life together in Chatham. But their marriage wa couples with a dangerous job, and a price to be paid for such happiness. Webber sized up the CG 36500.
The
CG 36500 had been built at the U.S. Coast Guard yard in Curtis Bay, Maryland.
Webber
and his crew finally reached the CG 36500 and climbed aboard. The crew could
now see the waves breaking conditions.That storm had hit in the early spring.
Bernie Webber had been part of a four-man crew on North Beach.
For
a moment, he prayed that he would get a call on the radio ordering him to
turn back.
Webber
and crew pushed on. They were already fighting the severe cold; their tired
feet felt like blocks of ice inside their buckled rubber overshoes. Livesey had
the distinct feeling he was experiencing his last minutes on earth. Andy had
always thought of the lifeboat as a floating tank.
Webber
knew that he would not be criticized for turning back. Webber's thoughts
drifted back two years to another rescue attempt he had made in equally
hazardous conditions. A storm had hit in the early spring of 1950. Heavy snow fell in a curtain off Cape Cod, and the angry storm was aggravated by 70 mile per hour winds and rough seas. During this crisis, Captain Hansen managed to send out a distress call that was received by the Pollock Rip Lightship and relayed back to the Chatham Station. Going on the boat would be a life-and-death struggle. The crew began sailing the dory. The small dory began taking on water, and struggled as it was before. The dory capsized, throwing Webber and others into the sea. They didn't lose hope, they grabbed the back of the boat and held on to it until te waves pushed the boat to shore, where they reached Morris Island, where they finally opted to get warm inside a boathouse. Masachi decided that they would make a third attempt to reach the lifeboat. They struggled to Morris Island and waded back to Chatham Station. The crew saw the Landry, but the storm is getting stronger. After 24 hours of sailing on board the ocean, Landry's crew were beaten physically and emotionally. The last wave had been a dagger in the heart of the crew. The crew said if they die out, they should be in full stomach. The remains of the crew were never to be found. Bernie Webber believed that God had placed him in this kind of situation. Bernie was encouraged by the thoughts in his mind that he should attempt a rescue. Bernie and the crew began to sing. When Webber finally motored the CG 36500 into the bar, they braced themselves for the collision he knew was coming. A torrent of water washed over the crew, knocking them to the deck. The wave strongly spun the CG 36500 completely around, and its bow is facing the shore. It was the most dangerous position. The compass was broken and he had to rely on instinct alone. Webber managed to get the lifeboat back under control. The next wave was beating them down.
CHAPTER VII: CHATHAM MOBILIZES
The front page of the February 18, 1952, edition of the New York ran and article about World War II tankers. Ed Semprini finished a long day in broadcasting booth at Cape Cod Radio Station WOCB. Semprini's friend encouraged him to go into the Chatham Lifeboat Station. "This trip better be worth it", the newman thought. The people of Chatham was told by their leader that there is a dire situation involving then seamen. Dick Kelsey realized how important the situation is, he went back to his house and grabbed his materials on photography. The red Cross was alerted. Other people of Chatham prepared the food for the seamen in hopes they would return. The first to settle on Chatham is William Nickerson, from Norfolk, England. In 1665, Nickerson offered a shallo boat to the Monomoyick Sacnem Mattaquason in exchange for four square miles of rugged land on which to build his homestead. This was a harsh land, with strong howling coastal winds. The humans society of the common wealth of Massachusetts was the first group to offer aid to shipwrecked men in 1847, congress finally had an idea that the tax payers should help in building permanent lifesaving stations along America's Vast Coastline. Chatham Station was one of the original nine lifesaving stations built on Cape Cod. The station was equipped with four surfboats, a dory, two beach carts, and horse named Baby that was used to haul lifesaving equipment down the beach toward disabled vessels. Mariners should be careful on the tricks of men looking to steal their goods. These men were called Mooncussers. The Mooncussers cared only about themselves, and their actions put the lives of many sailors at risk. The Moonscussers got their nickname because they "cussed" the moon on moonlight evenings.
The citzens of Chatham hoped and prayed that the CG 36500 carrying Bernie Webber and crew would not add its wooden ribs and planks to the debris on the sand of the bar.
CHAPTER VIII: HE CAME TO THE SURFACE FLOATING
About the same time that Chatham was mobilizing and Bernie and his crew were being hammered at Chatham bar. The storm was violent in motion unlike anything radioman Len Whitmore had experienced. Len wondered if the broken sections of the Mercer would stay afloat until his cutter arrived. But even in the anxious situation, there was a lighter moment. The Captain attempted to call the owners of the Mercer when suddenly pigeon came up. Len was mortified- it was his pigeon, when the cutter was in New York, he also saw that bird. By 6:30 PM, the cutter Yakutat, J.W. naab of Yarmouth, Maine, arrived at the bow section of the Mercer. Captain Naab and his crew began positioning the cutter nearer to the bow of the Mercer.For the next five and a half hours, the Yakutat stood by the bow of the Mercer, keeping a close watch for any sign of change. While the Yakutat skippered by Ralph Ormsby. Ormsby steered his vessel to the Pollock Rip Lightship. He was entering some of the most dangerous waters on the east coast. Should the boat capsize and the breakers at the rip, he and his crew would be dead within minutes. Somehow, Ormsby navigated through the maze of shoals and pulled up alongside the lightship. Ormsby tried to steady to wallowing vessels while Roy throws a line. The lightship crew grabbed the other end, and the lifeboat was secured against the larger vessel. The second 36 footer sent out earlier that day, skippered by Donald bangs. Bangs and his crew almost didn't survived the first few minutes of their journey. they were assaulted by a huge breaking sea. If he tries to maneuver the boat over the waves, his vessel stood over the stern, capsizing the lifeboat. They were completely airborne and then, free falling, slammed into the trough below which he and his men came out the other side. they head back towards Chatham because the two halves of the Pendleton had been spotted there. They were only four men left on the fractured bow of the Mercer. Naab on the Yakutat felt helpless.
CHAPTER IX: LOSING ALL HOPE: ON BOARD THE PENDLETON STERN
The men aboard the stern of the Pendleton still had many food and water. The crew grown much closer during the tragedy. Wallace Quirey wished he still had the bible, his mother gave to him. There's this native of Avella, Pennsylvania, who shoots off flares, hoping there is someone who could notice it. Eighteen-year-old Charles Bridges periodically went out on deck, hoping to see a rescue boat approaching. Suddenly, he lost his footing and slid toward the front. He had gone right overboard, where the ship had cracked. Bridges lost his hopes in about mid afternoon. As the waves slammed the ship, the crew members thought of putting down the lifeboats. Even though the deck kept sloping, no one ever did launch one of the boats. The tragedy reached the public. As it is stated in the Boston Globe's front page, the storm had killed 15 people. For Bernie and his crew, the storms challenge wasn't snow but wind.
CHAPTER X: ALL BUT ONE: THE RESCUE OF THE PENDLETON STERN
Andy Fitzgerald began making his way from the bow to the engine compartment. A heavy wave slammed into the lifeboat and Fitzgerald bouncing inside the engine room. Meanwhile, Andy restarted the 90 horse power motor. They had made it over Chatam bar. Bernie had no idea of their exact location. They kept their knees bent, trying to anticipate the impact of each oncoming wave. The storm grew stronger as they ventured farther out to sea. The CG 36500 also prayed this would not be their last night on earth. They saw a huge object that has now less than 50 feet away. It's a ghost ship, Sybert and the other 32 men felt hopeless while sitting inside the stern section of the Pendleton. Bernie Webber motored the CG 36500 and Andy Fitzgerald continued to look. They saw the name Pendleton. The ship looks indestructible. A sense of guilt came over Bernie Webber, as he realized that in the first place, he put them on a life-and-death situation. The fractured stern had not lost power after all, as they searched into it. The man on the high deck disappeared. Suddenly, the figure returned, and this time, more than two dozen survivors, the responsibility hit Webber like a tidal wave. the stranded seamen starts coming down the ladder as fast as they could. With rolling seas, this proves to be an impossible task. The CG 36500 was now ntaking on a lot of water. Webber decided that no man would be left behind. The lifeboat crew continued to take survivors aboard. Myers was the last one to go down. As he made it halfway down the ladder, he suddenly slipped and fell into the ocean. Richard Livesey leaned and reached the hand of Myers. The move nearly cost Livesey his life. They finally caught sight of Myers in the darkness. They felt the sudden impact of a collision as the lifeboat slammed into the tanker, trapping tiny Myers between them.
CHAPTER XI: THIRTY-SIX MEN IN A 36-FOOT BOAT
Ervin Maske was the last man to get a hold of Myers hands, and he paid a price for it. Webber rescued the last man down, Raymond Sybert. Webber and crew had conquered Chatham bar, and getting the survivors off the Pendleton's stern was a huge accomplishment, but making it safely back to shore would have its own set of perils. Webber still had no idea where they were Bernie then relayed his plans on the rest of the crew. The survivors understood the plan perfectly. It was followed by a loud cheer from the Pendleton's crew. Meanwhile, they were now back in gigantic seas. Webber tried the radio nonce more and was surprised to get through to the Chatham Lifeboat Station. Webber informed Cluff, the station commander, that they had 32 men from the Pendleton aboard. Bernie gathered more ideas from the captain of one cutters. Webber and crew had made up their minds. They were headed to shore. There was no talking aboard the lifeboat while Bernie attacked the seas ahead. The boat moved through shallower waters now. By no means were they out of danger, however. They still had Chatham bar to navigate. They noticed a flashing red light in the distance. Bernie looked at the bunking light once more and then shifted his gaze to the stormy skies above. In his heart, he knew that God was bringing them home.
CHAPTER XII: PANDEMONIUM IN CHATHAM
The CG 36500 is in the state of returning the 32 survivors of the Pendleton to the Chatam Fish Pier. They had actually made it back to old harbor. There were instructions for Webber up the harbor. Thunderous applause ripples across the pier as town's people hugged and cried while waiting for signs of the boat. Dick Kelsey captured some of the most indelible images in Cape Cod history. Many people thought that Webber and crew died, but because of determination, they managed to survive. The town's people aided the survivors off the boat. Meanwhile, after Webber relaxed, he thought of the face of Myers before he was killed. The four men collapsed. Miriam was still in bed with flu, and John Stello, a friend of Webber, told her that Webber was being hailed as a hero. Webber called Miriam, and said that he is okay.
CHAPTER XIII: THE MERCER'S BOW CAPSIZES
The survivors of the Fort Mercer are still hoping that the cutter Yakutat would somehow get them off before it's too late. Captain Naab is praying that the Fort Mercer would stay afloat until dawn. Captain Naab thought that the only way to save the survivors is to let his own cewmen to wait below. Now Naab had to worry not only to the survivors but also to his own crewmen. He told the survivors that when the time came, they should jump into the ocean next to the lifeboat. The lifeboat was referred to as a " Monomoy surfboat" because it was designed with a high bow for the big surf that crashed into Monomoy Island. Ensign William Kiely, of Long Branch, New Jersey, was selected to lead the daring rescue, joined by Gil Carmichael, Paul Black, Edward Mason Jr., and Walter Terwilliger. The four coasties navigated the lifeboat through the giant swells and pulled up alongside the massive steel hull of the Mercer, careful not to get closer. Inside the bow of the Mercer, in there starts the argument about who would jump first. Captain Paetzel wanted to be the last to jump but his crewmen would not let him, instead the crewmen wanted captain Paetzel to be the first to jump, because of his condition. The crewmen told captain Paetzel that, if he don't jump first, they will throw him over. Ensign Kiely looked up at Captain Paetzel and signaled him to jump. Paetzel waited for a wave crest to rise up toward him. Then he jumped. With Kiely added to the lifeboat. The boat started to gain weight. Kiely had trouble controlling the vessel. Turner and Paetzel are the only two men who the Yakutat brought. The remaining two men will be saved by the rafts and by shot line. Naab, needed the Yakutat to be as close to the hulk as possible. Naab brought the Yakutat upwind of the tanker. Naab, positioned the Yakutat so that its bow was pointing directly toward the port side of the tanker. They planned that they will shoot a line so that they could transfer the survivors. The Yakutat crewmen, helpless to assist the men in the water, watched as fahrner and Guldin struggled in the breaking seas. Hypothermia made their limbs useless. For a moment, it looked like the ocean would claim two more victims, but the men fought valiantly, ang both managed to grab hold or the raft, flip it right side up, and crawl aboard, collapsing on the bottom. The two survivors crawled over the side of the raft and into the sea to get at the ropes, but they could barely lift their arms. Both survivors were then safely lifted aboard the cutter. Then, Captain Naab ordered full steam to Portland, Maine, so the survivors could be hospitalized. Captain Paetzel suffered pneumonia.
CHAPTER IVX: A MANEUVER FOR THE AGES
One half of the Fort Mercer now lay at the bottom of the sea. The other half, the stern, was still afloat and being driven southward by the wind and waves. Before the bow section was going to sank. There were arguments inside the bow. Crewmen thought that if the bow section of the Fort mercer would sank, they should jump. The Mercer's stern had power, and the men inside it was lucky because in the other section, the bow, had no power inside it at all. On board the cutter Eastwind, radio operator Len Whitmore lay restless in his bunk as the ship pitched and rolled. Len Whitmore knew that the Mercer's radioman, John O'Reilly was dead. With the Eastwind almost at the site of the Mercer's stern, Len peered into the gray skies over the storm-tossed seas and wondered how the Captain Petersen would go about the rescue. The Eastwind was really pitching and rolling. As the Eastwind drew closer, both Larry and Len saw several of the tanker's crew standing along the deck rail, frantically waving at them. Captain Peteresen's first onsite decision was to establish communication with the Mercer. Petersen responded that he would have a rubber raft sent over. It was not a smooth trip to the icebreaker. Eastwind rolled so much that the line rode way out of the water, lifting the men and the raft high in the air. A cargo net was lowered by the Eastwind, three coast guardsmen volunteered to man the net. During the rescue, a second coast guard cutter, the Acushnet, arrived. The Acushnet had been docked in Portland for repairs. The captain of the cutter is John Joseph. On board there were two young coasties, John Mihlbauer and Sid Morris. Normally the trip from Portland to the Mercer's position near Nantucket took 18 hours. Captain Joseph also watched, thinking how lucky the men in the raft were to have made it to the Eastwind alive. The Acushnet, a coast guard oceangoing tug, was smaller and more maneuverable the the Eastwind. The Acushnet was abreast of the tanker, they would stop the engines and let the cutter glide a bit closer so the survivors could jump on the fantail. Both men took another moment and silently studied the current and the wind, trying to determine how fast they would drift when the propellers stopped turning. A mountainous sea pushed the bow of the Acushnet toward the tanker's propeller. The cutters bow stopped and slowly began to reverse itself. The distance between the Acushnets fantail and the Mercer closed from ten feet to just a couple feet. Now was the time for the survivors to jump but not one made a move. Finally one survivor awoke from his trance, climbed over the rail, and paused, waiting for the cutter to rise on the next wave. When the cutter was close enough, he threw himself and landed on the deck. The propeller was so close it actually nicked the rail. A total of 18 men made the leap from the tanker to the cutter, without a single casualty. Thirteen crewmembers, however, decided it was safer to stay with the tanker. Survivors taken on board by maneuvering Acushnet stern alongside tanker. Made two passes. Received five men on first pass and thirteen on second. Captain Joseph asked permission to take the survivors to Boston, as two of them need hospitalization. The Acushnet left the accident scene at nightfall and steamed toward Boston. The fractured half of the Fort Mercer was eventually towed to New York City with the 13 crewmembers still on board. The ship was repaired and fitted for a new bow section and renamed the San Jacinto. Fortunately no lives were lost in that wreck.
CHAPTER XV: TUESDAY AT CHATHAM STATION
Webber felt some pain on his body. Bernie looked around the rooms. The aches and pains reminds him of what happened. Bernie thought that it was all just a dream, that they saved 32 seamen in a tiny lifeboat. Bernie saw so many cash on the floor and went to commander Cluff and asked what was the money all about. Cluff told Bernie that some ranking officers were even grumbling about a court-martial. Bernie knew what he was doing and where he was going on that night. Admiral H. G. Bradburry, commander of the U.S. Coast Guard First District honored Webber, Fitzgerald, Livesey and Maske for rescuing 32 out of 33 seamen on board the stern section. Richard Livesey woke up that night with a sore throat. Richard was relieved when the doctor told him that he was not seriously ill. One of the Boston's major newspaper, the Daily Record, ran the bold headlines 32 rescued, 50 cling to split ships off cape. The four heroes were on the newspaper. The wife of Fitzgerald was worried about the condition of her husband, and also his son is worried and misses him a lot. Millie Oliviera, the wife of Aquinol Oliviera, waiting outside. The thin and bespectacled cook was worried that he's never see his family again. Oliviera and the other 31 survivors were given accommodations at the Hotel Essex. David Ryder and others ventured out into the rough waters in search of treasure. Among the items liberated from the wreckage was the Pendleton;s red jib, a triangular sail located in front of the mast, which remains in the Ryder family to this day.
CHAPTER XVI: THE SEARCH OF THE PENDLETON BOW
The Pendleton was grounded in 54 feet of water near the Pollock Rip Lightship. In the meantime, crews carried out beach patrols searching for bodies that might have washed up onshore. The lightship had been moved a couple days earlier for fear the bow would collide with it. The seas were calm now, and the men managed to get aboard the vessel with relative ease. Livesey remained in the lifeboat and still, he remembers the face of Myers before he died. Livesey did not know what horror awaited the lifeboat men as they searched the bow of the Pendleton. They used flashlights as they entered the bowels of the ship. The men found no bodies above the ship's waterline. It appeared that Captain Fitzgerald and his seven members had been washed away. Upon reaching the forecastle, Gouthro made a sad discovery. There was a dead man, stretched out on a paint locker shelf. He was covered in newspaper, in an apparent attempt to ward off hypothermia. That young man was scared to death. According to its driver's license he is Herman G. Gatlin of Greenville, Mississippi. The body was brought back to Chatham Station and placed in an outbuilding until the coroner arrived. The doctor said that the cause of death was exposure and shock. What happened to Captain Fitzgerald and other men on the bow will remain a mystery.
CHAPTER XVII: BEING LABELED A HERO CAN BE A BURDEN
Bernie Webber and his crewmen were now facing different wave, one of public adulation. From brave men who merely did their jobs to media darlings was dictated somewhat by the news of the day. They reunited and had traveled to the nation's capitol to receive the U.S. Coast Guard's highest honor, the Gold Lifesaving Medal. On the other line was an official from coast guard head quarters who first congratulated Bernie on the rescue and then informed him that he would be awarded the Gold Lifesaving Medal. Webber said he was and drew a line in the sand. He repeated that if his men couldn't get the medal, he wouldn't accept it. Bernie and his men cherished the medal, which can be grated to any member of the U.S. military who conducts a rescue within U.S. waters or those waters subject to U.S. . The wreck of the Pendleton sat off the coast of Chatam, Massachusetts, in two pieces for nearly 26 years, providing boaters a disturbing reminder of the worst the sea had to offer. The son of John Fitzgerald enamored with the area where his father died, and decided it to call home. The remains were also a concern for environmentalists, who feared additional release of oil from the fractured tanker would ruin local business and destroy wildlife. John F. Kennedy, a united States Senator, insisted that salvage operations would have to be approved and supervised by both the United States Coast Guard and the Army Corps of Engineers. The oil leaked out slowly over the next 30 years. The wreck became a menace to navigation, since the stern was now submerged and hidden from the view of those piloting small craft in the busy area off Chatham. Contrators cut away the steel before it was blown up by the Army Corps of Engineers and buried where it sat, just three miles off Monomoy.
CHAPTER XVIII: THE INQUIRY
For the survivors of the Pendleton crew, the feelings of relief and joy for having lived through the tragedy were now replaced by anger. A coast guard inquiry began on February 20, 1952, at Constitution Base in Charlestown, Massachusetts. A major concern was that a fracture in the ship had been discovered one month prior, in January 1952, but had gone unrepaired. The ships equipment was in poor working order. The ship's construction was still the most glaring flaw. John Braknis told the investigators that he had heard strange rumblings, like the sound of weld's splitting. With regard to the SS Pendleton, the Maritime Board of Investigation concluded that the tank steamer incurred a major structural failure resulting in a complete failure of the hull girder and causing the vessel to break in two in the way of the number seven and number eight cargo tanks and resulting in the loss of nine lives. The panel acknowledge that the four orange smoke signals used by crewmembers on the stern section, only one was able to fire. Ultimately, the board concluded that three principal factors led to the break of the SS Pendleton: construction, weather, and cargo loading. The Panel also concluded that the weather played a vital role in causing the casualty. Finally, the board noted it was in hearty accordance with the commendations that were being awarded to "various officers". A similar inquiry into the Fort Mercer split came to the same conclusions.
CHAPTER XIX: THE RESTORATION
She sat unnoticed, this once proud vessel, now a mere shell of her former self. Her canvas was rotted, and her paint had chipped away. Small creatures built their nest in her manifold, and the tops of her cabin were badly worn by years of neglect. The 36500 had been put on blocks and left unprotected from the elements for 13 years behind a maintenance garage on the property of the Cape Cod National Seashore. The "old thirty-six" model lifeboat had been decommissioned in 1968 and replaced by the newer 44-foot twin 180-horsepower diesel all-steel lifeboat. She was a Gold Medal Lifesaving vessel, the CG 36500. Officials wanted the boat to be part of a small museum . Something that had meant so much to so many had outlasted its usefulness and its own legend. Bill Quinn, a freelance camera man and longtime friend of Dick Kelsey. Quinn first saw the boat while he and his son were attending an auction of used vehicles sponsored by the Cape Cod National Seashore. While looking at the objects that he could fit in his camera's, an old boat caught his attention. Shocked by the lack of care and attention paid to the historic vessel, he dreamed up a plan on the spot; he just had to save the lifeboat. Quinn returned later with a friend who specialized in boat repair. Underneath her rough façade, the CG 36500 was still a healthy lifeboat. For once, Quinn was thankful the boat had been in the possession of the Cape Cod National Seashore for all those years. Chatham's loss turned into Orleans's gain as the neighboring town's historical society agreed to accept the vessel if the Cape Cod National Seashore was willing to give it up. Quinn met with government officials, who at first agreed to turn the boat over, but only on permanent loan. Quinn kept after them, though, until a deal was worked out giving him legal ownership of the lifeboat. Ruggedness and reliability were shared traits of both the both and the hardy people who carved out their lives along the sandy, windswept shores at the easternmost tip of the United States. A small group of men gathered at the National Seashore on a chilly November morning in 1981 to witness the rebirth of this vessel. The goal was to finish it in five to six months, and that would mean thousands of hours of labor. It was a community coming together for a common cause. It was now time to repay that debt and preserve this floating piece of history for generations to come. The engine was taken out and shipped up to Boston, where bit was rebuilt by marine mechanics free to charge. After six months, the volunteers had met their goal. The lifeboat was fully restored and repainted, with her famous letters reappearing boldly new the bow. An official launching ceremony was held at Rock Harbor in Orleans, where the lifeboat resides today. Bernie Webber took time off from his job as a tugboat captain and, with his wife, Miriam, drove up to Cape Cod from their home in Florida to be reunited with the small craft that had saved the lives of so many on that torturous winter night years before. The CG 36500 remains a living museum dedicated to those heroes who saved so many lives. During summer, the lifeboat joins boat show contests, where her legend is retold to a new generation of New Englanders. At her helm is Pete Kennedy, a member of the Orleans Historical Society and a man dedicated to keeping the spirit of this tiny boat and the Gold Medal Crew alive. When he's out on the lifeboat by himself in eight-to ten-foot seas, Kennedy can't help but think of Webber, Andy Fitzgerald, Richard Livesey, and Ervin Maske. "They saw waves seven times as large," he marvels. "It's incomprehensible to me that they could perform that well under those weather conditions. What a remarkable feat for those young men."
IV. LESSON LEARNED
The moral lessons I learned from " The Finest Hours" are:
You should be patient on things around you, success requires patience and determination. Don't judge people by their looks, everyone has a story. Don't be afraid to commit your mistakes in life. Be cooperative in activities or situations that requires unity of the members. If you want to be recognized, do it in a proper way, do good and you will be recognized not just for fame but also for inspiring such younger generations. Be loyal to anyone. Have courage to do what you want to do. Don't let people stop you for doing what is right. Be optimistic. The most important lesson I've learned in this story is to have faith in God, because God planned everything that we do. God has no wrong decision, everything we do has reasons. God is the only one who could save us from any kind of tragedy.
V. CRITIQUE/ REVIEW/ REACTION
At the beginning, the story was so nerve racking because of the situations that happened along the oceans. It was also quiet inspiring for me, because of the whole story, I can reflect on it by applying the lessons I've learned and other ideas about the maritime career. The story was interesting because it is the same as what in the movie I watched. It somehow motivated me to pursue the course I will take, to become a successful seafarer someday and to be like Bernie Webber, not just a hero but also a good man to his girl.
VI. REFERENCES
Michael J. Tougias and Casey Sherman
http://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Michael-J-Tougias/38086263
http://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Casey-Sherman/46007761
http://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Finest-Hours/Michael-J-Tougias/9781501127175/browse_inside
