Maritime Salvage Tug
Well, this is a little tough to review because it was not the easiest read. So, unless you really love the sea and stories about tough men working in the scariest of environments, you will have a tough time finishing this book. However, Farley Mowat does capture the essence of what it was like for people to work and travel on the sea in the early 1900's. He has told the story of salvage and rescue at sea through the lens of an old tugboat. The story really engages anyone with a love of the sea and a love of history. I wanted to rate this at 5 stars except I know many readers will have trouble getting to the end of the book. If you love the sea you will love this book.
Great Read
Farley does it again, his writing is superb and he has given me many happy hours reading in the past, and this book is no exception. An exciting account of salvage work off the coast of some of our most dangerous waters. How in the world Farley manages to make salvage work exciting is beyond me but his tales are gripping
A can't put down book
I think this is a great book, and would highly recommend it for anyone. And it is a must read for anyone that likes stories about boats and the ocean.
You won't believe it's the truth.
This is my favourite Mowatt! It's a shame more people don't know of this one. If you liked "The Perfect Storm" at all, then this story is for you. The life of a tug on the East coast of Canada, told by one of Canada's best story tellers. You can hear the wind, feel the weather and can only admire the ship and people who do the impossible with such regularity. There's the injustice of the 'owners' and the frailty of the 'casualties' and a good deal of humour to balance everthing out. A true story (mostly), it cronicles a time on the East coast and in Canada when the old world had to give way to the new and what we lost in moving forward. Wonderful.
Foundation Franklin: The Salvage Tug Sans Peur
As a sea officer, I learned about salvage tugs,the men who man them and the ships they've saved from stories told around the dinner table in the officers' saloon and in bars around the world. You just pray you and your ship will never have need of their services.
There are many deep-ocean tugs whose names are well known in the maritime community, but Foundation Franklin was the queen of her kind. In ten words or less, if you were in trouble and she got a line on you, chances were you'd make it home. From a seafarer, there is no higher praise.
Farley Mowat tells her story, from her owners acquiring her as Royal Navy surplus in 1919 until she was laid up for the last time, with loving attention to detail. He writes of her missions, from the comparatively mundane to the incredibly dangerous, in such a way that you feel the deck moving under your feet and the cold North Atlantic spray lashing your face. He puts you squarely in the middle of the action. True, the finer points will be best appreciated by those of us who make or have made our living on the deep blue, but the writing is so rich even landsmen and armchair sailors will understand and come to respect the intrepidity of the deep ocean salvage men. That's reason enough to read this book.
But more to the point, Mowat manages to convey to his readers the pride that sailors feel when some of their own pull off a difficult mission. He chronicles a little known and unappreciated chapter of the Second World War: the Merchant Mariners who faced the perils of U-Boats, bomber attacks and of course the ordinary hazards of foul weather sailing; and who, by getting the cargo through, enabled the armed forces to win the war against the Nazis. After reading the book, you will understand why we feel reassured by the knowledge that Foundation Franklin's bell still hangs in the offices of her salvage company - and that when they ring the bell to tell her successors that there is a ship out there in trouble and to get a move on, there are still brave men to answer her call.
(15 reviews)
