39f4a6_eb1d8409811f4e04932e916b76e73ccf

GBH Boat Talk

BOAT TALK WITH MICHAEL TOUGIAS & Awards Night

Thursday, September 12

BOAT TALK  Highly acclaimed author Michael Tougias has written numerous accounts of marine disasters and rescues. The keynote speaker of the GBH 50th ANNIVERSARY celebration in May, he joins us again for our first meeting of the fall to recount the rescue of the Pendelton off Cape Cod. His book was the basis for the 2016 Disney movie, The Finest Hours.

In a 1952 nor’easter, the distress of two ships off Cape Cod initiated a dramatic Coast Guard operation recounted here. Both vessels were WWII surplus, cheaply built, unwisely kept in service, and broken in two by the storm. All four halves floated and the narrative tracks four separate search-and-rescue efforts.

The most prominent rescue, in the press at the time and in official honors conferred afterward, concerned one motorized lifeboat, CG36500, a scant 36 feet long and operated by four men, dispatched to do battle with the maelstrom’s towering waves. This is how real heroes are made.

 

          Coast Guard lifeboat 36500 then & now

“I enjoy doing these programs,” says Tougias, “because I like to transport the audience into the heart of the storm so that they ask themselves ‘what would I have done.’ It’s like watching a movie with the author giving behind the scene details.” Tougias says that besides focusing on the voyage and the disaster, he will recount the heroic rescue attempts by Coast Guard CG3600 and its crew. A book signing will follow the program, and the presentation is suitable for all ages.

Michael J. Tougias is a NY Times Bestselling author and co-author of 29 books. A versatile writer, he has been published in almost every category including history, young adult, humor, nature and historical fiction. He is best known for his seven survival at sea books such as A Storm Too Soon, Rescue of the Bounty, Fatal Forecast and The Finest Hours, which was made into a major motion picture by Disney starring Casey Affleck and Chris Pine. Tougias’s first maritime book, Ten Hours Until Dawn, a true story of heroism off the coast of Massachusetts during the Blizzard of 1978, was selected by the American Library Association as one of the “Top Books of the Year” and described as “a white-knuckle read, the best book of its kind.”

• • •

AWARDS NIGHT is Great Blue Hill’s annual salute to members. We celebrate the volunteerism, creativity, effort and enthusiasm that our members bring to squadron activities. We work together, study together, have fun together and support the boating community.

Among key awards are the P/C Robert L. Black, SN, Outstanding Member and the Robert J. Reynolds Student of the Year.  We also acknowledge members who have earned United States Power Squadrons Merit Marks, given to USPS members who have made significant contributions of time to sustain GBH and its mission.

Come show your support for those who keep Great Blue Hill at the forefront of America’s Boating Club.

Meeting Date: Thursday, September 12, 2019
Time: 6:30 – 9:30 PM
Event: Boat Talk and Dinner
Evening program: Michael Tougias/Awards Night
Flyer: PDF
Location: American Legion Hall
155 Eastern Ave.
Dedham, MA 02026
Google Map
Cost: Advance Registration $20.00 through Sunday, September 8
September 9 – September 12 or at the door, $25.00
Includes dinner.
Reservations:
Lt/C Dave Albanese, AO
Email ao@abc-gbh.org
ONLINE REGISTRATION (PREFERRED) NOW OPEN
When on Ticket Tailor: On page 2 we need your name and email, but you may enter an X in the other boxes. You do NOT need to print a ticket.

Schedule:
1830 hours Social Hour
1900 hours Dinner
2000 hours Meeting
2030 hours Awards Night

>