The Sol E Mar Tragedy Off Martha S Vineyard

On March 22, 1990, local fishermen Hokey Hokanson and his teenage son, Billy, set sail for Cape Cod in the "Sol e Mar." When disaster struck three days later, Billy transmitted a brief, heavily garbled radio distress call. A hoax call immediately followed Billy's cry for help, and believing that the two were connected, the U.S. Coast Guard did not launch rescue units for several days. The Hokansons' deaths prompted a new anti-hoax law and changed United States Coast Guard search and rescue procedures. Historian Captain W. Russ Webster, U.S. Coast Guard (Ret.), and journalist Elizabeth B. Webster chronicle the fascinating story of the "Sol e Mar" and its crew and explain the psychology of hoax callers and Coast Guard technological advancements since the tragedy.

On the evening of January 2, 2009, Captain Matteo Russo and crewman John Orlando got underway aboard the fifty-four-foot fishing vessel Patriot, from the iconic State Pier in Gloucester, Massachusetts, bound for nearby fishing grounds in search of cod. They never returned. What happened less than eight hours later on that bitter and dark winter early morning that caused the Patriot to sink? Why did the Coast Guard deliberate more than two hours before launching a rescue mission? Using official documents, numerous interviews and insight as a search and rescue commander, maritime historian Captain W. Russell Webster, USCG (Ret.), expertly documents the tragedy of the Patriot, with startling findings. He deftly explores the condition of "normalcy bias" linked to this heartbreaking case, which can cause people--including Coast Guard personnel--to deny and sometimes over-deliberate threats to human life.

The three most important people in my life—my husband and our two sons—along with a cherished nephew perished in a horrific boating accident off Charleston in 1997. I thought my life was over the night I received the cryptic phone call from a family pastor in Florida, asking me if I knew if more bodies had been found. From that awkward moment forward, I began to live every mother's and wife's nightmare. This book, so eloquently crafted by Capt. W. Russell Webster, will honor my family and detail the mistakes that were made and ensure that the many positive changes that have come from this tragedy are memorialized appropriately for future sailors and rescuers alike.

Now known as a resort community and vacation destination, Martha's Vineyard was once a simple fishing and whaling community. From the popularity of the Methodist Campground, founded in 1835, the Vineyard soon blossomed into a summer vacation mecca, welcoming visitors to its quaint villages and scenic seashores. As whaling lost its economic dominance, tourism became the catalyst for a revived prosperity on the Vineyard. President Grant's visit to the Vineyard in 1874 drew national attention and marked the beginning of several presidential visits to the island. By 1900, Oak Bluffs had developed an amusement park atmosphere with the iconic Flying Horses, toboggan slide and grand seaside hotels. Join local historian Tom Dresser as he reveals the island's transformation into a premier tourist destination.

A first-hand account and fascinating new details of the 1952 rescue of the SS Pendleton, the true story behind the film The Finest Hours. On February 18, 1952, off the coast of Cape Cod, a fierce nor’easter snapped in half two 503-foot oil tankers, the Pendleton and the Fort Mercer. Human grace and grit, leadership and endurance prevail as Theresa Mitchell Barbo and Captain W. Russell Webster (Ret.) recount the historic, heroic rescue of thirty-two merchant mariners from the sinking Pendleton by four young Coast Guardsmen aboard the 36-foot motor lifeboat CG 36500. A foreword by former Commandant Admiral Thad Allen (Ret.) and an essay by Master Chief John “Jack” Downey (Ret.), a veteran of thousands of modern-day small boat rescues, round out the special third edition of this classic work on Coast Guard history.