The Sea’s Bitter Harvest: Thirteen Deadly Days on the North Atlantic (Paperback)

From Publishers Weekly
This gripping narrative elaborates Campbell’s eight-part Philadelphia Inquirer series on a disastrous 13-day period in January 1999 when four commercial clam boats sank while fishing in the Atlantic Ocean. Campbell was able to get close to many surviving fisherman and their families, and their stories, plus Campbell’s own extensive research on the clam fishing industry, make for a moving, balanced picture of a disaster greatly exacerbated by poor safety standards, negligent industry practices, and the recalcitrance of the fishermen themselves. As Campbell recounts the wrecks, fascinating details of clam fishing emerge: the extensive drug use among fishermen; the quick, bitter results of hypothermia at sea; and the proper loading rules for clams and quahogs the two quarry upon whose capture a fishing boat’s success is marked. As Campbell makes clear, even the most skilled fishermen often have little real understanding of vessel stability. This, along with the fact that many clam boats were not required to have inspections and the “very design of many fishing boats in the United States is suspect, according to the naval architects,” helped produce disastrous results. Campbell’s dramatic, highly personal reconstruction of the accidents and the sailors’ last few days on land will remind readers of The Perfect Storm. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
–This text refers to the

Hardcover
edition.
From Booklist
In the winter of 1999, four clam boats were lost in the North Atlantic. One sank because of a navigational error and without loss of life, but the other three took a total of 10 men with them. Causes included bad weather, questionable seamanship, poor maintenance, the fact that a fully loaded clam dragger violates most principles of naval architecture, and understaffing of the Coast Guard’s usually valiant inspection and search-and-rescue efforts. Campbell combines portraits of the men–warts and all, with two of those warts being high incidences of drug use and marital trouble–the boats, and the industry (including its regulations, improbable hardware, and prey) with the actual events of that two-week period, the deadliest in the East Coast clam fisheries’ history. An altogether absorbing book and a reminder that humble clam chowder is paid for in lives and that going to sea in ships for one’s living will always be dangerous. A worthy shelf mate for Sebastian Junger’s Perfect Storm (1997) and Patrick Dillon’s Lost at Sea (1998). Roland GreenCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
–This text refers to the

Hardcover
edition.

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Tagged with: Atlantic • Bitter • Days • Deadly • Harvest • North • Paperback • Sea's • Thirteen

Filed under: campbell

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