THE SERPENTS COIL Book

Here is one of the great storytellers of our time reporting the hair-raising rescue missions of a deep-sea salvage tug that saved hundreds of lives during two decades of service. In Grey Seas Under, Farley Mowat writes passionately of the courage of men and of a small, ocean-going salvage tug, Foundation Franklin. From 1930 until her final voyage in 1948, the stalwart tug's dangerous mission was to rescue sinking ships, first searching for them in perilous waters and then bringing them back to shore. Battered by towering waves, dwarfed by the great ships she towed, blasted by gale-force winds and frozen by squalls of snow and rain, Foundation Franklin and her brave crew saved hundreds of vessels and thousands of lives as they patrolled the North Atlantic, including waters patrolled by U-boats in wartime. Mowat spent two years gathering this material and sailed on some of the missions he describes. The result is a modern epic-a vigorous, dramatic picture of the eternal battle between men and the cruel sea.Read More