This 2005 book by Michael J. Tougias offers a pulse-rattling collection of disasters at sea. There are huge storms, sinking ships, terrified sailors, and people tossed into churning waves. Some people die despite daring rescue attempts. Some people survive thanks to their own grit or the heroism of others.
And, just so you don't get too comfortable in your easy chair, Tougias throws in a few disasters on land, too.
Make no mistake: "Ten Hours Until Dawn" is filled with riveting stories that will keep you engaged and hurriedly turning pages. That said, Tougias' book doesn't quite hold together. This is partly because each story yanks the reader in a different direction, and also because there's not enough suspense in the main story.
The central story surrounds Frank Quirk, the owner and operator of the Can Do, a 50-foot-long pilot boat that plies the waters of Massachusetts' Gloucester Bay. When a nearby tanker calls for help amid a monster storm -- the famed "Blizzard of 1978" -- Quirk and four other men take the Can Do out into a night of ferocious seas.
Tougias -- a wonderful writer who has done thorough research -- tells the story of the Can Do minute by minute as the peril facing the men on board grows through the night. The author also interjects other stories, some from the same night, and some from centuries ago, that show similar perils and dangerous situations.
Tougias is perhaps my favorite writer. Three of his books I absolutely loved: "Overboard" (2010), "A Storm Too Soon" (2013), and "Fatal Forecast" (2006). I liked his "So Close to Home" (2016) a bit less than the others, but it still told a good story.
For all its merits, I can only rate "Ten Hours on Dawn" as good, not great. One issue is that while Tougias doesn't say it outright, it quickly becomes apparent that the Can Do and all those aboard are doomed (a big clue: While Tougias quotes almost every person who has survived a perilous situation at sea in the modern era, there are no "post-game" quotes from Quirk or his crew). You realize halfway through the book that it's not realistic to hope for them to survive. Much of the latter part of the book is just a long sad slide toward the inevitable.
Tougias also faces a similar situation to what Sebastian Junger faced when writing "The Perfect Storm" -- neither the author nor anyone really knows what happened aboard the doomed ship. There's a lot of speculation, and Tougias does his best, but he can never quite close that narrative gap.
"Ten Hours Until Dawn" is an impressively detailed book, and you can't help feeling pain of the mourning families at the end. Still, not all the stories Tougias shares fit together, and some would maybe be better off in a book of their own.
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