THE GREY SEAS UNDER

by Farley Mowat ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 20, 1958

A wholly different type of writing, this, from the hilarious The Dog Who Wouldn't Be, but absorbing, and touching on a perilous, profitable and little-known maritime profession, deep-sea salvage. It is the biography of Foundation Franklin an unimpressive little salvage ship working out of Canadian ports on the North Atlantic. Each year some 6000 vessels, disabled by every conceivable catastrophe, are salvaged. The salvors usually work under contract, Lloyd's Open Form: if the ship is a total loss the owners of the salvor vessel receive no pay. If salvaged, the profits are staggering. The heroine of this particular tale of salvage built in 1918 for deep-sea towing and salvage, bought in 1930 by a Canadian company, reconditioned, rechristened Foundation Franklin. And launched as a new venture by her owners. In 1932 in ferocious seas, she saved a foundering ship and proved herself at a thumping profit. In 1948, after a magnificent attempt to save a ship in a storm, she was given up for lost; days late, disabled but still afloat, she crawled into Halifax. All sailors, deep sea, landlocked and backyard, will love this vivid tale of small ships, large seas, and heroic men.

Pub Date: Oct. 20, 1958

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Little, Brown-A.M.P.

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1958

Categories: NONFICTION