Mayday! Mayday! by Lorna Siggins

Mayday! Mayday! by Lorna Siggins

A pitch black night in a winter Atlantic storm. A stricken trawler, her cold and frightened crew struggling to keep her afloat a little longer, knowing that before long she will go down. For these men, it is certain death: a death that has been the lot of generations of fishermen before them. Then out of the night comes the drone of helicopter blades and the searching eye of the spotlight. On board, the helicopter crew prepares to rescue the beleaguered fishermen. This requires immense skill and vast reservoirs of raw, physical courage. It means being lowered on a winch from the safety of the helicopter into the teeth of a Force 11 gale and sheets of blinding rain in order to manoeuvre towards the deck of the sinking boat. And it has to be done as many times as there are men to save. The people who do this work are not cut from an average cloth. This book recalls and celebrates twelve cases where their courage, resourcefulness and persistence saved human lives that would otherwise have certainly been lost. The helicopter crews are not daredevils, indifferent to danger. On the contrary, they are consummate professionals, calculating the odds, facing the dangers and calmly getting the job done. These are tales of life and death and of the brave men and women who are ready on a daily basis to put their lives on the line for their fellow citizens.

Lorna Siggins is western correspondent of The Irish Times, based in Galway. A journalist with wide experience of reporting on and participating in adventure sports - she has been to 24,000 feet in the Himalayas - she has a particular interest in marine affairs.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780717135295
ISBN 10	0717135292
Title	Mayday! Mayday!
Author	Lorna Siggins
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Gill
Year published	2004-04-01
Number of pages	224
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.