Fatal Forecast: An Incredible True Story of Courage in a Savage Storm

As harrowing as The Perfect Storm--but with a miraculous ending--Fatal Forecast is one of the greatest survival stories ever told--now available as a young reader’s adaptation.

On the morning of November 21, 1980, two small boats set out from Cape Cod for Georges Bank, a prosperous fishing ground one hundred miles out to sea. The National Weather Service had forecast typical fall weather, and the young crew aboard the Sea Fever and the Fair Wind had no reason to expect that this trip would be any different from the dozens they’d made earlier in the season. What they didn’t know was that the only weather buoy in the area was malfunctioning as the National Weather Service had failed to reveal this critical data. As the two boats headed out, a colossal storm was brewing, a furious maelstrom that would batter the boats with sixty-foot waves and hurricane-force winds.

This true story of catastrophe and survival at sea is a vivid moment-by-moment account of seventy-two hours in the lives of eight men. Most amazing is the story of Ernie Hazard, who spent more than fifty terrifying hours in--and out of--a tiny life raft, careening in the monstrous waves. Gripping and heart-pounding, this page-turning adaptation for young readers is an unforgettable story about the collision of two spectacular forces: the brutality of nature and the human will to survive.

An adaptation for young readers of Fatal Forecast: An Incredible True Tale of Disaster and Survival at Sea.

Michael J. Tougias is the author of Abandon Ship!, the first book in the True Survival series, which he cowrote with Alison O’Leary, and many other award-winning true rescue stories, including the New York Times bestseller The Finest Hours, A Storm Too Soon, Into the Blizzard, Rescue of the Bounty and Attacked at Sea, as well as the young reader’s adaptation of In Harm’s Way by Doug Stanton. A frequent lecturer who also enjoys visiting schools to talk about his books and show slides from the stories, Tougias splits his time between Massachusetts and Florida. He invites you to visit him online at www.michaeltougias.com.