Doom in the Deep: An Extraordinary Storm, a Miraculous Survival

It is one of the great tales of man against the elements. In February 1968, in a howling gale from the North Pole, fishermen fought desperately for their lives, hacking at the deadly ice that caked their vessels. Visibility was almost nil and communications only intermittent.

When a wave swamped the hull of the trawler Ross Cleveland, she went down in minutes. It was reported that she had gone down with all hands. Yet thirty-six hours later First Mate Harry Eddom was found alive, after an incredible ordeal. Swept around all night in the raging sea in a life raft with the bodies of two dead shipmates, he finally made land on a remote shore. After walking miles over rock and scree in a near-deserted fjord, he took shelter by an uninhabited cabin for a second long, cold night, until a young shepherd chanced upon him. Harry Eddom's "return from the dead" was international headline news.

Meanwhile, an Icelandic fishing vessel was missing, too, and a Grimsby trawler, the Notts County, had run aground. The Icelandic Coast Guard risked their lives on tiny rafts in the deadly conditions to rescue eighteen men off the stranded vessel.

Ottar Sveinsson's vivid account is based on contemporary reports and interviews with the participants in those tragic and heroic events, including the exclusive account of Harry Eddom. It is one of the most tragic, and amazing, sea stories ever.