Simple Courage: A True Story of Peril on the Sea

"In late December 1951, laden with passengers and nearly forty metric tons of cargo, the freighter S. S. Flying Enterprise steamed westward from Europe toward America. A few days into the voyage, she hit the eye of a ferocious storm. In the space of twenty-eight hours, the ship was slammed by two rogue waves, and the impact threw the vessel over on her side, thrusting all on board into terror." Flying Enterprise's captain, Kurt Carlsen, helped transfer, across waves forty feet high, the passengers and the entire crew to lifeboats sent from nearby ships. Then, for reasons both professional and intensely personal, and to the amazement of the world, Carlsen defied all requests and entreaties to abandon ship. Instead, for the next two weeks, he fought to bring Flying Enterprise and her cargo to port. His heroic endeavor became the world's biggest news. Frank Delaney tells, for the first time, the full story of this unmatched bravery and endurance at sea. Drawing on historical documents and contemporary accounts an on exclusive interviews with Carlsen's family, Delaney opens a window into the world of the merchant marine.