"The Finest Hours" - The Rescue Began 76 Years Before the SS Pendleton Sailed

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Disney's recent movie, "The Finest Hours", tells the story of the most successful small-boat rescue in the Coast Guard's history. The movie has all the elements of a rousing tale - heroic men on a stormy sea, man-against-nature, and romance. The movie is based on a well-researched book of the same name published in 2009 by Michael J. Tougias and Casey Sherman. Tougias has seen the film and applauds it for accuracy (read the interview), noting only two items changed for dramatic effect.

The movie was all the more exciting for me because I know that the SS Pendleton's rescue did not begin in 1952, but in 1871, the year that the US Life Saving Service (USLSS) was effectively established.

USLSS crew heading out in a surfboat.

Gas motors had not yet been invented to power the boats. Only "Norwegian steam" was available -- the power of 6 to 8 men pulling long oars against the churning waves, Just as in the movie, these men claimed the duty to sail from shore in the roughest weather and pluck sailors and passengers off doomed ships. The rescues these men performed became legendary; the men themselves hailed as heroes in magazine and news accounts of the day. Milton Bradley marketed a board game "Life-saver", and the colorful Life Savers(R) candy was invented in part to honor these "storm warriors". A grateful nation grew to depend on its government while it watched an organized system of rescue succeed again and again.

Station Chatham, from which the famous SS Pendleton rescue was launched, can trace its lifesaving roots back to the formation of the Massachusetts Humane Society in 1786. After the lighthouse and light towers were constructed in 1808, the station continued in its lifesaving activities and became part of the early USLSS. The lighthouse is currently home to an active duty Coast Guard Small Boat Station, with a primary mission of Search & Rescue, responsible for the safety of the local fishing fleet and recreational boating community.

The 36-foot life boat used in "The Finest Hours" rescue was a product of design and testing that started in 1876 by the USLSS on the East Coast and the Great Lakes. The life boats were self-bailing and self-righting, slow, steady and strong. Power could be supplied by "Norwegian steam" or by sails, and the craft could carry up to 33 persons. Motors were added in the 1890's. The crews of the USLSS tested the powerful craft and found them reliable and nearly unsinkable. They had names like Defiance, Retriever, Diligent, Valorous, and Resolute, apt descriptions for the character of the USLSS -- and its successor, the US Coast Guard.

The Coast Guard men joined an elite and historic group when they were awarded the Gold Lifesaving Medal for valor in the SS Pendleton rescue. This first-class award and the second-class Silver medal had been originally established for the USLSS in 1874. The Gold medal has always been awarded for "cases of extreme and heroic daring."

In 1915, a merger of USLSS and the Revenue-marine created the US Coast Guard. As its website says...

For over two centuries the U.S. Coast Guard has safeguarded our Nation’s maritime interests in the heartland, in the ports, at sea, and around the globe. We protect the maritime economy and the environment, we defend our maritime borders, and we save those in peril. This history has forged our character and purpose as America’s Maritime Guardian — Always Ready for all hazards and all threats.   ~from the US Coast Guard website

Semper Paratus. Always Ready.  "...we save those in peril". The mission of the US Life-Saving Service brought into the 21st Century.

Reference: Frederick Stonehouse. Wreck Ashore: The United States Life-Saving Service on the Great Lakes. Association for Great Lakes Maritime History, Pub. B4. Lake Superior Port Cities Inc. 1994.

Read about my related work-in-progress set in a USLSS station on the Great Lakes -

 NO GREATER LOVE

My Writing Process - I'm a Plotter To The Max

Plotter or Pantser?

Writers can easily describe themselves as one or the other.

Plotters... well, Plotters plot. There's a plan, a grid, index cards, a spreadsheet, something that holds a list of all the events or scenes that will appear in the novel in loose order. Detailed character descriptions are created before one word of the novel appears on a computer screen.

A Pantser sits down to write with an idea of who the characters are and what will happen to them and writes.

If you are a writer or are contemplating organizing words so that they tell a story, you will probably read the two descriptions above and immediately gravitate to one approach or the other. There's no right or wrong; one approach is not more successful than the other. There's only preference.

Plotter or Pantser? Writer's Choice

Plotter to the Max

I freely admit that I'm a PLOTTER. I use index cards, plot grids, a conflict table, and detailed character descriptions. On the software side, during different times in my process, I use Writer's Dreamkit, Writer's Blocks, MS Excel spreadsheets, and Scrivener to view the story from several angles. I have most of the story line worked out before I start writing. I like to know the beginning and the ending before setting out on the journey.

How does my writing process work?

I start with what grabs me: a conversation, a place, a character, an event. Usually one or two scenes form in my mind, and I'll write those down. After that, I turn on the PLOTTER. I create character sketches for the hero and heroine using a template that I've drawn from several sources. Those sketches are full-blown biographies, so I'm already doing research as I go. Then I start plotting, starting with a Conflict Grid and the Book in a Month system by Victoria Lynn Schmidt that help with story line. Finally I create a plot grid using Writer's Blocks which allows me to keep scenes, settings and timeline all in sync. I write the first draft in one long gulp, usually over a month. Then after another round of research and plotting, sometimes using different tools, I begin rewriting and editing, rewriting and editing, each time looking at another aspect of the novel, such as dialogue or repeated words. Then it's ready to send out to my core of first readers. Whew! Every step of this journey strengthens my writing and the story. You get to enjoy the results!

Why do I write what I write?

I write sweet romance (light on the sex and violence) because I like the tension between people who are caught in social or life situations that keep them apart without the complicating layer of physical love. Elinor's pulsing emotions under the surface in Jane Austen's "Sense and Sensibility" are what I want to reproduce. Other than that, I write what I write when a subject, a character, a scene or a setting grabs me and won't let go. Elsewhere in this blog, you can read how that happened for each of my books.

How does my work differ from others of its genre?

My contemporary novels have been described as "delightful slices of life" and "uplifting", and my writing as "eloquent".  These novels often feature a librarian in some way, in honor of my training and second profession. One of my historical romance series, THE HATHAWAYS, is set in Regency England, a popular time and place. My second historical series, THE STORM WARRIORS, is set in the 1880's and the US Life Saving Service, the forerunner to the US Coast Guard. The setting is located on the shores of the Great Lakes, a less known location, but full of opportunities for romance. In all of my writing, I add the touch of the Spirit by exploring life's options. For many of us, the choice that lies before us is not between Good and Bad, but between Good and Best. There are plenty of things we can do, judged as Good by society, our parents, our church, our peers. But what is Best for us? What will match our talents and joy to the world's needs? I like exploring that kind of choice through my writing.

How Do Other Authors Work?

A fellow author from Clean Reads, Ariella Moon writes about magic, friendship, and love. She shares her home with family and a dragon, so be prepared for magic. She's made some writing magic with her trilogy The Teen Wytche Sage.

Visit with Shirley Kiger Connolly. Shirley, daughter of a 1940s mystery writer, enjoys penning inspirational historical fiction romances and books filled with lighthearted devotions and reflections.  

Cindy K. Green is an award-winning author of more than 10 titles both in print and out of print. She's a fellow member of the Heart of Carolina RWA chapter here in North Carolina  A previous middle school history and English teacher, she now writes Inspirational Christian and Sweet Fiction for Adults and Young Adults.

Visit with Lynne Stringer. Lynne has been passionate about writing all her life. She wrote her debut Young Adult sci-fi romance novel, THE HEIR, in 2010. THE HEIR is the first book in the Verindon trilogy and has now been joined by THE CROWN and THE REIGN.