Disasters At Sea

Description:
Dag Pike draws on his experience as merchant navy captain, fast boat navigator and boat safety tester for RNLI lifeboats to focus on a wide range of disasters at sea. He compiles a wide range of accounts of yachts, motorboats and commercial vessels running into difficulty as a result of poor navigation, fog, miscalculation, human error, weather conditions etc and analyses in a readable and entertaining fashion what caused the disaster, what went wrong, how it was dealt with and the lessons learned from it. Examples range from the Fastnet disaster, powerboat races, boats run down in the Channel, to trawlers pulled under by submarines, ferry accidents and tanker and cargo ship disasters. The incidents include grounding, collision, fire, sinking, ice and storms, and each chapter has an example from the Marine Accident Investigation Bureau who monitor incidents at sea. This book is a fascinating read for all who go afloat either for business or pleasure, and for anyone interested in just why disasters happen at sea.

Review:
' Not for the fainthearted but a cracking read nonetheless ' Practical Boat Owner, December 2008 ' Dipping into the book, every page provides a fascination...it is a hard book to put down. It is highly recommended ' Lymington Times (Dec 2008) ' This book is a must, it concentrates the mind, it alerts one to the dangers and very importantly alerts one to what can be done to avoid or at least mitigate disaster ' The Little Ship (Winter 2008) 'Very interesting read; and it contains priceless advice on how to prepare for, if not avoid, at least some of the disasters lurking out there, often just waiting for the unwary.' Sailing for Southern Africa (April 2009) 'A very useful think piece for mariners of all kinds and ages.' Work Boat World (March 2010)

Author Biography:
Dag Pike's name is synonymous with safety at sea and boat design. He began his career as a merchant captain, went on to test RNLI lifeboats for buoyancy and structural integrity, and took up fast boat navigation, winning a string of trophies for powerboat races around the world, including navigating Richard Branson's Virgin Atlantic Challenger on the record-breaking fastest Atlantic Crossing by powerboat. He is now a navigation and powerboat journalist in demand all round the world.