Writeup from Slate.com:

I Shouldn't Be Alive

Thought I'd pass it along.

-- Craig

Thanks for the link, Craig.

I thought the show was pretty darn good. It really did a good job of conveying the survivors' emotions, not just relaying the cold facts. I felt the Boston.com reviewer was a bit harsh about the reinactments.

I enjoyed the show. It was pretty hard to watch sometimes, though. My wife couldn't watch the whole thing. She saw it to a point and then said, I can't watch this any more. She got up and left the room.

If you want to know how to abandon ship properly, read survivors' accounts of the sinking of the USS Indianapolis.

I can't get over the entire Coast Guard bit. They are top-notch professionals. From the way the show recounted events, sounds like the Coast Guard dropped the ball completely.

-- Craig

I'm not sure of the meaning of that expression.Does it mean they made many errors or were totally out of touch ...? <img src="/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

TIA

As in football or soccer - one who has the ball and looses it, ending the play. The phrase is used to express someone's incompetence. Many would say that FEMA dropped the ball during hurricane Katrina. I hope this helps.

Steve

RE: The Coast Guard dropping the ball.

I wish more had been said regarding this. The only comment expressed by the show (if memory serves) was that the Coast Guard received a call that reported that the "Trashman" had come into port that evening.

I think the show glossed that over a bit. I doubt that the Coast Guard would call off a search and rescue after recieving a phone call unless it was a call made by some type of port official.

"Hi Coast Guard... Yeah, this is Stu down at the docks, you don't know me or anything, but I think the Trashman came in..."

Still, I liked the show. LOL

I do agree that the acting was a touch "over the top", but had it been an hour of people in a Zodiac being subdued, I might have gotten bored. <img src="/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

As for watching this show to learn survival skills, I have a feeling in the end it will be more about "what not to do in a survival situation" and "how I got lucky" versus knowing the techniques to up the odds of survival.

Still, there is good information to be gleaned in such a show.

Well, from what I gathered, the boat made an SOS call. The Coast Guard got the call, but never dispatched a rescue crew because they said they got a phone call saying everything was fine.

Would they not double-check that? Lives are on the line, here. LIves were lost in this case. Wouldn't you think the Coast Guard would call the marina or whoever back just to double-check, asking if they had just called the Coast Guard giving the all-clear for that particular boat?

Elmer Fudd could have called the Coast Guard and said all's well, for all we know.

thanks.

What is SOP for Coast Guard in such circumstances?

Not a clue.