Michael J. Tougias | |
|---|---|
 Author Michael J. Tougias | |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Alma mater | Boston College, Saint Michael's College |
| Subject | travel, adventure, United States Coast Guard |
| Website | |
| michaeltougias | |
Michael J. Tougias (born 1955 in Longmeadow, Massachusetts) is an American writer who writes about maritime, travel, and adventure topics.
Michael J. Tougias is a N.Y. Times Bestselling author of 25 books.
An avid fisherman, Tougias became a self-syndicated outdoors writer in 1990. At the time he was also managing a division of a major insurance company. He published the first of 25 books in 1998.
He travels to more than 100 small and large speaking engagements a year to discuss his books and other topics, including "Survival Stories," lessons learned from those who were shipwrecked. U.S. Coast Guardsmen and sailors are frequent audiences; Tougias' last six books have been accounts of historic sea rescues by the Coast Guard, often in the Gulf Stream. [1]
His book The Finest Hours: The True Story Behind the US Coast Guard's Most Daring Rescue (2009), co-authored with Casey Sherman, was adapted as a Disney film by the same name, released in 2016. [2] [3]
Tougias is a frequent guest on NPR programs, The Weather Channel, Fox & Friends, 20/20, and national talk shows.[ citation needed ]
He attended Boston College (1973–74) and graduated from Saint Michael's College in Vermont in 1977.
He lives in Massachusetts and Florida. [4]
He has a daughter, Kristin, with whom he wrote a memoir entitled The Cringe Chronicles. [5]
Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer months. The name Cape Cod, coined in 1602 by Bartholomew Gosnold, is the ninth oldest English place-name in the U.S.
Chatham is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. Chatham is located at the southeastern tip of Cape Cod and has historically been a fishing community. First settled by the English in 1664, the township was originally called Monomoit based on the indigenous population's term for the region. Chatham was incorporated as a town on June 11, 1712, and has become a summer resort area. The population was 6,594 at the 2020 census and can swell to 25,000 during the summer months. There are four villages that comprise the town, those being Chatham (CDP), South Chatham, North Chatham, and West Chatham. Chatham is home to the Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge and the decommissioned Monomoy Point Light, both located on Monomoy Island. A popular attraction is the Chatham Light, which is an operational lighthouse that is operated by the United States Coast Guard.
The Northeastern United States blizzard of 1978 was a catastrophic, historic nor'easter that struck New England, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and the New York metropolitan area. The Blizzard of '78 formed on Sunday, February 5, 1978 and broke up on February 7. The storm was initially known as "Storm Larry" in Connecticut, following the local convention promoted by the Travelers Weather Service on television and radio stations there. Snow fell mostly from Monday morning, February 6 to the evening of Tuesday, February 7. Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts were hit especially hard by this storm.
Provincetown Harbor is a large natural harbor located in the town of Provincetown, Massachusetts. The harbor is mostly 30 to 90 feet deep and stretches roughly 1 mile (1.6 km) from northwest to southeast and 2 miles (3.2 km) from northeast to southwest – one large, deep basin with no dredged channel necessary for boats to enter and exit.
The term "finest hour" originated in the 1940 speech This was their finest hour by Winston Churchill.
Edward Rowe Snow was an American writer and historian.
Herb Hilgenberg is a Canadian amateur meteorologist and sailing enthusiast who provided a daily ship-routing/weather forecasting service for vessels at sea. Between 1987 and 2013, Hilgenberg provided this service free of charge via marine HF/SSB on a frequency of 12359.0 kHz starting at 2000 UTC.
Casey Sherman is an American author, journalist and screenwriter most famous for his 2009 book The Finest Hours, which was adapted into the Disney Studios 2016 film of the same name, and Boston Strong, which was adapted into the 2016 film Patriots Day.
Coast Guard Motor Lifeboat CG-36500 is a historic, 36-foot lifeboat that is berthed at Rock Harbor in Orleans, Massachusetts. Built in 1946, it is notable for its involvement in the 1952 SS Pendleton rescue, one of the most daring such events recorded in the history of the United States Coast Guard. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005, and now serves as a museum boat.
Moose Hill Wildlife Sanctuary is a 1,971 acres (798 ha) wildlife sanctuary located in Sharon, Massachusetts. The property is the oldest property of the Massachusetts Audubon Society, established in 1916. It is adjacent to Moose Hill Farm, which is owned by the Trustees of Reservations.
United States Coast Guard Station Gloucester is a United States Coast Guard station located in Gloucester, Massachusetts. It is located on Harbor Loop on the Mainland. The first successful US Coast Guard Air Station was CGAS Ten Pound Island in Gloucester Harbor, which operated from 1925 to 1935.
The February 1952 nor'easter was a significant winter storm that impacted the New England region of the United States. The storm ranked as Category 1, or "notable", on the Northeast Snowfall Impact Scale. Its rapid intensification resulted in heavy snowfall between February 17 and 18, accumulating to 12 to 30 inches. High winds also affected central and northern New England. The nor'easter is estimated to have caused 42 fatalities. In Maine, over 1,000 travelers became stranded on roadways. Two ships cracked in two offshore New England during the storm.
Asa Eldridge (1809–1856) was a sea captain from Yarmouth, Massachusetts. In 1854, Captain Eldridge guided the clipper ship Red Jacket from New York and to Liverpool in only in 13 days, 1 hour, and 25 minutes, dock to dock, setting a speed record for the fastest trans-Atlantic crossing by a commercial sailing vessel that has remained unbroken ever since. In 1856, Captain Eldridge skippered the ill-fated steamship SS Pacific, which disappeared at sea on a voyage from Liverpool to New York.
The Finest Hours is a 2016 American action thriller film directed by Craig Gillespie and produced by Walt Disney Pictures. The screenplay, written by Eric Johnson, Scott Silver, and Paul Tamasy, is based on The Finest Hours: The True Story of the U.S. Coast Guard's Most Daring Sea Rescue by Michael J. Tougias and Casey Sherman. The film stars Chris Pine, Casey Affleck, Ben Foster, Holliday Grainger, John Ortiz, and Eric Bana, and chronicles the historic 1952 United States Coast Guard rescue of the crew of SS Pendleton, after the ship split apart during a nor'easter off the New England coast.
SS Pendleton was a Type T2-SE-A1 tanker built in 1942 in Portland, Oregon, United States, for the War Shipping Administration. She was sold in 1948 to National Bulk Carriers, serving until February 1952 when she broke in two in a storm. The T2 tanker ships were prone to splitting in two in cold weather. The ship's sinking and crew rescue is the topic of the 2009 book The Finest Hours: The True Story Behind the US Coast Guard's Most Daring Rescue by Michael J. Tougias and Casey Sherman. The book inspired the 2016 Disney-produced film The Finest Hours with Chris Pine, which focuses on the Pendleton rescue.
SS Fort Mercer was a Type T2-SE-A1 tanker built by Sun Shipbuilding & Drydock Co., at Chester, Pennsylvania in October 1945. SS Fort Mercer, was built under a Maritime Commission contract and launched on 2 October 1945. With World War II ending on 15 August 1945, Fort Mercer did not serve in the war. Fort Mercer was owned and operated by the Trinidad Corporation of New York.
The January 1886 blizzard in North America was caused by a strong extratropical cyclone which initially dropped southeast across Texas before strengthening while it moved through the South and East, near the Eastern Seaboard through New England. The cyclone was at its strongest as it moved by New Jersey. This system formed within an active pattern which brought significant snow to the southern Rockies over many days. The system brought high winds and snowfall near and west of its path, resulting in blizzard conditions across portions of the Plains and East. A significant cold spell was ushered in by this system across portions of the southern and eastern United States. A slightly stronger storm on January 3, 1913, broke January low sea level pressure records originally set by this storm.
Bernard Challen Webber was a United States Coast Guardsman. He was a petty officer assigned to Coast Guard Station Chatham, Massachusetts, where one of his duties was that of coxswain of Coast Guard Motor Lifeboat CG 36500. Webber and his crew of three rescued the crew of the stricken T2 tanker SS Pendleton, which had broken in half during a storm on February 18, 1952 off Cape Cod. Webber maneuvered the 36-foot lifeboat under Pendleton's stern as the tanker's crew, trapped in the stern section, abandoned the wreck of their ship on a Jacob's ladder into the Coast Guard motor lifeboat.
Broadmoor Wildlife Sanctuary is a 624 acres (253 ha) wildlife sanctuary located in Natick, Massachusetts. The sanctuary was created by the Massachusetts Audubon Society after donations of land in 1962 and 1968. Bird watchers have identified more than 175 species on the property.
Noanet Woodlands is a 595-acre (241 ha) open space preserve located in Dover, Massachusetts. It is managed by the land conservation non-profit organization The Trustees of Reservations. The property has 17 miles (27 km) of hiking trails, several of which lead to the 387-foot summit of Noanet Peak, which offers a view of downtown Boston skyscrapers. The property's trail system connects to trails on two adjacent open space parcels: Powisset Farm, and Hale Education. Parking areas are at 93 Powisset Street and in Caryl Park, which is owned by the Town of Dover.
