Marlin Bree

THE PASSION
OF MIKE PLANT

America's greatest solo sailing hero takes his final ride in Coyote.

An excerpt from Broken Seas:

MIDNIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NORTH ATLANTIC: Coyote's deeply reefed mainsail and sturdy storm jib caught the sudden North Atlantic gust. Spray flashing from her bow, the big racer dug her lee rail in, careening into the wave's dark trough. She picked up speed all the way down.
Mike Plant, braced himself against the giant wheel, jubilantly feeling his big racer's power. The boat began to vibrate and shake: the twin rudders' high speed hum became a high-pitched scream.
From behind the great machine, a rooster tail of water shot skyward. Coyote's sharp bow slashed into the oncoming wave, cutting deep. A torrent of ocean rolled back over the deck, slapping Mike in the face.
A thin smile crossed his lips--despite all the odds, despite all the troubles, he was on his way at last across the stormy North Atlantic.

(Copyright 2005 by Marlin Bree

Excerpt from the Broken Seas chapter:

TEN FEET
ACROSS
THE PACIFIC

The remarkable voyage of Gerry Spiess and Yankee Girl

A full moon had arisen over the South Pacific Ocean and in its silvery light, ominous big rollers were forming and breaking. Long waves with white breakers were beginning to overhang the small sailboat and slam hard into Yankee Girl's transom, giving her nasty shoves.

As Gerry Spiess threw open the hatch, a chill wind brushed his face and he saw that the waves were starting to run confused and were piling up. A splash of spray hit him -- the water was remarkably cold.

It wasn't supposed to be like this.

Voyaging in the South Pacific was supposed to have sunshiny days in the warm trade winds, with tropical nights ablaze with stars. But this trip was turning nasty.

It was the evening of the ninth day, and, the waves were rearing up to oveshadow the 10-foot sloop. He had entered the convergence zone, where a cold current runs down from Alaska and meets the warm central current. Big rollers were starting to forma nd break.

When the wind changed direction, it had createdd two sets of waves. One set of waves was running 8 to 12 feet; the other waves ran at more than 8 feet. Worse yet, the wave trains were starting to collide as the wind came around.

Slamming his hatch shut, Gerry slumped back into his cabin and the warmth of a sleeping bag. There was a heavy thump, and suddenly, sheets of water poured through the closed hatch. Startled, Gerry looked up to see a small Niagara flooding inside the cabin.

A following wave had overrun Yankee Girl, buried her in the water and turned her into a submarine. The water pressure had blasted through the sliding hatch closure.

Hawaii lay more than 1,800 miles away -- and was looking incresingly distant.

Excerpt from Broken Seas, by Marlin Bree. Copyright 2004 by Marlin Bree

Excerpt from:

THE OLD MAN
AND THE
INLAND SEA

Helmer Aakvik's daring
rescue attempt during an ice storm

He headed for a shore he could not see. He knew if he steered into the waves and wind, he'd end up somewhere along the coast, but getting back was a problem since he had to steer into oncoming waves. Waves were running hard, with seas 20 feet high, dwarfing his boat.

The old skiff was taking a terrible pounding. Powering into the onrushing breakers, it would spear an oncoming wave, lift its bow partially, then with a shudder, stop nearly dead, shivering with the effort, again and again. The planks were flexing and they looked like they were separating. The screws holding them to the frames were pulling out. Water was coming in at an alarming rate, faster than he could bail it out.

He had been out more than 16 hours and he had nothing to eat or drink. His eyebrows were laced with ice and his eyes were burning orbs from the spray. His unprotected face was painfully cold as were his hands. His foot, where the boot had cracked and water had entered, was growing numb. Worse, his mind was growing slack with fatigue. In his wooden seat he could only watch helplessly as waves came like dark walls out of the night.

There was nothing left to do but turn off the engine. When the engine quit running, the boat stopped pounding itself apart, but the wind howled across his open boat and the white-crested growlers reared toward him. Without power, his boat was cocking sideways to the waves. Breakers were slopping in over the gunwales.

Reaching forward, he picked the rope out of the half-frozen slurry in the skiff's bilge and tied it to the sturdy wooden fishing crate. He grunted s he hefted the 50-pound crate over the side. With a splash, it sank part way into the waves, receding from his drifting boat.

He felt a tug on teh rope and tied the line off the bow. The boat's bow swung around to the waves.

His improvised sea anchor was holding and his boat began riding to the waves with her bow cocked at a slight angle to them. It was her best sea-keeping position.

Night was coming on. The temperature dropped further and ice continued to grow on the skiff and the Old Man.

He had done all he could. Now he could only bow his head at the growing fury of the storm.

Copyright 2004 by Marlin Bree)

Broken Seas has won four writing awards! A five-part excerpt, The Passion of Mike Plant, in Northern Breezes sailing magazine won a Certificate of Merit; an excerpt from The Old Man & the Inland Sea in Ensign magazine won a First Place Award; and the excerpt, The Day All Hell Broke Loose,in Ensign magazine won a Third Place award. This article went on to win the Grand Prize in Boating Writer's International writing contest -- the highest award BWI can bestow upon a boating writer.

"A literary rescue mission", says reviewer and ex-West Coast newsman Dennis Renault. Writes Renault: " In his most recent book, Broken Seas, Marlin Bree has obviously devoted years to thoughtful and exhaustive research into the facts surrounding the fates of six extraordinary ships and crewmen on the High Seas. These include the appalling story of the final resting place of the 1896 schooner Alvin Clark, the mysterious and sudden sinking of the "indestructive" steel-hulled Great Lakes ore ship, Edmund Fitzgerald in 1975; and the gritty courage of Norwegian immigrant Helmer Aakvik, who attempts to rescue a fellow fisherman from the maw of a Lake Superior ice storm in 1958. With Broken Seas, Bree's fifth book of nautical adventures, the author has produced a literary rescue mission that will undoubtedly save many readers from drowning in the heavy waves of holiday hoopla or from nodding off to sleep in front of their TV's."

"Makes true sailing adventures live again," says The Ensign, the official magazine of the United States Power Squadrons, in its November issue. Reviewing Broken Seas, Stf/C Don Dunlap Jr., SN, continues: "In his latest book, (the author) shares seven stories that had me reading ahead...He first describes a 10-foot sailboat's Pacific Ocean crossing. Then he tells of a man who risks everything to save a young friend from Lake Superior's frozen waters. "The Lost Schooner" relates the heart rending tale of the Alvin Clark, which sank during the Civil War. The ship was perfectly preserved by Lake Michigan's cold waters when divers found it. Bree helps us relive its sad end as well as the final journey of the Edmund Fitzgerald. Besides recounting his own adventure on Lake Superior, Bree reconstructs the ill-fated crusie of Mike Plant's vessel With each story, we feel the excitement of the cruise and the terror of the final moment when all might be lost. Broken Seas is a super read for those of us who dream of adventure on the sometimes cruel sea."

"Mucho Adventure," writes Small Craft Advisor editor Joshua Colvin about the author's new book Broken Seas: "..some of the true tales in his latest volume had me sitting up wide-eyed, well past my dreamland deadline. In 216 pages, Bree manages to take the reader aboard all kinds of vessels, often in the worst conditions imaginable. Whether he's writing about Gerry Spiess' 10-footer Yankee Girl knocked flat in in the middle of the Pacific, or the storm driven destruction of the 729-foot Edmund Fitzgerald, Bree rarely lets his reader up for breath. If you enjoy this sort of thing--and who doesn't--you'll want to add Bree's new book to your library. Just don't plan to catch up on any sleep."


Stands right up there with the best, says library review journal KLIATT: "There is nothing like a collection of crackling good adventures at sea to pique the interest of most readers. This assembly of true seafaring adventures stands right up there with the best. For one thing, author Marlin Bree does not simply tell a good tale: he recapitulates itl. In each of the six cases, he begins by setting up the siutation with a prologue, then presents a narrative of the vessel's final voyage, and finishes with a section with his own conjectures in which he describes his visits with the survivors. When there are none, and the boat did not survive, he speculates intelligently about what really must have happened 'out there.' A line drawing of each craft helps the reader visualize the technical side of each tale.

"The author has done his homework, reading the charts, studying the blueprints, and putting himself into the middle of each adventure. He scouted out witnesses and sailors who had once sailed aboard the doomed vessels, and on occasion visited the graves. The action runs from the mid-Atlantic to the Great Lakes, and readers find themselves struggling in a rowboat in icy water, pounding across the ocean in the world's fastest racing yacht, or being pounded to pieces in a winter gle. There is even the chance to explore what must be every romantic's fondest dream -- a completely intact and untouched wooden ship, upright on the bottom with her masts still standing. Adventuring, and reading about it, gets no better than that."
--A review about Broken Seas by Raymond Puffer, PhD, Historian, Edwards AFB, Lancaster, CA, in KLIATT, July, 2005.

Where do you get Broken Seas?

This new book is now being rushed to book distributors and to nautical bookstores throughout the U.S. and in Canada. For the book trade, Broken Seas is distributed by IPG Books, Chicago. Nautical booksellers can look to distribution from Robert Hale. Independent Bookstores will carry the book as will internet booksellers including Amazon.Com, Barnes & Noble, and Chapters. Autographed copies are available from Marlor Press by calling 1 - 800 -669 - 4908 or 651 -484 - 4600 during business hours (Central time).

WICKEDLY GOOD ADVANCE PRAISE
FOR BROKEN SEAS

"Marlin Bree's new book Broken Seas will crank up your adrenaline and jump-start your pulse. Bree's prose puts you right in the middle of these extraordinary true adventures. From crossing the Pacific in a 10-footer to braving a November blow on Lake Superior, this book will leave you with spray on your face, wind in your hair and an insatiable itching to get out on the water. Don't miss it."
--Yvonne Hill, Editor of The Ensign magazine

"In Broken Seas, veteran journalist and seasoned sailor Marlin Bree has crafted a series of stories that prove the adage that truth is stranger than fiction. A remarkable collection of well-told tales."
--Herb McCormick, Editor of Cruising World and Boating Editor of The New York Times

"It is no accident that our history books are filled with adventures of the sea. Sailors and non-sailors alike are captivated by nautical stories. Marlin Bree's new book, Broken Seas, explains in gripping detail tales from both the Great Lakes and the ocean. When reading this book, you will feel like you are on board during some of the harshest calamities in recently history."
--Gary Jobson, internationally known sailor, author, TV America's Cup commentator and racing analyst

"Broken Seas is a pleasure to read. The seafaring adventures are well researched, the characters and their struggles come to life, and best of all...their roots are from the freshwater byways."
--Capt. Thom Burns, Editor of Northern Breezes

"Marlin Bree's first-hand knowledge of monster waves and survival has enabled him to vividly and acurately describe six true adventures in Broken Seas. This book details triumph and tragedy and is a must-read for sailors, and even landlubbers will enjoy these amazing stories."
--Chuck Luttrell, author of Heavy Weather Boating Emergencies

I've been a big fan of seafaring stories. For years, I've had some great adventure and wonderful big-water tales that I've been aching to tell, in my own way. Broken Seas is the result of this passion.

For example, Gerry Spiess and his wonderful Yankee Girl was a story I had wanted to do for some time. I had served as the state-side information officer for the voyage, and had flown to Hawaii to welcome him to the first stop in his long trip across the Pacific, but we'd never published anything on the trip. Ten Feet Across the Pacific will let readers find out more about this remarkable voyage and the equally remarkable mariner and his home-built and self-designed craft.

Mike Plant is another sailor I've written about before and on whom I had collected a big file. One day, as I was going through several of these dusty files, the way writers sometimes do, the story simply popped out at me as alive and as vital as when I knew Mike. The Passion of Mike Plant. was a story that simply had to be told, and, it became a very real passion with me to tell it. At the time I had left it after Mike's untimely death on the North Atlantic aboard his giant racer, Coyote, most people did not know what had happened on the tragic voyage. My research led me in various directions, including to Herb McCormick, at Cruising World magazine, who also knew Mike and had done a terrific article (which he shared with me), and, Mike's parents Mary and Frank Plant. It was at the Plant's home that I said that I could not find the official Coast Guard report about the sinking. Mary Plant, Mike's mother, gave me her copy. Much was revealed in the Coast Guard findings and I was able to use a lot of their official report to further understand some of the controversial aspects of Mike's last voyage. I think that readers who remember and appreciate the contributions of the sailor who was once the finest solo around-the-world ocean racer America ever produced will once again be most interested to read about Mike during what might have been his finest race that resulted in a terrible tragedy. As a seaman, I needed to know what happened. I think other sailors will want to know as well.

There are more extraordinary seafaring tales that I found that I long had wanted to write including one from my "own" big pond, Lake Superior. I had heard tales of an old man, almost a Hemingway sort of boater, who had gone out during an ice storm to try to rescue a fellow boater, known as "The Kid." I knew the territory he had gone out in, and, I had even followed the stories of his supposed "coffin." This might all seem a little strange, but you have to read the story, The Old Man and the Inland Sea. To properly do that story, I rowed out into the open waters of Superior in a rowboat (the size of boat the Old Man used), I visited his "boat house" site, I located the type of North Shore skiff he used, and, I talked with people who knew and admired him. I knew a little about meeting a Superior storm in a small boat (see Wake of the Green Storm), and, I've been out in icy conditions before. The result was a heart-felt tale. Like the author, you'll probably feel a great warmth for the raw courage of an old man in an ice-coated, sinking boat, battling gamely onward. It's one of the great tales of the inland sea.

There are more tales that have gripped me: the last hours of the Edmund Fitzgerald, for example, is a story that I've done before in several books. I've had quite a file on that story, including my interviews with the men who were out on the lake with the Fitzgerald and who gave me their direct stories. But one day at my bookseller's booth, a lady showed up who told me she was related to one of the men who went down on the Fitzgerald. I began seeing the Fitzgerald story in a new dimension: the remarkable battle of the men of the aft section: the last hours of the big boat on Superior as she lost her fight to a terrible storm.

One further explanation: I also included the story, The Day All Hell Broken Loose: A small boat battles the Storm of the Century -- and survives! This is the Ensign magazine story based on my own adventures in the July 4, 1999 derecho that hit Lake Superior with winds well in excess of 100 mph. I thought the story was worthwhile to include it in Broken Seas. But after the book was put together, I received word from Greg Proteau, executive director of BWI, that I was the recipient of the top honor BWI gives to a boating writer --The West Marine Writer's Award. The judges from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism described the article as "A real page-turner. Compelling, engaging writing that is as fast-moving as the storm that engulfed this sailor on what started off as a clear, calm day on Lake Superior. The writing is vivid in detail about what the sailor was seeing, feeling and thinking -- all of that providing insights and lessons for others who could as easily find themselves suddenly in the eye of a storm."

--marlin bree

More about
the new book

Broken Seas: . 216 pages, 6 x 9 size, 4-color cover (with gloss film laminate), 32 b&w photos, 17 illustrations, 6 maps. Only $15.95 US / Canada $21.95. Distributed to the book trade by IPG Books, Chicago. Available to booksellers everywhere.

Excerpt from the Broken Seas chapter:

THE LOST SCHOONER


Background: After a mysterious schooner was discovered resting on the bottom of Green Bay, divers Dick Boyd and Carl Poster headed out for the wreck site on a stormy November day.

* * *

As Boyd and Poster descended they were surprised by the poor visibility of only three to four feet, and, by 50 feet of depth, all surface light was erased. The divers could only see what their dive lights illuminated -- a small pattern which penetrated a few feet into the black water.

"We saw nothing until we hit the deck at about 90 feet," Boyd recalled. Onboard the old vessel, he began to feel a chill coming over him. He knew what was happening: At that depth, his wet suit of foam neoprene had compressed to one-fourth of its original thickness, losing much of its insulating value as well as its positive buoyancy.

He shrugged it off, entranced by what he saw. "We could instantly sense that the wooden vessel was in remarkable condition," he said. Leaving the descending line, the sport divers followed the rail toward the stern of the ship. The deck inside the rail was littered with blocks, pulleys, and other saling artifacts.

"Some distance back, peering inward toward the ship's midline," Boyd related, "we could make out a giant, post-like object projecting into the gloom...it slowly dawned on us that a mast was still standing. The realization that we were exploring a totally intact sailing schooner complete with standing masts finally crystallized in our chilled brains."

When they swam over several cargo holds, they saw that the hatch covers were missing. Reaching the aft cabin, they peered in the companionway to see that the cabin was completely silted in. They could not get a good look at the entire boat because, at a depth of up to 110 feet, they were working in blackness penetrated only about six feet by the lights of their diving lamps. Their movements would stir up bottom silt, cutting what little visibility they had.

When their 15 minutes of bottom time were up, they ascended the line, taking a short safety decompression stop at 10 feet. Back aboard the fishing trawler, the divers were jubilant. They had been on a schooner of exceptional interest, completely intact with both masts still standing.

She was a virgin wreck, but a boat of mystery. Clearly, she was very old.

Copyright 2004 by Marlin Bree

Author's note: The divers had discovered the Alvin Clark, built in 1846 and sunk in a squall with the loss of her captain and two crewmen -- the most exciting, oldest and most significant recovered shipwreck in North America. She was also to weave an unmatched saga of courage and heartbreak -- only to meet an appalling end.