3 out of 4 stars
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Adrift by Charlie Sheldon is a fiction novel that is 314 pages. This sea adventure takes place in the Gulf of Alaska. The story starts with a large vessel that has caught on fire. Steve the captain and 19 crew members need to abandon ship. The crew activates the emergency position indicating radio beacon and the captain makes a radio distress call to the nearest shore at the Charlottes. They divide into two group to evacuate the vessel. Two lifeboats that narrowly escape the blazing Seattle Express.
Charlie Sheldon uses characters to describe this story in each chapter. The plot is to get to the Seattle Express and claim the vessel. The owners of the vessel are up against a couple that own a tug company; and the first group that arrives and secure the burning ship may claim it. There is a lot of money at stake. This story notes a battle between native people in a small town and a large company that wants to bring in a mining operation into the area.
The company that owns this massive vessel, Buckhorn are in Bremerton, Washington. Management is in a race to get to Seattle Express to salvage what they can of the vessel. A competitor is in the Strait of Juan de Fuca that is closer to the abandoned ship; but their tug, Warhorse is over 60 years old. The captain, Larry of this tug gets his wife, Louise and crew members together with food and supplies to get a head start of claiming Seattle Express. Warhorse gets to the smoldering vessel first; but Steve suffered a major injury.
Buckhorn is preparing a dock in Sol Duc to have Seattle Express repaired. Myra works in this town's city planning office and she native to the area. She is putting a report together for the city council to decide if it will approve Buckhorn’s proposal to start mining erbium in a small area outside of town. Myra is not focused on getting her report ready for her boss whom is enthusiastic to get the mining proposal approved; because she is worried about her father, William that had to abandon Seattle Express. There has been a report that both lifeboats were deployed; but there have been no communications or contact with the abandon crew.
In summary, Adrift is 3 out of 4 stars book. I liked characters to describe this sea adventure and how the story balanced each side of the battle between keeping nature pure verses the ability of a company to bring jobs to the community. I disliked the detailed operations of maneuvering that took place to hook Seattle Express to tow it back to land. This book would appeal to people that enjoy sea fare adventures and to naturalists that want to protect the natural environment.
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Adrift
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