Coming back alive : the true story of the most harrowing search and rescue mission ever attempted on Alaska's high seas

Details the heroic rescue of the crew of the La Conte, who were forced to abandon ship during a brutal storm, by the U.S. Coast Guard Search and Rescue teams who braved nature's anger to save the lives of these five men. Abstract: A true-life look at the US Coast Guard Search and Rescue crews. It provides an account of the rescue of the crew from the La Conte on the night of January 31st, 1998. Read more...

When the fishing vessel La Conte sinks suddenly at night in one-hundred-mile-per-hour winds and record ninety-foot seas during a savage storm in January 1998, her five crewmen are left to drift without a life raft in the freezing Alaskan waters and survive as best they can.

One hundred fifty miles away, in Sitka, Alaska, an H-60 Jayhawk helicopter lifts off from America's most remote Coast Guard base in the hopes of tracking down an anonymous Mayday signal. A fisherman's worst nightmare has become a Coast Guard crew's desperate mission. As the crew of the La Conte begin to die one by one, those sworn to watch over them risk everything to pull off the rescue of the century.

Spike Walker's memoir of his years as a deckhand in Alaska, Working on the Edge, was hailed by James A. Michner as "masterful . . . will become the definitive account of this perilous trade, an addition to the literature of the sea." In Coming Back Alive, Walker has crafted his most devastating book to date. Meticulously researched through hundreds of hours of taped interviews with the survivors, this is the true account of the La Conte's final voyage and the relationship between Alaskan fishermen and the search and rescue crews who risk their lives to save them.

When the fishing vessel La Conte sinks suddenly at night in one-hundred-mile-per-hour winds and record ninety-foot seas during a savage storm in January 1998, her five crewmen are left to drift without a life raft in the freezing Alaskan waters and survive as best they can. One hundred fifty miles away, in Sitka, Alaska, an H-60 Jayhawk helicopter lifts off from America's most remote Coast Guard base in the hopes of tracking down an anonymous Mayday signal. A fisherman's worst nightmare has become a Coast Guard crew's desperate mission. As the crew of the La Conte begin to die one by one, those sworn to watch over them risk everything to pull off the rescue of the century. Spike Walker's memoir of his years as a deckhand in Alaska, Working on the Edge , was hailed by James A. Michner as "masterful . . . will become the definitive account of this perilous trade, an addition to the literature of the sea." In Coming Back Alive , Walker has crafted his most devastating book to date. Meticulously researched through hundreds of hours of taped interviews with the survivors, this is the true account of the La Conte's final voyage and the relationship between Alaskan fishermen and the search and rescue crews who risk their lives to save them. As he steered his speeding twenty-six-foot gillnet boat Marlene out across the Copper River Delta in Alaska's Prince William Sound on a gray, windblown afternoon in 1981, Skip Holden could not have known that within hours he would be engaged in a hellish struggle just to survive, nor could he have imagined how many lives would be so profoundly affected by the outcome. Details The Heroic Rescue Of The Crew Of The La Conte, Who Were Forced To Abandon Ship During A Brutal Storm, By The U.s. Coast Guard Search And Rescue Teams Who Braved Nature's Anger To Save The Lives Of These Five Men. Flyboys And Fisherman -- Into The Storm. Spike Walker. A true-life glimpse of the dangerous work regularly performed by the US Coast Guard Search and Rescue service. This is an account of the rescue of the fishing crew from the "La Conte" as it sank off the coast of Alaska in 90-foot seas, one January night in 1998. Coming Back Alive provides a true-life, electrifying look at the US Coast Guard Search and Rescue crews. It provides an account of the rescue of the crew from the La Conte on the night of January 31st, 1998