Dead Reckoning: When Sail Meets Steam - Paperback

by del Wilber (Author)

Captain Elias Johnson commanded one of the finest sailing ships in the Atlantic trade-until the age of steam swept his world away. Reduced to second officer aboard a coastal steamer, Elias endures the humiliation of serving under his vindictive former subordinate. But when a fierce Atlantic gale disables the ship's engines, leaving passengers and crew helpless just miles from a deadly shore, only one man aboard can save them. With the vessel drifting toward certain destruction, Elias must jury-rig enough canvas to give the powerless steamer sailing capability. In a desperate race against wind and tide, he'll prove that seamanship still matters in an age of steam-or die trying. A gripping maritime adventure set during the 1870s transition from sail to steam, Dead Reckoning is a tale of tradition, technology, and the eternal challenge of matching human skill against the sea. "When engines fail, only wind and courage survive"