Simple Courage

It's Christmas 1951, and on the Atlantic the freighter FLYING ENTERPRISE is in trouble. She's been hit by a rogue wave, had her hull cracked, and, with only the captain and an assistant on board, tries to make her way to a safe port. Frank Delaney seems to delight in bringing listeners this saga. He has a cultured voice with a bit of a brogue, facility with foreign words, good pacing, and the ability to make the day-to-day operations of a freighter interesting. He changes tone for reports and interviews so the long narration doesn't get boring. The ship didn't make it, but Captain Carlsen's efforts earned him a ticker-tape parade in New York. J.B.G. (c) AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine


Passengers and most of the crew left the S.S. FLYING ENTERPRISE when waves sent the freighter onto its side, but Captain Kurt Carlsen stayed aboard--aware that death could come at any time--to try to save the ship and its cargo. His "lone and heroic stand against the sea" made headlines in early 1952 and makes a perfect true-life story for Frank Delaney, who wrote the book with an ear for language, a quality that helps him spin a rip-roaring yarn as narrator. His rich descriptions, read with his hint of a storyteller's brogue, explain the facts clearly while bringing the setting alive for landlubbers. J.A.S. (c) AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine