Rating: 
Summary: First Rate Investigative Reporting
Review: "Until the Sea Shall Free Them" is another in the recent glut of books about nautical disasters that takes the genre one step further by documentating the legal aftermath that resulted in a substantial improvement in maritime safety. Author Robert Frump was the leader of the investigative reporting team from the Philadelphia Enquirer that pursued the larger story behind the February 1983 sinking of the merchant marine vessel Marine Electric. What they found was a civilian service plagued by reliance on ancient rustbucket ships, adherence to the corporate bottom line at the expense of safety, and an inspection system beholden to ship owners that ignored these problems.The first third of the narrative deals with the sinking of the Marine Electric and the harrowing rescue effort that managed to save only three of the 37 crew members. Most of the remaining two-thirds of the book documents the legal wrangling, political manuvering and Enquirer media pressure that ultimately led to reforms in the system. Several heros emerge along the way, including survivor Bob Cusuik, who risked his career to tell the truth, and Coast Guard Officer Dom Calicchio, who bucked the military bureaucracy to his own detriment. Additionally, the author documents his and his colleague's role without overstating it. He also includes tales of other nautical disasters to serve as a backdrop to the main narrative. The story might lack the concise punch of a book like "The Perfect Storm," but it is still highly readable. Overall, this is an excellent true nautical disaster tale that will be enjoyed by anyone who enjoys such stories.
Rating:
Summary: First Rate Investigative Reporting
Review: "Until the Sea Shall Free Them" is another in the recent glut of books about nautical disasters that takes the genre one step further by documentating the legal aftermath that resulted in a substantial improvement in maritime safety. Author Robert Frump was the leader of the investigative reporting team from the Philadelphia Enquirer that pursued the larger story behind the February 1983 sinking of the merchant marine vessel Marine Electric. What they found was a civilian service plagued by reliance on ancient rustbucket ships, adherence to the corporate bottom line at the expense of safety, and an inspection system beholden to ship owners that ignored these problems. The first third of the narrative deals with the sinking of the Marine Electric and the harrowing rescue effort that managed to save only three of the 37 crew members. Most of the remaining two-thirds of the book documents the legal wrangling, political manuvering and Enquirer media pressure that ultimately led to reforms in the system. Several heros emerge along the way, including survivor Bob Cusuik, who risked his career to tell the truth, and Coast Guard Officer Dom Calicchio, who bucked the military bureaucracy to his own detriment. Additionally, the author documents his and his colleague's role without overstating it. He also includes tales of other nautical disasters to serve as a backdrop to the main narrative. The story might lack the concise punch of a book like "The Perfect Storm," but it is still highly readable. Overall, this is an excellent true nautical disaster tale that will be enjoyed by anyone who enjoys such stories.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Work
Review: Frump is able to go a step beyond Junger because with more first hand sources Frump is able to tell the reader what happened, before during and after the sinking. There is no need for speculation, or imagined conversation or thoughts. The most important parts of the book cover the investigation amd the weakness in the inspection regime that existed at the time. Anyone who deals with government oversight and regulation will read the account of the USCG investigation with interest. If you have any interest in maritime affairs, "Until the Sea Shall Set Them Free" deserves a place on your shelf alongside "The Perfect Storm" "Looking for a Ship" and "It Didn't Happen on my Watch."
Rating: 
Summary: Hack writing
Review: Frump makes a feeble attempt to marry "Erin Brokovitch" to "A Perfect Storm" - the result is a prosaic mess.
Rating:
Summary: Hack writing
Review: Frump makes a feeble attempt to marry "Erin Brokovitch" to "A Perfect Storm" - the result is a prosaic mess.
Rating:
Summary: The true and sometimes hidden tragedy of life at sea...
Review: I am considering joining the merchant marines and this book definitley gave me an inside look into where they have been and where they are going.
The main part of the book takes you along with the crew of the marine electric, and the final voyage which took several sailors to their cold, watery death. I could not put this book down as I read about the poor conditions of the ship, the varied background of each sailor as they all found a common link in sailing on the marine electric that fateful night. As the book goes on it also tells of many other historical sinkings.
THE KICKER: What really drives a point home besides a "love lost at sea" feeling is the fact that the owners, up to the 80's, were protected by the coast gaurd. The old WWII ships were continuing being patched up and sent back out to the ocean instead of being scrapped. However, when the ship sank, it was the captain and officers who always took the fall instead of the owners being cheap and costing countless lives.
The Truth: Book definitley shows how helpless it can be to be stranded at sea. Puts you right alongside men as they try to swim to life rafts in 30 foot swells, only to be to cold to move their limbs to climb over the 3 foot walls of the liferaft. The recounting of the coast gaurd choppers coming in and seeing the men waving to them, only to get closer and realize that they were dead, and the motion of the waves were making their arms go up in a waving motion. One described the look on their faces like they were home in their recliner, watching the TV.
If you are interested in the merchant marines of like stories about the sea in general then pick this book up. A truly great read as it mixes in cover ups, familyies coping with death, and the perserverance of the modern day sailor.
Rating:
Summary: A non-fiction page turner you won't put down.
Review: I received the book on Friday in the 4pm mail. Finished it on Saturday, 4 pm. In between I kept stealing time to relish the quick pace of "Until the Sea Shall Free Them." Frump knows his stuff, but doesn't bog the book down with insider jargon. This is journalism, not academia, and it reads like a novel. Too bad the owners of the Marine Electric and the Coast Guard bigwigs wouldn't talk - the lawsuits are all settled and the book would have benefited from their insights. But after reading the book, you won't doubt that this is a ship, like so many other rust buckets, that simply should not go to sea. Thanks in large part to this kind of excellent journalism, they won't, and lives will be saved as a result.
Rating:
Summary: Awesome
Review: If you liked "The Perfect Storm," "Lobster Chronicles," "The Hungry Ocean," .... i.e. you like nonfiction sea / adventure ... you will love this book. Better than sea candy, BETTER than A Civil Action. My mother loved this book too.
Rating: 
Summary: A fast read, on an all too timely topic, but.....
Review: Predictably THE PERFECT STORM has generated a whole industry of wannabes, and while this book clearly lodges in that category it is still a story worth being told. Other reviewers have already said what that story is, I am afraid that I have to agree with the Publisher's Weekly review regarding the style: "purple prose" is about it. This is NOT "investigative Journalism" & to be honest I don't know how to characterize the mixture of fact & projected personality that the book serves up. From the title on in Frump seems hell-bent on giving us the most melodramatic spin on whatever is going on, whether it is the post-Junger-obligatory "This is how it feels to die of (fill in the blank)" page or the court-room scenes, where his characterizations were downright embarassing. All that being said, I finished the book in three sittings & came away sadder, a little wiser, and with a bunch of questions for my ex-Coast-Guard Father in Law. Frump is doing a major service by drawing our attention to an on-going "crime-of-omission" that has been going on far too long. My advice would be to skim over the bits where he trys to get too "up close & personal" and concentrate on the larger story, which is in desperate need of telling & re-telling. Frump's attempt to end on a positive note is unfortunately undermined by breaking news. The author leaves us thinking that well, at least many of the outdated ships that he is writing about have now been scrapped. Rather, it would seem that they simply moved off-shore, as the break-up of a 26 year old tanker off the coast of Spain earlier this week can only highlight. Fortunately in that case the crew were saved, but the environmental disaster will go on and on....
Rating:
Summary: well founded
Review: Publisher's Weekly must have an axe to grind. Mr. Frump did his homework on the merchant marine. The detail is correct and reflects attention to detail. The story is tragic and needed to be told; I'm glad that someone with Frump's skill took up the task. This is a must read for anyone who ships out and those that have swallowed the anchor.
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