EPITAPH FOR A BEAUTIFUL SHIP

In this book readers explore the historic threads which came together in 1986 as Baltimore's popular ambassador replica topsail schooner Pride of Baltimore was overcome by a sudden wind and sank quickly with the loss of her captain and three young crew members. Readers accompany Pride incident by incident, log entry by log entry, port-of-call by port-of-call, to learn how she ventured one cruise too far from her design mission. Hear maritime investigators report an earlier incident in the Baltic that came to notice only after Pride sank and should have raised a red flag for everyone in Baltimore. Read the only interviews in reportage of the Pride story with Dr. Tetsuya "Ted" Fujita, the meteorologist to first describe a microburst (before he died in 1998) and in which he debunks the microburst theory of the casualty. Finally, evaluate lessons learned during the investigation and how sailing school vessels and other tall ships now operate in greater safety because of as well as in spite of it.