Bernie Webber’s compass had already been washed away by violent seas crashing over his vessel, and he was disoriented in the middle of a disastrous storm.
Facing imminent doom at a time before the advent of GPS, Webber’s only direct connection to humankind — and by extension, safety — was his radio.
So he turned it off.
“His compass was swept off the rescue boat, and he didn’t know which way land was,” explained Michael J. Tougias, co-author of a book about the harrowing event, which is now being made by Disney Pictures into a major motion picture. “He was getting all sorts of advice on the radio from all sorts of different people. So I asked, ‘What did you do?’ He said, ‘I just shut the radio off and didn’t listen to any of them. They were just making me nervous, and they weren’t in my situation. They didn’t really know what I was dealing with.’”
In the movie “The Finest Hours,” which is due to hit theaters in January 2016, “Star Trek” actor Chris Pine plays Webber, while rising star Holliday Grainger takes on the role of his fiance — and outspoken advocate — back on shore.
Tougias has authored or co-authored 24 books, including “The Finest Hours,” an account of what the authors and Disney producers describe as the “U.S. Coast Guard’s most daring sea rescue,” a 1952 event in which a violent winter nor’easter breaks a tanker in half off Cape Cod.
“The Finest Hours” is one of a number of Tougias books dealing with odds-defying maritime heroism, and the author said Thursday the lessons he learns interviewing sources — like Webber — are not only uplifting, but applicable to everyday people who aren’t necessarily risking their lives to save the crews of sinking ships.
“I love getting into the minds of the survivors, because most of the people I’ve interviewed, I always say to myself, ‘I could have never done what you did,’” he told the Bangor Daily News. “I always want to know, ‘How did you do what you did? How did you make all the right decisions?’ At the same time, I ask of the rescuers, who are doing things like flying helicopters into storms, ‘How did you do what you did?’ They all face fear, but I find it fascinating how they overcame that fear and were successful despite those obstacles.”
Tougias is in Maine this week on a three-night speaking tour, with talks in Wells and Bath on Tuesday and Wednesday, and wrapping up with a discussion at the Camden Public Library Thursday at 7 p.m.
Here are a few ways the Massachusetts author — who now adapts some of his historical stories into motivational talks for corporate audiences — said the practices of real-life heroes under tremendous pressure can be used by anyone, almost anywhere, to be more successful in life.
Tune out the noise and trust your instinct
With a cacophony of voices fighting for his attention through the radio, Webber came to the realization that while all of the recommendations were well-intentioned, they were just adding to the anxiety of the moment. So he turned the radio off and trusted his own read of the situation, Tougias said.
Webber was ultimately able to lean on his experience, gauge the bearing of the waves and follow them in the right direction.
While it’s uncommon for people to find themselves in stormy seas without navigation devices, the author acknowledged, the heart-pounding scene makes for a surprisingly good analogy for many dilemmas people face in their lives.
People who are trying to make a decision about a complicated romantic relationship or decided between two job opportunities, for instance, may do well to “turn the radio off” and trust their own instincts.
Tackle shorter term, manageable goals
“I really get to know these people when I’m working on a book. I interview them for a week straight, sometimes, and even stay at their houses,” Tougias said. “I begin to see some overlapping comments about how they get through [trying times]. … I say, ‘God, I’d be overwhelmed.’ And they say, ‘Well, not if you look at it one half hour at a time. If you looked way ahead and thought help was never going to come, you’d give up, but if you just thought about what you needed to do to get by for another half hour, you could make it.’”
The survivors of the SS Pendleton wreck just focused on staying alive another few minutes, then another few minutes, then another few minutes. They faced each incremental challenge when it presented itself and, quite literally, just focused on living to fight another day.
People facing massive professional projects or overwhelming expectations — whether at work or home — could take that approach to heart, the author suggested. Set manageable goals that can be reasonably met in the short term, and over time, that will add up to significant progress toward the larger end product down the road.
Know you can change your legacy
A year before Webber led the historic rescue of the USS Pendleton crew, he led a rescue effort that ended in failure, threatening to cast him forever as “incompetent,” Tougias said.
On his way out to the stranded crew with his three-person Coast Guard rescue team, a massive 60-foot wave swept away Webber’s compass, smashed his rescue boat’s windshield and knocked out his engine.
“At that point, he could have just turned back and said, ‘Well, I tried,’” the author said. “But he was going to give this thing everything he had, going beyond what a normal person might do, I think in part because he was driven by what he’d experienced the previous year.”
Young Engineman 3rd Class Andrew Fitzgerald, who Tougias said is alive today and consulted on the film, managed to get the rescue boat’s engine restarted, and the rescuers climbed the next massive wave the ocean threw at them.
Now Webber, who the author said died in 2010, is remembered as one of the greatest heroes in recent maritime history, when he could have turned back and gone down as someone who could never quite make the rescue.
“You can’t let a failure define you,” Tougias said. “He took what he learned and used it in the next rescue.”
The message of taking control of one’s fate regardless of one’s past is one Tougias himself put into play. While certainly not a failure in the traditional sense of the word, Tougias was mired in a corporate career he found unfulfilling. He took the initiative to research historical stories of interest at the Boston Public Library on his lunch breaks, and began to piece together what became a writing career he’s more satisfied with.
Pause for a moment and think things through
The hero of another of Tougias’ books found himself in a covered life raft, being tossed by waves so violently he was thrown out of the vessel. The author said he asked the man why he didn’t tie himself into the raft to avoid that happening, and said the man’s answer surprised him.
Tougias said the man considered it, but then foresaw that if the raft was flipped upside down, he could be trapped underneath and drown if tied in. Sure enough, the raft was later flipped by the tumultuous seas, and he was able to easily free himself and reach the surface for air, thanks in part to the fact that he wasn’t tied in.
“They would pause before making decisions. That would come up time and time again, with good rescuers and survivors alike,” the author recalled. “A lot of us don’t pause, because a lot of us size up a situation, relate it to something in our past, and then project the same outcome [as we experienced before]. … These people say, ‘What’s different about today that I didn’t think of? Is there something different about the weather? Am I feeling differently today?’ Even if they’re in a life raft, they pause to think about each decision. Because sometimes once you’ve committed, you’ve committed, for better or for worse.”
The lesson here is not to rush to judgment, but think about all possible outcomes and what makes each situation unique. Even if it seems like there’s little time to make a choice, consciously stop and think decisions through to make sure they’re the right ones.
Be appreciative and don’t take things too seriously
About the forthcoming movie about his book, which Tougias co-authored with Fryeburg Academy graduate and investigative journalist Casey Sherman, he lauded the producers’ attention to historical accuracy, noting the crew’s reconstruction of the 1950s era tanker, “complete with rust, and exactly to scale.”
“The research the producers put into the movie was phenomenal. Everything was exactly as it really was, right down to the portholes and screws,” Tougias said.
When things looked dire for Webber and his team of rescuers, they broke into song, the author said.
“He and his three crew members were singing to calm their nerves, because they thought they were heading to their death,” he said.
Sometimes, when a situation looks bleak, that’s the best time to lighten the mood. Webber kept that attitude right to the end, Tougias suggested.
“[Webber] used to joke with me and say, ‘I know you writers, you all just want to see your books made into movies. Well, it’s never going to happen — nobody wants to see a movie about something that happened in 1952,’” he recalled. “I can just see him now laughing at me.”
