Dark Noon

by Tom Clavin

Book Overview

Dark Noon is the mesmerizing re-creation of a fateful day at sea. It is also a story of the postwar American dream as experienced in the fishing village of Montauk, Long Island, where fish were money and where optimism and success went hand in hand. And it's a story of the end of an era, when one terrible disaster changed the fishing culture of a prosperous port forever.

"Meticulously researched. A fascinating story."--Distinction...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0071486593
• ISBN13: 9780071486590
• Release Date: April 2007
• Publisher: International Marine Publishing
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.4" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Excellent Read!!

On a recent vacation, I was with a friend of mine who was lent this book but did not yet have the time to read it. Once I picked it up and started reading, I could not put it down and finished the book the same day. Totally engrossing! The book describes a recreational fishing boat disaster which took place in Montauk, Long Island, NY on September 1, 1951. I, myself, grew up on Long Island and summered many years on the East End and extensively fished the Montauk area (where the tragedy occured). It provides an excellent picture of post war Long Island and paints a vivid snapshot of the charter and 'head' boat fishing industry in Montauk at the time. I was born a handful of years after the actual accident, nonetheless, for me, the book provides an insight to the many individuals, fishing ships and establishments-that I grew up with as a child-which were involved with the disaster and the subsequent rescue and recovery. Although the book clearly reached me on this personal level, I believe other readers will be broadly interested by a story that illustrates of how greed, folly and false assuredness of men, coupled with the swift actions of nature, can lead to a disaster such as that of the Pelican. On a positive note, the deaths of the forty or so individuals on the Pelican, created important and sweeping changes to the way the charter boat and recreational fishing industry would be regulated in the United States. Although tragic, it is somewhat reassuring to learn that their deaths were not in vain, altough sad to see a tragedy of such proportions was even necessary to precipitate these changes. An excellent and informative read that I would highly recommend.

Sebastian Junger must have read it before writing THE PERFECT STORM.

As a kid I knew some of the people in the book. I lived at Montauk in the Summer. Pelican was a word you did not say. The book is factual and reads like a newspaper article. Some may find it depressing but people learned from this event to assure it won't be repeated. A good read. Very life like because it was actual life.

Tragic and Harrowing

In this season of great storms, and with the first anniversary of the Asian tsunami approaching, we have repeatedly been reminded of both our mortality and vulnerability in the face of nature's sometimes unpredictable, and certainly uncontrollable, wrath. In that vein, noted journalist and author Tom Clavin has written a book that looks back over 50 years to what can only be described as a "small" storm, though it had devastating consequences for scores of people, their families and friends, and in particular, one community that relied on the benevolence and bounty of the sea for its livelihood, and future well being. Dark Noon is about a freak storm, a squall really, that hardly registered beyond the confines of the far East End of Long Island on a Labor Day weekend in 1951, six years after the end of World War II, and one year into the now almost forgotten "police action" that would take thousands of lives in Korea. But as Clavin's book makes poignantly clear, even a footnote to history can have profound consequences to those involved, and in this case, provide riveting drama to a new generation of readers. Clavin paints a vivid picture of the sometimes hard-luck fishing village of Montauk (about 100 miles east of New York city) at the mid-point of the past century. We are reminded of how different America, and this now "glamorous" outpost of the Hamptons, once was, while at the same time, we inevitably see the parallels with today. As already noted, one war had just ended, and one was commencing. Americans who had survived the Great Depression, and secured the major regions of their planet with blood and sacrifice were looking forward to a peaceful and prosperous tomorrow. But at the same time, the world around them had changed, and not necessarily for the better. With another war brewing far away, and the specter of the atomic bomb always present, they so much wanted to simply relax and have some fun on that fateful Labor Day weekend so long ago. The particular diversion that Dark Noon examines is the once booming recreational fishing business in Montauk. Every weekend, thousands of (mostly blue-collar New York city) anglers would board a Long Island Railroad train called the "Fisherman's Special" in the early hours of the morning, then stream out of the station at the end of the line. There they would crowd onto a series of "open boats" that took them out into the Atlantic for some "deep-sea" fishing. One of those boats, the Pelican, is the primary subject of this book. Captained by a handsome and charismatic World War II veteran named Eddie Carroll-who in the now grainy newspaper prints of the time somewhat resembles a Cary Grant with his captain's hat cocked just so to the side-the Pelican became a magnet for the fishing crowd. Carroll, who was carrying an engagement ring in his pocket that he hoped to slip on his lovely, Swedish girlfriend's finger, was the most popular of a host of captains who worked out of a dockyard once know (wi

Author Michael Tougias

Tom Clavin has done a fine job with a riveting narrative of the events before, during and after the accident with the Pelican. It must have been incredibly difficult to research this tragedy which took place in 1951, but the author brings it to life in a very readable and informative style. When I was writing Ten Hours Until Dawn it was challenging enough because the sea rescue and tragedy I was writing about was 28 years old, so to think Tom Clavin made an event 54 years old read like it happened yesterday is really amazing. Dark Noon is a must read for anyone who likes adventure, history, and maritime lore.

A Bad Day at Sea

Going up in the air, or out to sea (or building your city below sea level like New Orleans) means that once in a while nature takes offense and smites these people with something nasty. On Labor Day in 1951 the charter fishing boat Pelican faced a ferocious storm that blew in without warning. Overloaded with 62 passengers when half that would have been safe, the Pelican sank and most of them drowned. Mr. Clavin has written a story that brings the story of the Pelican to life. He describes the atmosphere of New Yorkers catching the train out to the tip of Long Island and for $8 going fishing out on the Atlantic. He is able to make the book read like a good mystery, as if we didn't know what was going to happen. He includes a discussion of the boat and its captain, the weather and how the sudden storm arose. He tells of the rescue of some of the passengers and what has happened to montauk since.