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Critic's Corner
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"Every week or so, (during hurricane season), somewhere in the tropical seas off the northwest coast of Africa, a cluster of clouds comes together and takes on a sinister shape . . . Only one out of every ten will intensify to hurricane force, and what makes one whorl of unstable air grow into a hurricane for every nine that peter out is as much conjecture as science. These incipient storms seem to be temperamental creatures, as sensitive to their surroundings as orchids." "Sudden Sea" is author R. A. Scotti's account of one maverick storm that on September 4, 1938 whirled away from the fertile Cape Verde breeding ground and swept across the ocean set on a collision course with Florida. On Monday, September 19 with the Category five hurricane poised to strike Miami-Palm Beach, the whole country turned its attention south. The New York Times ran a front-page story, HURRICANE IN ATLANTIC HEADS TOWARD FLORIDA. Newspapers in New England printed the alarm as well. Then, some strange, inexplicable phenomenon occurred. The weather forecasters in Florida noted a capricious storm path hooking sharply north. Florida was spared as the beast clawed its way north along the coast. On Tuesday, September 20, the Great Hurricane was thought to be set on the classic route to oblivion in the cooler waters of the open Atlantic. By 8:00 Tuesday night it curved north-northeast. Winds diminished to 138 miles an hour from a morning high of 155. Weather forecasters along the eastern seaboard continued to believe the storm would turn westerly again and spin itself out over open waters. Around two o'clock a.m. on September 21, the storm began to accelerate. Traveling at more than 40 miles an hour, it sprinted up the coast in a northeasterly direction. This was the first sign that the Great Hurricane of 1938 would not follow the rules. "Today the National Hurricane Center (NHC) is a meteorological CIA, detecting and stalking nature's terrorists." In 1938 forecasters had to rely on ship-to-shore communications to chart the track of hurricanes. One ship, 150 miles north of Florida, encountered the unruly widow-maker. The Carinthia, a 624 feet long by 73 feet wide ship was designed for luxury. Nevertheless, the Carinthia took the hurricane head-on. "The ocean brawled, the wind bayed and the old ship bowed to them, tumbling into the sea, struggling out, tumbling in again . . . A Mayday message would be a cry in the wilderness." Before dawn, Wednesday morning, the weather battered ship staggered free of the hurricane's clutches. "The stunned captain radioed to shore that the barometer had dropped almost an inch to 27.85 in less than an hour. It was one of the lowest recorded in the North Atlantic. Everything in nature—temperature, tides, air currents, and seasonal rainfall—conspired to make New England the perfect place for a hurricane on 21 September 1938. Drawing upon newspaper accounts, personal testimony of survivors, and archival sources, "Sudden Sea" recounts that day in terrifying detail. "The Moore family climbed up to the attic of their oceanfront home as the waters rose, only to find themselves launched on a roiling ocean. Joseph Matoes watched as the bus carrying his children home from school stalled on the causeway just as the ocean surged into the bay. Three friends, separated in the fury of the storm, found themselves reunited on a beach a state away. These and other tales of heroism, terror, and survival form the heart of this incredible account." Scotti, in a breathtaking pace follows the storm as it reaches Long Island, New York and ravages six New England states. "A safe harbor became a cemetery; the family car, a tomb. Rooftops were rafts . . . Salvation and destruction, redemption and death were as random as the flip of a coin, and the air was so thick with salt and murky spray that day was as blind as night." The full rip of the storm was reserved for the southern shore of Massachusetts, the eastern most beach towns of Connecticut, and all of coastal Rhode Island. City by city, Scotti relentlessly tracks the path of the hurricane creating such a sense of horror and devastation it is hard to stay with the written words as the mind creates images too horrendous to endure. In Rhode Island "it has become an annual September ritual to make the trek from Watch Hill to the old fort, to walk this now barren beach. It was an idyll, once, until a capricious Wednesday, at the ragtag end of summer, when a strange yellow light came off the ocean, an eerie, restless siren filled the air, and a world broke apart. A paradise was lost." Copyright September 2003 Patricia Ann Jones, All rights reserved
Jones is a published writer and book reviewer for Tulsa World newspaper. To comment on this review you may email pattij777@aol.com |
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Sudden
Sea: The Great Hurricane of 1938 
