The Rivers of Life---And Death
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June 16, 1964 April 6, 1969 August 1, 1974 May 28, 1993 September 22, 1993 July 15, 2001 September 15, 2001 May 26, 2002 January 9, 2005 These have been without a doubt, some of the darkest days of the American industry's 220-year history on the nation's inland waterways. |
These nine days saw towboats and their barges slam into highway and railroad bridge pilings, collide with another vessel, run over a fishing boat, and wash over a dam with resulting catastrophes that took the lives of 114 unsuspecting motor vehicle occupants, railroad train passengers and crew, fishermen, and mariners in those nine separate accidents.
The absolute blackest day – and not to diminish any of the other eight – was September 22, 1993. On that day, the towboat Mauvilla, pushing six barges in dense fog, nudged a railroad bridge, causing the derailment of Amtrak’s "Sunset Limited" passenger train, thereby plunging forty-seven hapless souls to their deaths in an alligator- and snake-infested murky bayou near Mobile, Alabama. One-hundred-and-three others were injured in the flaming carnage.
Through the pages of The Rivers of Life – and Death these nine horrific disasters stretching back over forty-one years (1964-2005) are re-visited. Captain Richard Block, Executive Director of the National Maritime Association, said this about the book: “I have studied all of the accidents you covered and am familiar with all of them. Your compilation and thoughtful and extremely well-documented coverage of these isolated events really brings their significance to life.”
In addition to the tragedies, the book also tells of the triumphs on the waterways as it speaks of how that breakfast cereal on your table this morning got there, of the economic input these rivers and the men and women working on them bring to the Nation. With all the economic benefit emanating from this nation’s inland waterways, with all the joy and pleasure they give its recreational boating people, with all the physical and psychic pleasure they give its citizens, those very same rivers, streams and canals are, indeed, The Rivers of Life. Unfortunately, in all too many cases, they are also The Rivers of Death.
To purchase a signed copy (for $16.00 plus $5.00 taxes/shipping) of The Rivers of Life---And Death via e-mail, go here: harperhere@LIVE.com
The absolute blackest day – and not to diminish any of the other eight – was September 22, 1993. On that day, the towboat Mauvilla, pushing six barges in dense fog, nudged a railroad bridge, causing the derailment of Amtrak’s "Sunset Limited" passenger train, thereby plunging forty-seven hapless souls to their deaths in an alligator- and snake-infested murky bayou near Mobile, Alabama. One-hundred-and-three others were injured in the flaming carnage.
Through the pages of The Rivers of Life – and Death these nine horrific disasters stretching back over forty-one years (1964-2005) are re-visited. Captain Richard Block, Executive Director of the National Maritime Association, said this about the book: “I have studied all of the accidents you covered and am familiar with all of them. Your compilation and thoughtful and extremely well-documented coverage of these isolated events really brings their significance to life.”
In addition to the tragedies, the book also tells of the triumphs on the waterways as it speaks of how that breakfast cereal on your table this morning got there, of the economic input these rivers and the men and women working on them bring to the Nation. With all the economic benefit emanating from this nation’s inland waterways, with all the joy and pleasure they give its recreational boating people, with all the physical and psychic pleasure they give its citizens, those very same rivers, streams and canals are, indeed, The Rivers of Life. Unfortunately, in all too many cases, they are also The Rivers of Death.
To purchase a signed copy (for $16.00 plus $5.00 taxes/shipping) of The Rivers of Life---And Death via e-mail, go here: harperhere@LIVE.com