
Coming Back Alive
The True Story of the Most Harrowing Search and Rescue Mission Ever Attempted on Alaska's High Seas
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Narrated by:
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Paul Heitsch
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By:
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Spike Walker
About this listen
When the fishing vessel La Conte sinks suddenly at night in 100-mile-per-hour winds and record 90-foot seas during a savage storm in January 1998, her five crewmen are left to drift without a life raft in the freezing Alaskan waters and survive as best they can.
One hundred fifty miles away, in Sitka, Alaska, an H-60 Jayhawk helicopter lifts off from America's most remote Coast Guard base in the hopes of tracking down an anonymous Mayday signal. A fisherman's worst nightmare has become a Coast Guard crew's desperate mission. As the crew of the La Conte begin to die one by one, those sworn to watch over them risk everything to pull off the rescue of the century.
Spike Walker's memoir of his years as a deckhand in Alaska, Working on the Edge, was hailed by James A. Michner as "masterful...will become the definitive account of this perilous trade, an addition to the literature of the sea." In Coming Back Alive, Walker has crafted his most devastating book to date. Meticulously researched through hundreds of hours of taped interviews with the survivors, this is the true account of the La Conte's final voyage and the relationship between Alaskan fishermen and the search and rescue crews who risked their lives to save them.
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- Narrated by: Roger Wayne
- Length: 7 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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On a beautiful summer afternoon in 1998, Dan Stephens, a 22-year-old canoeist, was leading a trip deep into Ontario's Quetico Provincial Park. He stepped into a gap among cedar trees to look for the next portage - and did not return. More than four hours later, Dan awakened from a fall with a lump on his head and stumbled deeper into the woods, confused. Three years later, Jason Rasmussen, a third-year medical student who loved the forest's solitude, walked alone into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness on a crisp fall day.
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Great book, but should be organized differently
- By Don Lance on 09-20-19
By: Cary J. Griffith
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Deadliest Sea
- The Untold Story Behind the Greatest Rescue in Coast Guard History
- By: Kalee Thompson
- Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
- Length: 9 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Deadliest Sea by Kalee Thompson is the spellbinding true story of the greatest rescue in US Coast Guard history. Recounting the tragic sinking of the fishing trawler, Alaska Ranger, in the Bering Sea and its remarkable aftermath in March 2008, Deadliest Sea is real-life action and adventure at its finest. The full story of an amazing rescue - where extraordinary courage, ingenuity, will, and technology combined in one of the most remarkable maritime feats ever recorded - has never been told before now. It’s The Perfect Storm meets Deadliest Catch.
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Good story line
- By Jayson on 03-31-20
By: Kalee Thompson
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438 Days
- An Extraordinary True Story of Survival at Sea
- By: Jonathan Franklin
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 7 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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438 Days is the miraculous account of the man who survived alone and adrift at sea longer than anyone in recorded history - as told to journalist Jonathan Franklin in dozens of exclusive interviews.
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Excellent use of my credit!
- By SGL on 12-13-15
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Disaster!
- A History of Earthquakes, Floods, Plagues, and Other Catastrophes
- By: John Withington
- Narrated by: Roger Clark
- Length: 17 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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A comprehensive catalog of the most devastating and deadly events-natural or man-made-in human history. If you follow the news it can seem like injury, sickness, and death are now constant, inescapable occurrences that threaten us every second of every day. But such catastrophic events - as terrible and frightening as they are - have been happening for as long as mankind has walked the Earth.... and even before. From ancient volcanoes and floods to epidemics of cholera and smallpox to Hitler's mass killings in the 20th century, humanity's continued existence has always seemed perilous.
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Fantastic account of disasters!
- By Gardenstate Reader on 12-30-19
By: John Withington
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Alaskan Escape
- A Historical Fiction Adventure, a fur-trading expedition from Seattle to the Wild Alaskan Frontier in the Early 20th Century
- By: Brooks Miller
- Narrated by: Virtual Voice
- Length: 7 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Historical Adventure Novel A thriller adventure book set in Seattle and the Alaskan wilderness during the early 20th century. Prepare for an exhilarating ride into the treacherous edge of humanity and nature’s sweeping wilds. Follow Ned Cornet on this gripping journey, as he transforms from a reckless son of wealth into a hardened survivor in the unforgiving Alaskan territories. Ned Cornet's life of indulgence crashes down after a near-fatal car accident. In a final attempt to reform him, his father, Godfrey Cornet, proposes an adventurous fur-trading expedition in the Alaskan wilderness....
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Virtual voice ruined the story
- By Kindle Customer on 04-18-25
By: Brooks Miller
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Survival Stories: Death Valley Pioneers
- Based on a true survival story, Eastern pioneers head west in the mid 1800's, tasting the lust for gold in California. Then, the grim reality of Death Valley.
- By: Doug Richardson
- Narrated by: Virtual Voice
- Length: 7 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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At the height of the California gold rush in the late-1840's, a wagon train of men, women, children, and their animals stumbled into a 130-mile-long valley in the Mojave Desert through a "shortcut" to the California coast. What ensued was an ordeal that divided the camp into remnants and struck them with hunger, thirst, and a terrible sense of being lost and beyond hope, until one of their party volunteered to cross the desert to get help. This young hero was one of the survivors of the tragedy, and he lived to tell the tale in this gripping autobiographical account. In a time of unmarked ...
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Amazing detail
- By JudyAnn Lorenz on 09-24-24
By: Doug Richardson
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Alaskan Retreater's Notebook
- One Man's Journey into the Alaskan Wilderness
- By: Ray Ordorica
- Narrated by: Stephen Bel Davies
- Length: 6 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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In the fall of 1978, Ray Ordorica packed everything he thought he would need into his Toyota LandCruiser and drove north to Alaska. He came to a land he had never seen, to find something he wasn't even sure existed: a wilderness cabin he could use for a year or more to live, think, relax, read, and write. Ordorica found his cabin, fixed it up, and, although it was just an un-insulated 12- by 16-foot one-room log structure, he spent three winters in it in relative comfort.
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He used the Lord's name in vain.
- By Connie S. on 08-24-18
By: Ray Ordorica
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Fatal Forecast
- An Incredible True Story of Disaster and Survival at Sea
- By: Michael Tougias
- Narrated by: Jeff Cummings
- Length: 5 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Fatal Forecast chronicles a dramatic fight for survival aboard two small fishing boats that were ambushed by a horrific surprise storm just southeast of Cape Cod. Soon after the Fair Wind and the Sea Fever reached the fishing ground at Georges Bank, they were hit with hurricane-force winds and massive 90-foot waves that battered the boats for hours. The direction of the wind made it impossible to turn back.
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outstanding read...the story behind the story
- By James on 02-08-16
By: Michael Tougias
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Lost!
- A Harrowing True Story of Disaster at Sea
- By: Thomas Thompson
- Narrated by: Shawn Compton
- Length: 6 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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In July 1973, Bob Tininenko, his wife Linda, and his brother in-law Jim Fisher set sail from Tacoma, Washington, on a 31-foot trimaran, down the West Coast to Costa Rica. The journey was expected to take a matter of weeks, but 10 days into the cruise, the party encountered a freak storm off the coast of Northern California. When gale-force winds and 50-foot waves capsized their boat, the voyage became a nightmare. For 72 days, the trio was lost at sea. Challenged by nature and compromised by a bitter rivalry, their courage and will to live was put to the ultimate test.
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this book was WAY over the top with religion.
- By LisalouRN on 01-19-20
By: Thomas Thompson
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It Happened Like This
- A Life in Alaska
- By: Adrienne Lindholm
- Narrated by: Suzie Althens
- Length: 6 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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In an authentic and honest voice, writer Adrienne Lindholm recounts her move to Alaska as a young woman eager to begin her career in environmental and wildlife studies. She finds herself initially out of her depth among her peers, many of whom are also "Outsiders," new to the state, but who seem more experienced, more confident. Eventually she finds her way, immersing herself in the rigors of wilderness adventures and building a community of outdoorsy friends to sustain her. Soon she falls in love with JT and gradually, at times painfully, they build a life together.
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Great Wilderness Descriptions
- By Anonymous User on 04-20-25
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If I Live Until Morning
- A True Story of Adventure, Tragedy and Transformation
- By: Jean Muenchrath
- Narrated by: Sarah Brands
- Length: 9 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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An inspiring memoir about a courageous woman's survival and recovery from an adventure-induced trauma - and the power of her dreams to overcome tragedy and live life to the fullest. Her wilderness adventure turned into a nightmare. After skiing more than 200 miles along California's John Muir Trail, Jean faces death from a mountaineering accident on Mount Whitney. Broken and bleeding on the highest peak in the continental United States, she vows to realize her greatest dreams if she lives until morning.
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Definite listen for those looking for “more” (than the obvious/given)
- By Melissa Cribb on 04-03-21
By: Jean Muenchrath
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Dead Reckoning
- Navigating a Life on the Last Frontier, Courting Tragedy on Its High Seas
- By: Dave Atcheson
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 6 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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This is the true story of a journey to a seaside town and the always unpredictable torrent of dark escapades that accompany a life at sea. It's a story of a world peopled by those who often live on the frayed edges of society, who shun the world in which most people thrive. It's a story in which college students and "fish hippies" work in canneries alongside survivalists, rednecks, religious freaks, and deckhands with damning secrets in dangerous waters, driven by the need to feed an insatiable appetite for adventure.
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Alaskan Fishing Adventure
- By Catherine G. Brady on 03-01-18
By: Dave Atcheson
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So Others May Live
- Coast Guard's Rescue Swimmers: Saving Lives, Defying Death
- By: Martha Laguardia-Kotite, Tom Ridge
- Narrated by: Jim Cooper, Martha Laguardia-Kotite
- Length: 10 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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So Others May Live: Coast Guard Rescue Swimmers: Saving Lives, Defying Death is the award-winning untold story of the US Coast Guard's quiet but resolute rescue swimmers. From deep ocean caves on the Oregon coast to the panicked and chaotic streets of post-Katrina New Orleans, here are their stunningly heroic stories.
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Good content, poor delivery in parts
- By Damien on 01-27-19
By: Martha Laguardia-Kotite, and others
What listeners say about Coming Back Alive
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- D.F. PageAmazon Customer
- 09-01-20
Engaging
I found this book well written. It keeps you on the edge of your seat and then settles you back. I was a member of the Coast Guard and have sailed the gulf of Alaska. It truly expresses the moment and the truth of rescues made by our crews. Enjoyed it.
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2 people found this helpful
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Excellent. Exciting. Informative
Narration is superb: pronunciation, enunciation, inflection, pace, cadence, varied rhythm are all excellent.
Story is exciting, informative, well structured, although I could do with less biographical information.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
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- Admiralu
- 05-14-21
Thrilling, Adventurous Rescue Story
This was a harrowing and fascinating account of the most incredible Coast Guard helicopter rescue in Alaskan history. Author Spike Walker gives some background and the tale of another rescue that ended tragically before diving into the main story. The book really comes alive detailing the incredible rescue attempts of several fishermen floating on the sea in horrendous weather, with no life raft, tied to each other and facing waves over 70 feet. This section is riveting, a total of three different Coast Guard helicopters were involved in the rescue and you can't wait to find out who makes it and who doesn't. I read this book using immersion reading, while listening to the audio book version. A thrilling, heartbreaking and heartwarming read.
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- Ty H.
- 02-15-22
What a book and reading!
The snowflake that left this book a one star rating because they could not sleep afterwards is a complete idiot! You were warned within the first paragraph that this is intense. I am sure that person has never really lived. They need to stick to warm and fuzzy Disney crap.
This book very well may keep you up at night! I could not stop listening to it!! One of my top books I ever listen to. Thank you
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- Andrea
- 02-14-21
Gripping, Best in the World of Search & Rescue
Loved every chapter, was sorry it had to end! Amazing Account of Fearless, determined professionals willing to give everything including their very lives to rescue others. Excellent narration and superb writing!
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- Eric Frost
- 09-22-23
Superb in all facets!
Story mesmerized me. Gave me a new respect for our nation's coast guard service. Appreciated the recognition that these unbelievable performances were associated with Providence.
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- Anonymous User
- 04-20-22
in the grip of a harrowing story
the courage and fortitude and selfless devotion to duty conveyed by this book should give us all pause about our own values and behaviour, and leave us humbled.
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- Lori
- 01-07-24
Well written, descriptive and true!
The authors descriptive method of a very perilous way of making a living had me captivated from beginning to the end. It made me realize I should be paying more for the fish we buy! Over all this book continually held my interest!
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- Dave T.
- 11-24-20
Survival, hero’s and a work of art.
This book of survival is pure of spirit and full of adventure unlike any you might imagine because it is lived and told by hero’s.
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2 people found this helpful
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- SSIMM
- 05-27-22
Interesting collection of stories
I really enjoyed listening to the true account of these life-saving and life-changing stories. There is some additional information mixed throughout that talks about the landscape of Alaska, the type of work, hunting and fishing.
The most interesting parts of this audiobook, for me, made you feel immersed in these stories of people fighting for their lives against the sea and landscape of Alaska.
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1 person found this helpful