Boulder Books is proud to announce Hard Aground: Untold Stories from the Pollux and Truxton Disaster by Bett Fitzpatrick.
In the pre-dawn hours of February 18, 1942, three American warships zigzagged in convoy along the south coast of Newfoundland. Caught in a raging blizzard, the three ships ran aground on one of the most inhospitable stretches of coastline in the world—less than three miles apart, within eight minutes of each other. The Wilkes freed herself. The Truxtun and Pollux could not.
Based on eyewitness accounts of survivors and rescuers, corroborated by archival and historical research, Bett Fitzpatrick tells the story of the men who saved themselves, the miners who carried survivors up the cliffs on their backs, and the people of St. Lawrence who opened their homes and their hearts to the victims.
Part non-fiction, drawing on archival records and other historical documents, and part historical fiction, Hard Aground dives into the heart of the disaster’s story. With the ships’ crews and residents of St. Lawrence and Lawn as her characters, Bett Fitzpatrick creatively tells of the humanity, compassion, and extraordinary heroism in this chapter of Newfoundland’s history.
About the Author
Bett Fitzpatrick (Dorion), grew up in Newfoundland when there wasn’t a child who didn’t know the story and the people who carried up the cliffs the 186 U.S. service men who survived the shipwrecks of the USS Truxton and USS Pollux. Award-winning author of Melanie Bluelake’s Dream (1995), Bay Girl (1998), and Whose Side Are You On (2001), Fitzpatrick retired from teaching and lives in Kitchener, Ontario, where she practices yoga, hikes weekly, and writes almost every day.