Carrier, Jim. The ship and the storm; Hurricane Mitch and the loss of the Fantome.

Harcourt, Harvest. 318p. illus. maps. c2001. 0-15-600740-1. $14.00. SA

Captain Guyan March had a problem. The skipper of a four-masted cruise ship, he was receiving weather reports of increasing concern. It was October 1998, the middle of the hurricane season in the Caribbean, and he had learned of a large and erratic cyclone roiling up to windward. The hurricane--Tropical Storm Mitch--was, in fact, rapidly building into a Category 5 storm, and was destined to become one of the most destructive on record. Prudently, the captain put his party-loving passengers ashore and then took his 282-foot schooner and 30 crewmembers straight out to sea, looking for maneuvering room and safety.

What happened thereafter had all the elements of a Greek tragedy, and all of the spellbinding inevitability of a summertime movie. Author Jim carrier has, in fact, presented this true story of shipwreck and tragedy as a lurid tale of arch suspense and pathos. Still, given the drama and juicy details of the situation, he could hardly have done otherwise. The Fantome had begun life as a luxury yacht, a pretty but impractical toy that frankly sailed like a pig. Resurrected as a raffish holiday cruiser, she was little more than a cut-rate party boat catering to boisterous vacationers with a yen for rum swizzles. The ship was uninsurable, the crew's qualifications were iffy, and the Gulf of Honduras is shallow and treacherous.

The end result of it all is a book that is fun and exciting to read. Of the three recent "storm" titles--the others are The Perfect Storm (by Sebastian Junger) and Isaac's Storm (Erik Larson)--this one is probably the best suited to entice a reluctant YA reader between the covers of a book. Raymond L. Puffer, Ph.D., Historian, Edwards Air Force Base, CA