https://therepository.org/survival-window/Sea rescues read off the record the crew left: the hoist camera, the buoy, the case report.enhttps://therepository.org/survival-window/ep09-unicoi-county-hospital-how-70-people-got-off-the-roof/https://therepository.org/survival-window/ep09-unicoi-county-hospital-how-70-people-got-off-the-roof/Wed, 04 Nov 2026 13:00:20 +0000On 27 September 2024 the Nolichucky River surrounded Unicoi County Hospital in Erwin, Tennessee, a one-story building whose only road was in the 100-year flood plain. Staff took 70 people, 11 of them patients, to the roof. We read the river gauge just downstream, fifteen minutes at a time, the weather service's warnings in the order they went out, and the hurricane center's final report.https://therepository.org/survival-window/ep08-sea-ranger-why-the-coast-guard-plane-flew-home/https://therepository.org/survival-window/ep08-sea-ranger-why-the-coast-guard-plane-flew-home/Wed, 28 Oct 2026 12:45:17 +0000On 1 August 2025 the Sea Ranger, an 81-year-old wooden boat the Coast Guard called a tug, was taking on water in the Gulf of Alaska with four people aboard. A Coast Guard C-130 found her at 1:08 p.m., dropped a dewatering pump and flew back to Kodiak. At 3:57 the crew called again. We read the Coast Guard's own timeline, the safety board's file on the boat, a weather buoy sixty miles away, and the hoist operator's calls on this camera, one by one.https://therepository.org/survival-window/ep07-el-faro-two-days-the-storm-kept-the-coast-guard-out/https://therepository.org/survival-window/ep07-el-faro-two-days-the-storm-kept-the-coast-guard-out/Thu, 22 Oct 2026 13:00:06 +0000On 1 October 2015 the cargo ship El Faro sank in Hurricane Joaquin, northeast of Acklins and Crooked Island in the Bahamas, with 33 people aboard. The Coast Guard flew no search flight on the first day, and a C-130 on the second day could not get within 100 nautical miles of the storm. We read the clock burned into a Coast Guard helicopter's camera, the safety board's search log, and a weather buoy three hundred miles away.https://therepository.org/survival-window/ep06-alaska-coast-guard-rescue-30-seconds-before-the-rocks/https://therepository.org/survival-window/ep06-alaska-coast-guard-rescue-30-seconds-before-the-rocks/Tue, 20 Oct 2026 13:00:05 +0000On 12 December 2022 the 45-foot fishing vessel Privateer was being slammed against the rocks of Esther Island, in Prince William Sound, Alaska, with three men and a dog aboard in survival suits. The nearest Coast Guard rescue helicopter was at Kodiak, about 260 miles away. We read the clock burned into the Coast Guard plane's camera, second by second, and the weather buoy at the mouth of the sound.https://therepository.org/survival-window/ep05-hurricane-ian-on-sanibel-the-island-with-no-road-off/https://therepository.org/survival-window/ep05-hurricane-ian-on-sanibel-the-island-with-no-road-off/Sun, 18 Oct 2026 13:45:09 +0000On 28 September 2022 Hurricane Ian's storm surge washed away parts of the causeway to Sanibel Island, Florida, and the people still on the island could leave only by boat or helicopter. The next day a Coast Guard rescue swimmer from Air Station Miami filmed his own descent onto the flooded streets. We read the record: the forecasts, the evacuation orders, the water sensors, and the Coast Guard's cameras.https://therepository.org/survival-window/ep04-marine-electric-the-wreck-that-created-rescue-swimmers/https://therepository.org/survival-window/ep04-marine-electric-the-wreck-that-created-rescue-swimmers/Fri, 16 Oct 2026 14:45:02 +0000On 12 February 1983 the coal ship Marine Electric capsized in a gale about 30 nautical miles east of Chincoteague, Virginia. Thirty-four men were aboard; three came back. The water was 39 °F. A Coast Guard helicopter reached them and lowered its basket, and the men in the water could not get into it. We read the record: the Coast Guard's Marine Board, the NTSB report, and the law that followed.https://therepository.org/survival-window/ep03-alaska-ranger-everyone-who-reached-a-raft-survived/https://therepository.org/survival-window/ep03-alaska-ranger-everyone-who-reached-a-raft-survived/Wed, 14 Oct 2026 12:45:01 +0000On Easter Sunday 2008 the fishing vessel Alaska Ranger sank in the Bering Sea before dawn, about 120 nautical miles west of Dutch Harbor. Forty-seven people were aboard; forty-two came back. The water was 35.6 °F. We read the record: the Coast Guard's own cameras, a weather buoy, the NTSB report and the Coast Guard's Marine Board.https://therepository.org/survival-window/ep02-hurricane-harvey-rescues-12-feet-of-water-in-one-hour/https://therepository.org/survival-window/ep02-hurricane-harvey-rescues-12-feet-of-water-in-one-hour/Mon, 12 Oct 2026 13:00:02 +0000On the night of 26 August 2017, Brays Bayou in Houston rose 12 feet in a single hour, and at 9:27 p.m. the National Weather Service told the city to seek higher ground now. Over the next days the U.S. Coast Guard says its crews rescued 11,022 people and 1,384 pets, most of them from roofs, attics and second floors. We read the record: the hoist cameras, two USGS river gauges, the warnings and the counts.https://therepository.org/survival-window/ep01-hms-bounty-hurricane-sandy-how-long-did-they-have/https://therepository.org/survival-window/ep01-hms-bounty-hurricane-sandy-how-long-did-they-have/Sat, 10 Oct 2026 11:45:29 +0000At 4:26 a.m. on 29 October 2012, the tall ship Bounty rolled over inside Hurricane Sandy, about 110 nautical miles southeast of Cape Hatteras, and 16 people went into the Atlantic in the dark. Fourteen came home, lifted one at a time by two Coast Guard Jayhawk crews from Elizabeth City. We read the record they left: the NTSB and Coast Guard investigations, the nearest NOAA buoy, and the helicopters' own thermal camera, hoist camera and intercom.