The Adapa myth is a literary work of ancient Mesopotamia with different versions in Sumerian and Akkadian. According to the Adapa myth, the sage and cook from Eridu goes fishing to the Persian Gulf, where the South Wind capsizes his boat. The sage's curse breaks the wing of the South Wind. Adapa lies seven days in the ocean, whence he is summoned to heaven, to be positively judged by the sky god Anu. The present book investigates the literary development of the Adapa myth and argues that it represents an exorcistic version of the flood story with the protagonist as priest. In the Adapa myth, the primordial sage survives the flood, which serves as ideological background for exorcism, ─ ┼ ip┼1/2tu. The exorcist, who used fire and water as sanitizing substances during the rituals, impersonated Adapa, who had gone through an extreme form of purification himself. Adapa's critical period in the sea was the symbolic etiology for illnesses, difficult births, witchcraft, bad omens, sin, and imprisonment, which the exorcist was able to counter. The deluge was a symbol of water ordeal and judgment, for which the exorcist's assistance was sought. Because Adapa was given rebirth from his disaster, the human exorcist as his embodiment possessed the powers of the flood in manipulating the purifying substances and incantations against all misfortune. The identity constituting narrative of ancient Mesopotamian exorcism is explored with a methodology combining the intertextual studies with cognitive neuroscience.

At once riveting and poignant, The Sinking of the Eastland brings to life a bygone era that yielded one of the most significant American disasters of the last century. Includes 16 pages of black and white photos.

On February 28, 2009, Nick Schuyler went on a deep-sea fishing trip with three friends: NFL players Marquis Cooper and Corey Smith, and Will Bleakley, former University of South Florida football player and Nick's best friend. What was supposed to be a day of fun and relaxation aboard Cooper's twenty-one-foot vessel turned nightmarish in the Gulf of Mexico, seventy miles west of Tampa, Florida, when a tragic mistake caused their boat to capsize. With no food or water, no emergency beacon to alert authorities, the four athletes clung to the overturned hull through the night—battling hypothermia, hallucinations, hunger, dehydration, and huge pounding waves, as they prayed, spoke of their loved ones, and shared what they would have done differently with their lives. In the end, only one would reach dry land alive. Much more than a riveting true account of survival, Not Without Hope is Nick Schuyler's inspiring story of courage, resolve, and friendship.

From the bestselling author of Blood and Money: A haunting true story of three people locked in a fierce struggle against time and the sea—and each other. In July 1973, Bob Tininenko; his wife, Linda; and his brother in-law, Jim Fisher, set sail from Tacoma, Washington, on a thirty-one-foot trimaran down the West Coast to Costa Rica. The journey was expected to take a matter of weeks, but ten days into the cruise, the party encountered a freak storm off the coast of northern California. When gale-force winds and fifty-foot waves capsized their boat, the voyage became a nightmare. For seventy-two 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. Jim, the owner and skipper of the boat, was a devout fundamentalist whose recognition of God’s will in every event brought him into increasing conflict with his brother-in-law. As the two men battled to take control of a dire situation, Linda kept a secret that would lead to heartrending tragedy. A “hair-raising” (Houston Chronicle) account of shipwreck and survival and a searing portrait of faith without reason, Lost! is an unforgettable true story from “a writer of tremendous power and achievement” (Detroit Free Press).

"Trapped underwater ... A tugboat off the coast of Nigeria, Africa, flipped over and sank with the boat's cook trapped inside. The cook found a small pocket of air to breath, but it wouldn't last for long. Find out what he did next in this incredible story."--Page 4 of cover.

"Kate Yeomans weaves trial testimony around the haunting recollections of witnesses - fishermen, the tug crew, Coast Guardsmen, and others - to re-create the accident, the rescue operation, and the aftermath. Each scene and shifting viewpoint alters and illuminates what has gone before, as piece by piece the mosaic of a tragedy emerges. Who or what caused the collision? Why did the Coast Guard take so long to get rescue divers to the scene? Did the Coast Guard prevent other fishermen from helping?".

The Open Boat and Other Stories by Stephen Crane It is just before dawn, and not far off the Florida coast, between the open sea and the undertow, there are four men on a raft. The ship they were sailing on sank overnight, and they are the only survivors, left swinging up and down in the waves until their bathtub-sized boat capsizes and they drown too. They don't have a moment of peace. The ocean is so rough that an indelicate move will upset the boat and send it into winter waters. Every man, while not sleeping for two days, works tirelessly to keep the boat afloat. The correspondent and the oiler share the rowing work, while the cook curls up on the floor of the dinghy, carrying water. These men take their direction from the captain, who was wounded in the shipwreck and sits gloomy in the bow, the still fresh memory of his ship being swallowed in the sea and the dead faces of the crew in the water. When day breaks and the cook and the correspondent fight to be saved, the men begin to make progress towards the shore. Fighting despair, they row in silence. Seagulls fly high and perch on the water. Seagulls are so comfortable on the ocean that they land on the captain's head. Men see this as a sinister and insulting gesture, but the captain cannot sweep the bird away because the sudden movement could cause the boat to fall. Eventually, the captain chases away the bird and they keep rowing until the captain sees a lighthouse in the distance. Although the cook reserves that the nearby lifeboat station has been abandoned for more than a year, the crew is heartened as they approach the land, almost delighting in the brotherhood that has formed and taking care of the affairs of the sea. The correspondent even finds four dry cigars in a pocket, which he shares with the others. Men's optimism fades when, approaching land but unable to master the turbulent surf, they realize help is not on the way. They head back to the open sea, exhausted and embittered. Another sign of hope comes when the captain sees a man on the ground. Each crew member looks for signs of hope in the man's gestures. They believe that man sees them. Then they think they see two men, then a crowd and perhaps a boat being dragged ashore. They stubbornly think that help is on the way as the shadows lengthen and the sea and sky turn black. During the night, the men forget that they are rescued and go about the business of the boat. The correspondent and the oiler, exhausted from rowing, intend to alternate all night. But they get tired early in the morning and the cook helps. For the most part, the correspondent lines up alone, wondering how he could have gotten this far if he is just about to drown. Paddling in the phosphorescence and next to a monstrous shark, the correspondent thinks of a poem he learned in childhood about a soldier who dies in a distant land never to return home. When morning comes, the captain suggests they try surfing while they still have enough energy. They take the boat ashore until it capsizes, and then stop in the freezing water. The oiler leads the group, while the cook and his correspondent swim more slowly and the captain clings to the keel of the overturned dinghy. With the help of a life preserver, the correspondent proceeds well, until he is caught by a current that forces him to get back on the boat. Before he can reach the raft, a wave hurls him into shallower water, where he is rescued by a man who has appeared ashore and dived into the sea to save the crew. On shore, the correspondent enters and exits unconsciousness, but when he regains consciousness, he sees a large number of people on the shore with rescue equipment. He learns that the captain and the cook have been saved but the oiler is dead.