Destiny's Voyage

About the Book

They say fact is stranger than fiction.  This is a book of just such an event. History chronicles only one “RMS Titanic” but in reality there were two. The one we all know that struck the iceberg on her maiden voyage on April 14, 1912. A mighty  luxurious steamship intended to be the White Star Line’s new Queen of the Atlantic Ocean trade between England and America.  The other was actually the first of the White Star Line’s evolution into the luxury liners with the “SS Atlantic”.  Almost to the day 29 years earlier on April Fools Day 1873 she ran hard aground on the Nova Scotia coast causing the loss of a higher percentage of her souls than her descendent. The unique factor being only the fittest survived leaving the souls of all the women and but one child buried with her at the bottom of the sea.

            The book will take you on a voyage that will cause you to reflect upon your own mortality and how the events in your life play a roll in your own destiny.  Events that can be playing out by persons you do not even know work their way along a path until circumstances throw you together at a common place and time as though preordained, culminating in a tragedy such as the two sister ships of the White Star Line.  Like father, like son, both made decisions based on mirrored motivations, both with tragic results.

            You will witness the actual words of the cast including their testimony at the Inquiries at Halifax and Liverpool. You will be the jury in forming your own opinions as to the real cause and who carries the primary guilt of responsibility.  It’s a voyage you should book passage on for enhancing your sensitivity to predestination.

About the Author

Destiny’s Voyage was written through the years of the author’s experience in the world of traumatic events. Born in the Idaho desert town of Mountain Home as the country was trying to recover from the “Great Depression”, Bob’s father, a fuel truck driver, joined the Sheriff’s office prior to World War II.  The town became home for the Mountain Air Force Base. Bob grew up in a wartime environment experiencing his first exposures to the trauma brought on by catastrophic air crashes. He accompanied his father on various responses to these and other occurrences.

            A career goal in journalism was interrupted by the Korean War draft. After release from the Air Force Bob became a police officer eventually serving as a Chief of Police. His career as an adjuster has spanned over 45 years. It was near the transition between careers that he realized the relative chain of events that led to many of the cases he investigated.  His interest peeked, Bob wrote “E=A Syndrome” or Emotion equals Attitude”, about the positive and negative emotions that affect our attitudes setting us up for disaster.

            Over the past 42 years in Alaska, Bob has served the territory as an adjuster and marine surveyor. He has investigated hundreds of accidents involving aircraft, vessels, vehicles, industrial and environmental. As a marine surveyor he accomplished many cargo surveys for the North Slope oil producers. In 1989 his firm was selected by the underwriters of Alaska’s Exxon Valdez oil spill to administer the cleanup claims.

            An interest in Situational Awareness concepts gave him further insight into his beliefs and when he applied it to the history of the SS Atlantic predestiny was clearly inscribed on her hull.