In the 200-year history of the Coast Guard, coming to the aid of over a million people, the rescue of The Pendleton crew, off the coast of Chatham, Massachusetts, was deemed their finest hour.
In 1952, a blizzard centered at Nantucket, with near hurricane force wind and such poor visibility ships couldn't seek shelter in Boston Harbor. A nor'easter off Delaware intensified so rapidly, they called it a bomb.
Steps up from the harbor is America's oldest town square, North Square.
Thursday, the 64th anniversary of the storm that inspired "The Finest Hours," members of the Coast Guard and Marines met to discuss the accuracy of the movie and the ferocity of the storm.
"I think they did quite good," said retired U.S. Coast Guard Captain Russell Webster. "Although I don't have the experience of riding up the front side of a 60-foot wave, then surf down the backside of it, with my engine reversed because if you drive into the wave in front of you you're going to turn turtle."
Even before that, The 36-foot rescue boat hit 20-foot seas on the Chatham Bar blowing out the windshield, shards of glass piercing helmsman Webber's face, then the compass tore off.
There were no buoys or radar then.
Massachusetts
The latest news from around the state
"I am not going to nitpick what Hollywood did, because the movie speaks for itself what these guardsmen did," said maritime Marine engineer Bill Tracy.
"I think they did a credible job of capturing the incredible," Webster said.
