REEL FACE: | REAL FACE: |
Chris Pine
Born: August 26, 1980 Birthplace: Los Angeles, California, USA | Bernie Webber
Born: May 9, 1928 Birthplace: Milton, Massachusetts, USA Death: January 24, 2009, Melbourne, Florida, USA |
Holliday Grainger
Born: March 27, 1988 Birthplace: Didsbury, Manchester, England, UK | Miriam Pentinen
Born: April 30, 1925 Birthplace: Wellfleet, Massachusetts, USA Death: May 14, 2011, Melbourne, Florida, USA |
Ben Foster
Born: October 29, 1980 Birthplace: Boston, Massachusetts, USA | Richard Livesey
Born: February 21, 1930 Death: December 26, 2007, Englewood, Sarasota, Florida, USA |
Kyle Gallner
Born: October 22, 1986 Birthplace: West Chester, Pennsylvania, USA | Andrew Fitzgerald
Born: 1931 Birthplace: Massachusetts, USA |
John Magaro
Born: February 16, 1983 Birthplace: Akron, Ohio, USA | Ervin Maske
Born: April 24, 1929 Birthplace: Marinette, Wisconsin, USA Death: October 7, 2003, Marinette, Wisconsin, USA |
Eric Bana
Born: August 9, 1968 Birthplace: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia | Daniel Cluff
Born: July 4, 1916 Birthplace: Chincoteague, Virginia, USA Death: March 5, 1989, Hillsborough, Florida, USA |
Beau Knapp
Born: April 17, 1989 Birthplace: Los Angeles, California, USA | Mel "Gus" Gouthro
Born: June 6, 1931 |
Yes. In fact-checking The Finest Hours movie, we learned that the ship, which had been traveling from Baton Rouge, Louisiana to Boston, Massachusetts, broke apart too quickly and the equipment to send out a distress call was lost. "The seas were breaking in every direction," said the real Ray Sybert (Casey Affleck in the movie) shortly after the ordeal. "The tanker cracked right through No. 8 hold, just forward of midship. Right up to that time we had no warning anything was wrong" (The Southeast Missourian). The only thing that still worked was a little portable radio receiver. The Coast Guard spotted the two sections of the Pendleton on radar and began tracking their locations (CG36500.org).
No. The SS Pendleton had suffered a three-way fracture the year prior, but it was never repaired. Surprisingly, the hastily built WWII-era ship had still passed its last Coast Guard inspection in January 1952, the month before the disaster. Subpar welding methods used in the ship's construction were mainly to blame. It is also likely that the hull of the ship had been constructed with "dirty steel," which means that it contained too much sulfur and was therefore weaker. As a result, T2 tankers like the Pendleton were sometimes referred to as "Kaiser's coffins" and "serial sinkers." -The Finest Hours book
Yes. Fearing that the Coast Guard's 36-foot CG-36500 Motor Lifeboat was no match for such treacherous seas, some crew members chose not to partake in the mission and instead made themselves scarce. Three men volunteered to go with Bernard Webber to help the Pendleton survivors, Petty Officer 2nd Class Andy Fitzgerald, Seaman Richard Livesey and Seaman Ervin Maske. Other crew members from the Chatham Lifeboat Station had already left in another boat in response to the mayday from the Fort Mercer, the other oil tanker that had broken in half. -USCG.mil
Yes, but in researching The Finest Hours true story, we discovered that unlike the movie, they were already married at the time of the Pendleton rescue. The true story reveals that Bernie Webber's girlfriend Miriam proposed to him after just a few months of dating. It happened while the couple was parked in Bernie's old Plymouth on Nauset Beach (not while dancing). Bernie did initially say, "No," but changed his mind by the end of the date when he dropped Miriam off at her parents' house. "Okay," he said, "I'll marry you." He told her to pick a date and she said July 16 (not April 16). They wed on July 16, 1950 at Bernie's family's home in Milton, Massachusetts, roughly a year and a half prior to the Pendleton rescue (the movie pushes their timeline forward). Bernie's father, a reverend, performed the ceremony. -The Finest Hours book
Fact-checking The Finest Hours movie confirmed that nearby cutters observed sea heights anywhere from 40 to 60 feet. -USCG.mil
No. In The Finest Hours movie, Raymond L. Sybert (Casey Affleck), the Pendleton's Chief Engineer and senior officer on board, takes charge after the captain was lost with the bow section. To prove to the crew that lowering the lifeboats was a bad idea, he cuts one loose and they watch it smash against the side of the ship, breaking into pieces. In The Finest Hours book, there is no mention of this demonstration taking place. However, the men did have a big discussion about lowering the lifeboats. Eighteen-year-old seaman Charles Bridges told them the idea was nuts, that the lifeboats could not withstand the monstrous waves, which would likely crush them against the hull. None of the lifeboats were ever launched.
Yes. As Bernie Webber and his crew attempted to navigate the wooden motor lifeboat across the Chatham sandbar and out to the SS Pendleton, the high swells wrecked havoc on the boat. One such swell crashed down over the boat, knocking over coxswain Webber. In addition, the windshield on the coxswain flat was shattered into pieces and the compass was torn from its mounts, leaving them with nothing to guide them to the ship or to allow them to find their way back. They were left with only a searchlight to help them locate the Pendleton in the darkness. Like in The Finest Hours movie, the sound of twisting metal alerted them to the broken Pendleton's location. -Coast Guard Compass
No. Unlike what unfolds in The Finest Hours movie, Chief Engineer Ray Sybert actually decided to keep the Pendleton's stern as far offshore as possible, fearing that the ship might further break up in the relentless surf. If the ship got close, Sybert ordered that the propeller be turned to keep the ship offshore in more moderate seas. -MWDC.org
No. Bernie's wife Miriam had been at home in bed with the flu at the time. He had not spoken to her in two days (his job could keep them apart for days at a time). As he was getting ready to depart, he told John Stello, a neighbor and local fisherman, to inform Miriam of what was going on. She never showed up at the Chatham Lifeboat Station like in the movie. Bernie phoned Miriam after the rescue was over. -The Finest Hours book
With a crew of only four (including himself), Bernard "Bernie" Webber was dispatched from Chatham, Massachusetts to rescue the survivors of the sinking 503-foot SS Pendleton oil tanker, which had broken in half in the early morning hours of February 18, 1952 during a powerful winter storm. Using Coast Guard Motor Lifeboat CG-36500, Bernie and his team rescued 32 crew members from the SS Pendleton. Each one descended a rope ladder with wooden steps (Jacob's ladder) that had been lowered over the tilted hull of the ship. Bernie and his team approached the stern of the floundering tanker more than 30 times, rescuing each sailor one by one. The Coast Guard's 36-foot lifeboat had been designed to carry only 12 people. -Coast Guard Compass
In addition to motor lifeboat crews from Cape Cod and Nantucket Island, cutters Yakutat, Unimak, Eastwind, McCulloch and Acushnet and aircraft from nearby stations responded to the two tankers in distress. However, by the time they received news of the second tanker, the SS Pendleton, most of the Coast Guard's rescue resources were being utilized to help the sinking SS Fort Mercer, another World War II-era oil tanker that had broken apart in the storm but was able to send out a distress call before breaking up. The motor lifeboat captained by Petty Officer 1st Class Bernard Webber ended up rescuing all 32 survivors from the SS Pendleton on its own. -Coast Guard Compass
No. Both Michael J. Tougias and Casey Sherman, authors of The Finest Hours book, have pointed out that this part of the movie is pure fiction. Instead, Bernie Webber spotted the blinking red light of the buoy inside the Chatham Bar, which marked the way into Old Harbor and to the Chatham Fish Pier. Also, the bright beam from the Chatham Lighthouse could be seen for 20+ miles, depending on the conditions, and would have been well within the range of the lifeboat and the pier.
As we fact-checked The Finest Hours, we learned that the SS Fort Mercer, an oil tanker that had been traveling from Louisiana to Maine, broke apart at around 8 a.m. on the morning of February 18, 1952. It split in two a few hours after the SS Pendleton, which broke apart at about 5:50 a.m. less than 40 miles away. Unlike the Pendleton, which waited in silence for eight hours to be discovered, the Fort Mercer was able to send out an SOS before she broke in half. 38 men from the Fort Mercer were eventually rescued and five lost their lives.
The rescue attempt for the SS Fort Mercer was almost just as incredible as the Pendleton rescue effort. William R. Kiely, Jr. earned a Gold Lifesaving Medal for his efforts, guiding a small surfboat to the Fort Mercer in heavy seas. At one point, his small boat slammed into the Fort Mercer's Hull. Kiely and his crew recovered two survivors before they returned to the larger Coast Guard vessel, the CGC Yakutat, as they took on water. Kiely was joined by other ships, which assisted in the rescue. The last survivor jumped to safety from the Mercer's bow section just seventeen minutes before it reared up and sank. -TheWashingtonPost.com
Dive deeper into The Finest Hours true story by watching a featurette that includes an interview with former Coast Guardsman Andy Fitzgerald, portrayed by Kyle Gallner in the movie.