Unfortunately for both them and the four men of the Coast Guard who have accepted the assignment, it is more of a suicide mission than a real plan. Through the creative thinking of the ship’s chief engineer, Ray Sybert (Casey Affleck), the crew manages to buy themselves precious time in the hope that help will arrive.įortunately for those aboard the sinking ship, a rescue effort is underway. However 33 men are still afloat in the stern. The crew on the bow section perishes when the front half of the ship quickly sinks. The SS Pendleton, a wartime-built oil tanker, is caught in the buffeting waves and eventually splits in half from the tremendous force.
It’s February 1952 and a raging storm is battering the New England coast. In The Finest Hours we relive what is widely regarded as the most historic sea rescue in US Coast Guard history.