The Raft, Robert Trumbull
The Raft, Robert Trumbull
List: $11.95 | Sale: $8.36
Club: $5.97

The Raft
The Courageous Struggle of Three Naval Airmen against the Sea

Author: Robert Trumbull

Narrator: Grover Gardner

Unabridged: 4 hr 22 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download (DRM Protected)

Published: 08/23/2011

Synopsis

“The sinking of the plane was like a magician’s trick. It was there and then it was gone, and there was nothing left in our big, wet, darkening world but the three of us and a piece of rubber that was not yet a raft.”In 1942, three men on an antisubmarine patrol flight became lost and pitched into the Pacific. The plane sank beneath them, carrying most of the survival gear down with it. For thirty-four scorching days and shivering nights, they faced the ocean terrors on a four-by-eight-foot rubber raft. They had no water, food, compass, or paddles—only their will to survive. But by feats of super endurance, they made their way to the South Sea isle of Puka Puka, having meandered 1,200 miles.

About Robert Trumbull

Robert Trumbull was born in Chicago in 1912 and graduated from the University of Washington at Seattle. He worked as a reporter for the Honolulu Advertiser from 1933 to 1943 but began writing for the New York Times in 1941, serving during World War II as the Times’ war correspondent in the Pacific theater until 1945. The US Navy awarded him the Asiatic-Pacific Theater Ribbon for his wartime reports. After the war he continued writing for the Times, serving as a foreign correspondent, chief correspondent, and bureau chief in such places as Japan, the Philippines, South and Southeast Asia, Tokyo, China, Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific islands, and Canada. As well as contributing articles on Asian and Pacific affairs to Encyclopedia Americana, Reader’s Digest, Saturday Review, and New York Times Magazine, he was the author of ten nonfiction books. For his The Scrutable East: A Correspondent’s Report on Southeast Asia, he won the Overseas Press Club’s Cornelius Ryan Award in 1964, an award given yearly for best nonfiction book on international affairs.

About Grover Gardner

Grover Gardner, a professional actor, director, and teacher, has narrated over 650 audiobooks. He was named one of the Best Voices of the Century by AudioFile magazine as well as a Golden Voice, and he has received over twenty AudioFile Earphones Awards. He has also won two coveted Audie Awards, as well as being a three-time finalist. In 2005, Publishers Weekly named him Audiobook Narrator of the Year.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Eric_W on February 06, 2012

The perfect book to read while solidifying in subzero weather is The Raft by Robert Trumbull. And one look at the cover will suggest that another bite of that fat laden steak is well-worthwhile. Trumbull retells the story of 3 aviators whose plane went down in the Pacific. They had a rubber raft and......more

Goodreads review by Julie on April 05, 2023

Amazing true story! The book has a few typos, but that’s not a big deal.......more

Goodreads review by Midge on June 21, 2012

I found this book as I was cleaning out a bookcase in my parents' home. Mom belonged to the Book-of-the-Month Club during the WW II years, and this 1942 copy still has the review and synopsis by the Club News inside. It is the true story of three US navy-men who took off from a carrier on a bombing......more

Goodreads review by Steve on August 11, 2023

An absolutely mesmerizing tale of hardship and survival at sea, “The Raft” is an 81 year old narrative of three WWII Naval aviators who were cast adrift in a life raft for over a month without food or water after they were forced to ditch their aircraft. I listened to the audiobook version of this 19......more

Goodreads review by Khairul on September 23, 2018

A true story about three men staying alive in a small sized raft. After the plane carrying them crashed at the pacific ocean. It is surprising to know how much human can withstand pain and hardship just to stay alive.......more

Quotes

“This story of three men adrift in the Pacific, with few resources except courage and indomitable human spirit, is not only inspiring reading but a tribute to the human species and its will to survive.” Captain John M. Waters, USCG (Ret.), author of Rescue at Sea

“[The story of] how these men maintained their sanity, their spirits, and the spark of life is a classic.” Chicago News

“Engaging…[Grover Gardner] lets events speak for themselves, without adding gratuitous melodrama. His qualities as a seasoned reader make for effortless listening.” AudioFile

“Listeners of any age will find this unbelievable gripping account of human resourcefulness and survival difficult to turn off…This tribute to human endurance is spellbinding.” Kliatt

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