When a ship the size of the Titanic, the Laconia, was sunk by a U-boat, some of its nearly 3,000 British passengers and Italian POW’s were rescued by the very U-boat that sank their ship. Highly unusual, but the story becomes more bizarre. The survivors thought their ordeal of floating in a shark-infested ocean was over…until an American plane unleashed its bombs.

New York Times bestselling author Michael Tougias offers an edge-of-your-seat slide presentation about this incident—perhaps the most unusual in all of WWII. His new book with Little Brown, Abandon Ship, tells the full story. The incident offers a real moral conundrum: do you intentionally harm your own citizens for the bigger picture of winning the war? It's a topical story with what's going in the world today.

The event was covered-up by authorities but Tougias shares the complete account including the incredible survival story of four British citizens who survived seven weeks adrift at sea with only two tablespoons of water per day and little food.

Tougias is the author and co-author of 30 books for adults and 8 for young readers, including The Finest Hours, now a Disney movie starring Chris Pine, Casey Affleck, and Holiday Granger. Learn more at www.michaeltougias.com.

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This program is made possible by New Hampshire Humanities. Learn more at www.nhhumanities.org.