Author Description

Through the lens of both historical records and fictional representation, Ford's Terror takes the reader on a journey throughout Southeast Alaska in 1889, just twenty-two years after Alaska was purchased from Russia. Among several adventures during their six-month journey, the crew of the survey ship Carlise P. Patterson encounter hostile Tlingits, distrustful of white people on account of the Navy bombardment of Angoon just years before. The story is about Harry L. Ford, a Navy Master at Arms and United States Coast and Geodetic Survey Hydrographer. Ford's Terror describes the events that lead to Mr. Ford being alone for six hours behind a churning mass of water in a narrow channel that would later bear his name. The survey season ends anchored in the quiet stillness of exquisite glacial fjords. Harry L. Ford is the hero in this epic drama.