Pescador's Wake
By (Author) Katherine Johnson
HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd
HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd
1st January 2009
Australia
General
Fiction
A823
Paperback
398
Width 140mm, Height 210mm, Spine 25mm
516g
Amid the storms and icebergs of the far Southern Ocean, a deadly chase is underway. The Uruguayan-flagged Pescador has been spotted fishing illegally for Patagonian toothfish in the waters off Heard Island. The crew of an Australian patrol vessel, the Australis, has been given instructions to pursue the Pescador and not let her out of its sight. Carlos, the Pescador's master, sets an escape course south, directly into a storm. But the Australian boat in hot pursuit is not the only source of anxiety among the crew of the Pescador. Each has his own secrets and ambitions. As the drama unfolds at sea, so too do the stories of the human lives caught in its nets. For the men on board the boats, and the women they have left behind on shore, there is much at stake.
Katherine Coleman Goble Johnson was an American mathematician whose calculations of orbital mechanics as a NASA employee were critical to the success of the first and subsequent U.S. crewed spaceflights. During her 35-year career at NASA and its predecessor, she earned a reputation for mastering complex manual calculations and helped pioneer the use of computers to perform the tasks. The space agency noted her "historical role as one of the first African-American women to work as a NASA scientist." (August 26, 1918 - February 24, 2020)