The Poseidon Adventure

The Poseidon Adventure is an American adventure novel by Paul Gallico, published in 1969. It concerns the capsizing of a luxurious ocean liner, the S.S. Poseidon, due to an undersea earthquake that causes a wave, and the desperate struggles of a handful of survivors to reach the bottom of the liner's hull before the ship sinks. Plot Formerly the RMS Atlantis, the SS Poseidon is a luxury ocean liner from the golden age of travel, converted to a single-class, combination cargo-cruise liner. The ship is on her first North Atlantic crossing under new ownership, celebrated with a month-long Christmas voyage from Lisbon to African and South American ports. On December 26, an undersea earthquake overturns the Poseidon. The ship capsizes as it falls into the void caused by the quake displacing millions of gallons of seawater. Stuck within the upper deck dining room, preacher Reverend Frank "Buzz" Scott suggests his fellow survivors to move to the keel of the ship, where maybe they will have more chances of being rescued. Those who refuse to follow him stay behind. The rest climb a Christmas tree with Scott to ascend into the galley area where they meet stewards and kitchen crew. The group debates whether to try to reach a propeller shaft at the stern, or to go to the bow. A steward fears the lockers that hold the anchor chains will have flooded, and suggests trying for the engine room.