The Poseidon Adventure - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Poseidon Adventure is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

Adventure novel

The adventure novel is a genre of novels that has adventure, an exciting undertaking involving risk and physical danger, as its main theme.-History:...

by Paul Gallico

Paul Gallico

Paul William Gallico was a successful American novelist, short story and sports writer. Many of his works were adapted for motion pictures...

, released in 1969

1969 in literature

The year 1969 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* The first Booker Prize is awarded.* "Penelope Ashe", author of the bestselling novel Naked Came the Stranger, is found to be several people who each took a turn writing a chapter of what they described as "junk" in...

. It concerns the capsizing

Capsize

Capsizing is an act of tipping over a boat or ship to disable it. The act of reversing a capsized vessel is called righting.If a capsized vessel has sufficient flotation to prevent sinking, it may recover on its own if the stability is such that it is not stable inverted...

of a luxurious ocean liner

Ocean liner

An ocean liner is a ship designed to transport people from one seaport to another along regular long-distance maritime routes according to a schedule. Liners may also carry cargo or mail, and may sometimes be used for other purposes .Cargo vessels running to a schedule are sometimes referred to as...

, the SS Poseidon, due to an undersea earthquake, and the desperate struggles of a handful of survivors to reach the bottom of the liner's hull

Hull (watercraft)

A hull is the watertight body of a ship or boat. Above the hull is the superstructure and/or deckhouse, where present. The line where the hull meets the water surface is called the waterline.The structure of the hull varies depending on the vessel type...

before the ship sinks. The idea for the novel supposedly came to Gallico from a story regarding the liner RMS

Royal Mail Ship

Royal Mail Ship , usually seen in its abbreviated form RMS, a designation which dates back to 1840, is the ship prefix used for seagoing vessels that carry mail under contract by Royal Mail...

Queen Mary

RMS Queen Mary

RMS Queen Mary is a retired ocean liner that sailed primarily in the North Atlantic Ocean from 1936 to 1967 for the Cunard Line...

almost capsizing after being hit by a rogue wave during WWII.
Formerly the RMS

Royal Mail Ship

Royal Mail Ship , usually seen in its abbreviated form RMS, a designation which dates back to 1840, is the ship prefix used for seagoing vessels that carry mail under contract by Royal Mail...

Atlantis, the SS Poseidon is a luxury ocean liner

Ocean liner

from the golden age of travel, which was converted to a single-class, combination cargo-cruise liner.