Michael J. Tougias

Michael J. Tougias is a writer who was born in Longmeadow, Massachusetts in 1955. He writes about maritime, travel, and adventure topics.

He attended Boston College (1973–74) and graduated from Saint Michael's College in Vermont in 1977.

He lives in Massachusetts.

He has a daughter, Kristin, with whom he wrote a memoir entitled The Cringe Chronicles.

An avid fisherman, Tougias became a self-syndicated outdoors writer in 1990. At the time he was also managing a division of a major insurance company. He published the first of 25 books in 1998.

He travels to more than 100 small and large speaking engagements a year to discuss his books and other topics, including "Survival Stories," lessons learned from those who were shipwrecked. Coast Guardsmen and sailors are frequent audiences; Tougias' last six books have been accounts of historic sea rescues by the Coast Guard, often in the Gulf Stream.

His book The Finest Hours: The True Story Behind the US Coast Guard's Most Daring Rescue (2009), co-authored with Casey Sherman, was adapted as a Disney film by the same name, released in 2016.

• Tougias, Kristin; Tougias, Michael J. (2014). The Cringe Chronicles: Mortifying Misadventures with My Dad: a Memoir. Black Rose Writing. ISBN 9781612963402. OCLC 887818219. 
• Tougias, Michael J. (2009). Fatal Forecast: An Incredible True Tale of Disaster and Survival at Sea. New York: Scribner. ISBN 0743297040. 
• Tougias, Michael J.; Sherman, Casey (2009). Finest Hours: The True Story of a Heroic Sea Rescue. New York: Faber And Faber. ISBN 1250044235. 
• Tougias, Michael J.; O'Leary, Alison (2015). Inns and Adventures : a History and Explorer's Guide : Vermont, New Hampshire, and the Berkshires. On Cape Publications. ISBN 0991340140. OCLC 898911500. 
• Tougias, Michael J. (2002). Outdoors in Franklin. Franklin, Mass: The Town. OCLC 49673887. 
• Tougias, Michael J. (2011). Overboard! A True Blue-Water Odyssey of Disaster and Survival. Scribner. ISBN 9781439153628. 
• Tougias, Michael J.; Campbell, Douglas (2013). Rescue of the Bounty: Disaster and Survival in Superstorm Sandy. New York: Scribner. ISBN 1476746648. 
• Tougias, Michael J.; O'Leary, Alison. So Close to Home: The True Story of an American Family's Fight for Survival During World War II. New York: Pegasus Books. ISBN 1681771306. OCLC 923794441. 
• Tougias, Michael J. (2012). A Storm Too Soon: A True Story of Disaster, Survival and an Incredible Rescue. Scribner. ISBN 1451683340. 
• Tougias, Michael J.; Quirk, Jr., Frank (2005). Ten Hours Until Dawn: The True Story of Heroism and Tragedy Aboard the Can Do. New York: St. Martin's Griffin. ISBN 0312334362. OCLC 64390615.