Herbert Smith and daughter Susan Smith were heading home in 2004 when the car she was driving got hit from behind, then spun into oncoming cars, at Newcastle’s Sheepscot Road-Route 1 intersection.

Susan Smith, then a Boothbay Region High School student, was treated and released from a hospital; her father had a stroke and heart attack and faced a series of other issues in a long recovery from the wreck.

The Newcastle man was a longtime captain of the Appledore and Eastwind charter boats out of Boothbay Harbor. He found encouragement after the accident from several sources, among them the Bible, a hymn he recalled his grandmother quoting, and wife Doris Smith.

It all helped in the recovery, and has continued to help him in life, Smith said.

Describing his outlook, Smith, 74, said: “It’s about anticipating the good. You can anticipate good, and then probably that will happen, or you can anticipate bad, and that probably will happen,” he said.

“That’s what helped me to survive, was anticipating that some power would take care of me.”

It hasn’t worked for him every time. Sometimes the outcome is not the positive picture he envisioned. Then the answer is “Try, try again,” he said.

The real joy may be in pursuing a dream or goal, rather than reaching it, Smith said.

Smith has written a quick read about his experience. In 40 pages, “Creative Anticipation” details the accident, Smith’s hospital stays, his return to charter boating and boat-building and his and Doris Smith’s trip along the midcoast on the Rachel Saunders, named for his grandmother.

“We were clipping along nicely and soon reached Pemaquid Point Lighthouse,” Smith writes. “We watched the people watching us and saw a few flash cubes go off ... As we approached Friendship, the wind shifted to the south enough to cause an accidental jibe that got the mainsheet wrapped around the aft stanchions — something I would repair later.”

They took down the topsail and headed into the harbor, where he was amazed at the lack of hotels or restaurants, Smith continues. “This harbor was a genuine fishing village, with as many as a hundred lobster boats on moorings.”

The couple have been married 41 years, worked on the boats together and co-authored “Sailing Three Oceans: Building and Sailing Schooners Eastwind and Appledore.”

Herbert Smith also wrote “Dreams of Natural Places.”

He said he wrote “Creative Anticipation” in hopes others will make the best things happen in their lives, by anticipating them.

“(I was) in a small humble way trying to help others,” Smith, a minister’s son, added in notes he provided Jan. 14. “We all have a tremendous power within ... Some have labeled it the subconscious or soul, and it’s where God resides. Bad things happen as well as good, as they did for me. Therefore, be mindful of what you’re thinking about.”

“Creative Anticipation” is available at Sherman’s Books & Stationery in Boothbay Harbor.