It has been over 50 years since I spent my summer's aboard the J.L. Stanley and Sons. So much has changed in that brief period of time that it seems like a distant past. Gone are the bountiful fish and invincibility of the oceans. Greatly diminished is an industry that formed communities and supported generations. Gone is a way of life that now seems so innocent. Children never moved so far away and genuine familiarity with our neighbors was common. The language itself was kinder and gentler in the spoken word.

Beneath the churning surface of Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary rest the bones of shipwrecks and sailors alike. Massachusetts' ports connected its citizens to the world, and the number of merchant and fishing vessels grew alongside the nation's development. Hundreds of ships sank on the trade routes and fishing grounds between Cape Cod and Cape Ann. Their stories are waiting to be uncovered--from the ill-fated steamship Portland to collided schooners Frank A. Palmer and Louise B. Crary and the burned dragger Joffre. Join historian John Galluzzo and maritime archaeologists Matthew Lawrence and Deborah Marx as they dive in to investigate the sunken vessels and captivating history of New England's only national marine sanctuary.

A collaborative, non-profit anthology of literary submissions and the writing craft. Authors include: Nava Atlas, Dean Baris, Janet Bornstein, Paula J. Botch, Elizabeth Bullock, Sofija V. Canavan, Sally A. Connolly, Claire Cook, Katherine Critelli, Skip DeBrusk, Karyn Donahue, Bill Dunn, Harriet Emerson, Richard Fannoney, Robert Feeney, Dennis Feeney, Alessandra Fisher, Dave Fisher, Ralph Fletcher, Sarah Fox, Chris Fraas, Walter C. Frye, Elizabeth Evans Fryer, Frank M. Hynes, Marilyn Johnson, Robert Laplander, Valerie Lawson, Jamie Long, Heidi Marble, Mark McNulty, Robert McNulty, Richard Mills, Shea Mullaney, Erin O'Brien, Jay O'Callahan, April Parker, D. T. Pollard, Stephen Puleo, Chet Raymo, Jordan Rich, William Russo, Mike Ryan, Bob Sanchez, Jackson Sellers, Tucker Smallwood, Reed F. Stewart, Renee Summers, Michael Trainor, Kimmy Van Kooten, Caitlin Womersley, Alexander Woodbury and Virginia Young. The book encourages the 'writer in all of us' to become engaged in literary pursuits.

Massachusetts Bay stretches along the rocky coast and dangerously sandy shoals from Cape Ann to Cape Cod and gives the Bay State its distinctive shape and the Atlantic Ocean one of its largest graveyards. Author and longtime diver Thomas Hall guides us through the history of eight dreadful wrecks as we navigate around Mass Bay. Learn the sorrowful fate of the Portland and its crew during the devastating Portland Gale of 1898, how the City of Salisbury went down with its load of exotic zoo animals in the shadow of Graves Light and how the Forest Queen lost its precious cargo in a nor'easter. Hall provides updated research for each shipwreck, as well as insights into the technology, ship design and weather conditions unique to each wreck.