In this breathtaking chronicle of the most spectacular shipwrecks and survivals on the Great Lakes, William Ratigan re-creates vivid scenes of high courage and screaming panic from which no reader can turn away. Included in this striking catalog of catastrophes and Flying Dutchmen are the magnificent excursion liner Eastland, which capsized at her pier in the Chicago River, drowning 835 people within clutching distance of busy downtown streets; the shipwrecked steel freighter Mataafa, which dumped its crew into freezing waters while the snowbound town of Duluth looked on; the dark Sunday in November 1913 when Lake Huron swallowed eight long ships without a man surviving to tell the tale; and the bitter November of 1958 when the Bradley went down in Lake Michigan during one of the greatest killer storms on the freshwater seas. An entire section is dedicated to the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald -- the most famous maritime loss in modern times -- in Lake Superior in 1975. Chilling watercolor illustrations, photographs, maps, and news clippings accentuate Ratigan's compelling and dramatic storytelling. Sailors, historians, and general readers alike will be swept away by these unforgettable tales of tragedy and heroism.

The Great Lakes are the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth and have always been important channels of shipping and trade. Though they are lakes, their waters have proven to be as challenging as the oceans. That’s why there are more than 6,000 shipwrecks in the Great Lakes! This captivating book relates the stories of some of these wrecks, including the Edmund Fitzgerald, Argo, and Lady Elgin, their survivors, and the not-so-lucky. It also explains how wrecks are found and what happens after their discovery. Amazing photographs and sidebar information will provoke readers’ imaginations about these undersea artifacts.

Riveting stories of maritime tragedies on North America's "inland seas"

The waters of the Great Lakes are among the most treacherous in the world. Violent storms churn up waves and unpredictable currents capsize large vessels or cast them onto shoals and rocks where they are battered to pieces. An estimated 10,000 ships have fallen prey to the fury of the Great Lakes during the 150 years of their navigational history. This figure compares to an equal number of disasters which have occurred over the past 300 years around the British Isles. Yet despite the fascinating nature of the topic and the enormity of the problem, there has been an absence of informative published material on this theme. James P. Barry's Wrecks and Rescues of the Great Lakes fills the gap. Shipwrecks on the Great Lakes began almost as soon as there were ships to be wrecked. One of the first vessels built there by the French, the Frontenac, was wrecked in 1679. The book reveals the severity of the weather through dramatic photographs of shipwrecks, and graphic descriptions of the events surrounding them. The Victorian and Edwardian wrecks on the Canadian shore are depicted in minute detail. The photographs of the wrecks on the American side between 1881 and 1910 show the frailty of those vessels. However, the more modern ships of the '20s and '30s were not immune to the power of the lakes. This fact becomes increasing clear in the depiction of recent disasters and daring rescue attempts. The moving description of the tragic loss of the Edmund Fitzgerald makes the reader keenly aware of the present dangers.