Great Ship Disasters


Book Description




Great Lakes Passenger Ship Disasters


Book Description

From author Wayne Kadar, this book explores the tragic tales of ships designed to carry passengers, be it a ferry, a day or weekend excursion vessel or a ship with cabins for extended cruises. Meticulously researched by Kadar, these stories from the tragedy of the




Disasters at Sea


Book Description

A fully illustrated collection of the most thrilling shipwrecks of all time! Experience the mystery and wonder of the bottom of the sea with over sixty accounts of shipwreck catastrophes. Illustrated with detailed maps and shipwreck locations, Disasters at Sea takes readers on a fascinating journey through history and to the ocean floor. Learn all about the historical details and theories of the most infamous shipwrecks—from the most well-known sinkings like the Titanic, to the obscure, mysterious drifting ghost ships and unexplained disappearances. Subjects include: • Tragedies by Mother Nature • Shipwrecks and war • Fatal errors • Legends, myths, mysteries • And many more! Whether by human error, collision, piracy, or mutiny, this book has them all. With shipwrecks from the Old Testament, to ancient Greece, to modern times, this exciting book is compellingly written with accompanying sources, high-quality images, and a great deal of evidence. Find out interesting tidbits about Christopher Columbus’s Santa Maria, which eluded discovery for centuries despite long-term investigations. Stay afloat with the Mary Celeste and the Carroll A. Deering—ships that did not wreck at all but whose entire crews disappeared, never to be found. Readers are no doubt familiar with the tragedy of the Titanic, but this book also recounts the Wilhelm Gustloff, which took nine thousand lives at the end of World War II. Disasters at Sea is sure to offer an addicting and thrilling voyage that will leave you reading over and over again. This is an exciting book for the history buff—or for anyone looking for a fascinating read! Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in history--books about World War II, the Third Reich, Hitler and his henchmen, the JFK assassination, conspiracies, the American Civil War, the American Revolution, gladiators, Vikings, ancient Rome, medieval times, the old West, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.




Ships and Shipwrecks


Book Description

From the day that French explorer Robert Cavelier de La Salle launched the Griffin in 1679 to the 1975 sinking of the celebrated Edmund Fitzgerald, thousands of commercial ships have sailed on the vast and perilous waters of the Great Lakes. In a harbinger of things to come, on the return leg of its first trip in late summer 1679, the Griffin disappeared and has never been seen again. In the centuries since then, the records show that an alarming number of shipwrecks have occurred on the Great Lakes. If vessels that wrecked but were later repaired and returned to service are included, the number certainly swells into the thousands. Most did not mysteriously vanish like the Griffin. Instead, they suffered the occupational hazards of every lake boat: collisions, groundings, strands, fires, boiler explosions, and capsizes. Many of these disasters took the lives of crews and passengers. The fearsome wrath of the storms that brew over the Great Lakes has challenged and defeated some of the staunchest vessels constructed in the shipyards of port cities along the U.S. and Canadian lakeshores. Here Richard Gebhart tells the tales of some of these ships and their captains and crews, from their launches to their sad demises—or sometimes, their celebrated retirements. This volume is a must-read for anyone intrigued by the maritime history of the Great Lakes.




The 50 Greatest Shipwrecks


Book Description

When you think of a shipwreck, what image springs to mind? A tall sailing ship on the rocks, or perhaps the sinking Titanic surrounded by lifeboats? Historian Richard M. Jones has put together 50 stories of lost ships throughout history that are among the most important, infamous and in some cases tragic ships in the whole of history. When did two liners collide and lead to one of the greatest rescues in history? How did a Scotsman become an American hero against his own country? Which warship sank with gold bullion on board during the Second World War? This book tells the story of these fascinating cases plus many more, explores the largest shipwrecks, the treasure wrecks and the ones that are talked about still as the most famous. Starting at the tiny island of Alderney in 1592, we take a journey through history, through the First and Second World Wars, into the age of the passenger ferry and finally to the modern day migrant issues in the Mediterranean Sea. Never before have these fifty wrecks come together in a book that really brings home to the reader just how many lost vessels there are, how deadly many can be and what this teaches us today about our own history.




Shipwreck


Book Description

Shipwrecks have captured our imagination for centuries. Here acclaimed historian Sam Willis traces the astonishing tales of ships that have met with disastrous ends, along with the ensuing acts of courage, moments of sacrifice and episodes of villainy that inevitably occurred in the extreme conditions. Many were freak accidents, and their circumstances so extraordinary that they inspired literature: the ramming of the Essex by a sperm whale was immortalized in Herman Melville's Moby Dick. Some symbolize colossal human tragedy: including the legendary Titanic whose maiden voyage famously went from pleasure cruise to epic catastrophe. From the Kyrenia ship of 300 BC to the Mary Rose, through to the Kursk submarine tragedy of 2000, this is a thrilling work of narrative history from one of our most talented young historians.




Great Naval Disasters


Book Description

Landlubbers beware! Great Naval Disasters is a collection of 19 incredible stories of ill-fated ships, each including a full recounting of the ship's early history, the events surrounding her tragedy, and her ultimate misfortune. The most deadly enemies of the warship other than combat - collision, explosion, fire, grounding, and, of course, the mysterious and curious... Contains accounts of raging fires on the USS Enterprise, USS Uriskany, USS Forrestal, and USS Constellation.




Treasure Lost at Sea


Book Description

The vast hidden world of sunken treasure. With less than 2% of the world's ocean depths explored to date, a myriad of unimagined mysteries and treasures await discovery. Treasure Lost at Sea chronicles the excitement of underwater archaeology and search for treasure. The book recounts the major periods and geographic locations of shipwrecks. Chapters include: The classical world Scandinavian shipwrecks The age of discovery The Spanish galleons Bermuda, graveyard of ships Privateers, pirates and mutineers Deep-water shipwrecks (Bismarck, Titanic, and others) Port Royal: The sunken city The lively text details the potential treasure as well as the political turf wars, technological limitations, and forces of nature that threaten any mission's success. Humanity's long history of exploration, civilization, trade and war is littered with sunken vessels. Colorful and richly illustrated, Treasure Lost at Sea will inspire a new generation of underwater archaeologists.




Final Voyage


Book Description

"With disasters from all over the world, these are stories of the people--whether they lived or died--as well as the ships."--Back cover.




Shipwrecks of the Great Lakes


Book Description

Containing almost a fifth of the world's fresh water, the Great Lakes system of Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario in North America are vast inland expanses, and subject to the same hazards for shipping more commonly found on the high seas. Since the seventeenth century, when the first wooden vessels of colonists and adventurers set a course across them, the lakes have claimed many ships as well as the lives of those unfortunates aboard them. Shipwrecks of the Great Lakes narrates the tales of over a hundred of them. From the dramatic stories of the many ships that have foundered with all hands in the great storms that can sweep across the lakes, to the tales of vessels like the Gunilda, lost because her wealthy master refused to pay a few dollars for a pilot, this book is packed with the fascinating narratives of Great Lakes disasters. Including photographs of the boats it is also a document of change and progress, showing how the ships have been developed over the centuries as well as the industrial cities and towns that have grown from the wealth brought by the shipping lanes of the lakes. From the griffon, which went down without a trace in 1679, to the more recent disaster of the Edmund Fitzgerald, which was ripped apart and sank with all twenty-nine lives onboard lost, Shipwrecks of the Great Lakes includes tales of courage and tragedy, stupidity and heroism. Inside find: The tales of over a hundred of the most famous shipwrecks on North America's Great Lakes, including the Edmund Fitzgerald, Daniel J. Morrell, Eastland, and many more. Fully illustrated with archival photography. Chronological listing of wrecks. Dramatic stories of the ships' last moments - the tragedies, courage, and the miraculous rescues.