Shipwrecks of the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland Waters


Book Description

GARY GENTILE'S POPULAR DIVE GUIDE SERIES Over 100 GPS and loran numbers included As suggested by the title and series name, this volume covers the most well-known wrecks sunk in the Maryland portion of the Chesapeake Bay. For each of the wrecks covered, a statistical sidebar provides basic information such as the dates of construction and loss, previous names (if any), tonnage and dimensions, builder and owner (at time of loss), port of registry, type of vessel and how propelled, cause of sinking, location (GPS and/or loran coordinates if known), and depth. In most cases, an historical photograph or illustration of the ship leads the text. Throughout the book is scattered a selection of additional photographs. Each volume is full of fascinating narratives of triumph and tragedy, of heroism and disgrace, of human nature at its best and its basest. These books are not about wood and steel, but about flesh and blood, for every shipwreck saga is a human story. Ships may founder, run aground, burn, collide with other vessels, or be torpedoed by a German U-boat. In every case, however, what is emphatically important is what happened to the people who became victims of casualty: how they survived, how they died. Also included are descriptions of the wrecks as they appear on the bottom. At the end of each volume is a bibliography of suggested reading, and a list of GPS and loran numbers of wrecks in and adjacent to the area covered. Wrecks covered in Shipwrecks of the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland Waters are: Alum Chine, American Mariner (target ship), Benjamin O. Colonna, Columbia, Columbus, Dragonet (American submarine), Express, Favorite, General J.A. Dumont, Hannibal, Herbert D. Maxwell, Levin J. Marvel, Mary A. DeKnight, Medora, Nelly White, New Jersey, S-49 (American submarine), Three Rivers, Tulip (Civil War gunboat), U-1105 (German U-boat), Wawaset, and Wilson Small. Also included is a special section about shipwrecks in Curtis Bay and Mallows Bay.




Shipwrecks on the Chesapeake


Book Description

For ages men have explored its shores and harvested the incredible bounty of its aquatic life, but also they have had to suffer the consequences of the destructive forces which it unleashes all too frequently. Marine archaeologist Donald G. Shomette shares in this book, his fascination with those tragedies and disasters which occurred in the bay and its tidewater region over a 370-year period. He lists more than 1,800 of these events between 1608 and 1978, but elaborates on a few of the more significant catastrophes and military losses. Included are tales if incredible bravery, courage, and fortitude, and stories of cowardice, stupidity, and ineptitude.




Chesapeake Bay Shipwrecks


Book Description

North America's largest estuary, the Chesapeake Bay, is fed by more than 150 major rivers and streams from parts of six states and the District of Columbia. Two hundred miles long, with a shoreline that includes more than 11,500 miles of tributaries, the bay has been a major economic lifeline since pre-Columbian times. As such, it is not surprising that the bay has seen its share of shipwrecks over the centuries-from small and large vessels foundering in storms, like the Levin J. Marvel, to naval and merchant ships of all sizes lost to collisions, fires, and wars, such as the US Coast Guard cutter Cuyahoga. The actual number of shipwrecks will never be known, but at least 3,000 in the bay and its tributaries have been documented-either in archives or newspapers or through underwater archaeology. While some wrecks saw great loss of life, others fortunately did not.




Chesapeake Bay Fishing Reefs


Book Description

A hands-on artificial reef builder, recreational boater, and sport-fisherman explores natural and artificial fishing reefs, ruins, wrecks, and obstructions in the Chesapeake Bay and tidal Potomac River, from Pooles Island in the Upper Bay to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, and also in the upper tidal Potomac River. He discusses how, where, and what to look for from a sport fisherman's perspective, and walks readers through armchair use of modern tech websites to scout fishing hotspots. Continuing the illustrated narrative voyage begun in "Bridges Under Troubled Waters: Upper Chesapeake and Tidal Potomac Fishing Reefs" (2018), this second volume in the series with a Foreword by Lenny Rudow, expands coverage of shoreline structures, natural and artificial bottom structures, wrecks, and obstructions where striped bass, redfish, speckled trout, cobia, and other predators forage in Maryland. There's also full coverage of Virginia's Bay artificial reefs with graphic layouts plus details about nearby natural structure, wrecks and obstructions. The location and configuration of rediscovered "lost" and "bandit" artificial reefs and wrecks are disclosed along with a selection of natural features not shown on nautical charts. Also covered are ruins of lost lighthouses, compromised and failing shore protection structures, submerged fallen timber, disappearing islands, and Reef Balls at fishing reefs and oyster restoration sites. Reef descriptions are supported by a selection of pictures, sonar imaging, and computer-generated graphics to aid in visualizing specific reef structures and layouts. Designed for jump-starting the acquisition of local knowledge about light-tackle fishing structure by casual and journeyman sport fisherman, there are jewels of information inside for sportfishing veterans as well, including underwater pictures and sonar-scan images contributed by guides and sonar and side-imaging enthusiasts. A selection of color graphics used to produce the greyscale images in the book are found on the Facebook page for this series, "Chesapeake Bay Fishing Reefs", and featured in previews and excerpts by the author found on the FishTalk Magazine Where to Fish webpage. This is first and foremost a book for fisherman that provides practical methods to find and prospect structure that attracts sport fish, while also drawing on lessons from the author's Coast Guard service and Bay restoration and fishing experience to encourage boating and fishing safety.




Historic Shipwrecks


Book Description




Pirates of the Chesapeake Bay


Book Description

“An epic history of piracy . . . Goodall explores the role of these legendary rebels and describes the fine line between piracy and privateering.” —WYPR The story of Chesapeake pirates and patriots begins with a land dispute and ends with the untimely death of an oyster dredger at the hands of the Maryland Oyster Navy. From the golden age of piracy to Confederate privateers and oyster pirates, the maritime communities of the Chesapeake Bay are intimately tied to a fascinating history of intrigue, plunder and illicit commerce raiding. Author Jamie L.H. Goodall introduces infamous men like Edward “Blackbeard” Teach and “Black Sam” Bellamy, as well as lesser-known local figures like Gus Price and Berkeley Muse, whose tales of piracy are legendary from the harbor of Baltimore to the shores of Cape Charles. “Rather than an unchanging monolith, Goodall creates a narrative filled with dynamic movement and exchange between the characters, setting, conflict, and resolution of her story. Goodall positioned this narrative to be successful on different levels.” —International Social Science Review




Encyclopedia of Civil War Shipwrecks


Book Description

On the evening of February 2, 1864, Confederate Commander John Taylor Wood led 250 sailors in two launches and twelve boats to capture the USS Underwriter, a side-wheel steam gunboat anchored on the Neuse River near New Bern, North Carolina. During the ensuing fifteen-minute battle, nine Union crewmen lost their lives, twenty were wounded, and twenty-six fell into enemy hands. Six Confederates were captured and several wounded as they stripped the vessel, set it ablaze, and blew it up while under fire from Union-held Fort Anderson. The thrilling story of USS Underwriter is one of many involving the numerous shipwrecks that occupy the waters of Civil War history. Many years in the making, W. Craig Gaines's Encyclopedia of Civil War Shipwrecks is the definitive account of more than 2,000 of these American Civil War--period sunken ships. From Alabama's USS Althea, a Union steam tug lost while removing a Confederate torpedo in the Blakely River, to Wisconsin's Berlin City, a Union side-wheel steamer stranded in Oshkosh, Gaines provides detailed information about each vessel, including its final location, type, dimensions, tonnage, crew size, armament, origin, registry (Union, Confederate, United States, or other country), casualties, circumstances of loss, salvage operations, and the sources of his findings. Organized alphabetically by geographical location (state, country, or body of water), the book also includes a number of maps providing the approximate locations of many of the wrecks -- ranging from the Americas to Europe, the Arctic Ocean, and the Indian Ocean. Also noted are more than forty shipwrecks whose locations are in question. Since the 1960s, the underwater access afforded by SCUBA gear has allowed divers, historians, treasure hunters, and archaeologists to discover and explore many of the American Civil War-related shipwrecks. In a remarkable feat of historical detective work, Gaines scoured countless sources -- from government and official records to sports diver and treasure-hunting magazines -- and cross-indexes his compilation by each vessel's various names and nicknames throughout its career. An essential reference work for Civil War scholars and buffs, archaeologists, divers, and aficionados of naval history, Encyclopedia of Civil War Shipwrecks revives and preserves for posterity the little-known stories of these intriguing historical artifacts.




Shipwrecks of the Chesapeake Bay in Virginia Waters


Book Description

GARY GENTILE'S POPULAR DIVE GUIDE SERIES Over 100 GPS and loran numbers included As suggested by the title and series name, this volume covers the most well-known wrecks sunk in the Virginia portion of the Chesapeake Bay. For each of the wrecks covered, a statistical sidebar provides basic information such as the dates of construction and loss, previous names (if any), tonnage and dimensions, builder and owner (at time of loss), port of registry, type of vessel and how propelled, cause of sinking, location (GPS and/or loran coordinates if known), and depth. In most cases, an historical photograph or illustration of the ship leads the text. Throughout the book is scattered a selection of additional photographs. Each volume is full of fascinating narratives of triumph and tragedy, of heroism and disgrace, of human nature at its best and its basest. These books are not about wood and steel, but about flesh and blood, for every shipwreck saga is a human story. Ships may founder, run aground, burn, collide with other vessels, or be torpedoed by a German U-boat. In every case, however, what is emphatically important is what happened to the people who became victims of casualty: how they survived, how they died. Also included are descriptions of the wrecks as they appear on the bottom. At the end of this volume is a bibliography of suggested reading, and a list of GPS and loran numbers of wrecks in and adjacent to the area covered. Wrecks covered in Shipwrecks of the Chesapeake Bay in Virginia Waters are: Annie, Brazil, Charon (Revolutionary War gunboat), Chilore, City of Annapolis, Cumberland and Congress (from the Civil War Battle of Hampton Roads), Diamond Shoals, Dorothy, Edward R. Baird, Jr., Florida (Confederate raider), Julia Luckenbach, Katahdin, Lorraine, Louisiana, Monmouth, Nellie Pentz, North Carolina, Pilot, Texas/San Marcos (battleship), Virginia (ex-Merrimack), West Point, William Donnelly, and Wm. D. Sannere. Also included is a special section about shipwrecks in Dutch Gap and Kiptopeke State Park.




Shipwrecks of Virginia


Book Description




Maritime Maryland


Book Description

Winner, John Lyman Award, North American Society for Oceanic HistoryWinner, Heritage Book Award, Maryland Historic TrustFirst Place, Professional Scholarly Books, 25th Annual New York Book Show Harvested for food, harnessed for power, and home to more than 3,600 species of plants, fish, and animals, the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries have long been essential to the sustainability and survival of the region’s populations. Historian William S. Dudley explores that history in an engaging and comprehensive account of Maryland’s storied maritime heritage. Dudley paints a vivid picture of Maryland’s maritime past in its broadest scope, exploring the complex and nuanced interactions of humans, land, and water through descriptions of shipbuilding, steam technology, agricultural pollution, commercial and passenger transportation, naval campaigns, watermen, crabbing, and oystering. He also discusses the evolution of recreational boating—yachting, cruising, and racing—and the role of underwater archaeology in uncovering the bay's shipwrecks. These interactions become chapters in the larger story of Maryland’s waterways, a story that Dudley tells through insightful prose and stunning illustrations. This rich history of Maryland's waterways reveals how human enterprise has affected—and been affected by—the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries.