Ocean of Storms, Sea of Disaster: North Atlantic Shipwrecks of the Strange and Curious
Robert C. Parsons

Nonfiction: The Sea, Shipwrecks 256 pages includes photographs ISBN-10 1-895900-74-3 ISBN-13 978-1-895900-74-3 Price: CDN$19.95 Qty:

Book Description The adage "truth is stranger than fiction" certainly applies to the tales, yarns, stories and accounts of the seamen and ships that plied the North Atlantic. Here are more than 70 stories of piracy, fire, explosions, disappearances, rum running, shipboard mutiny and murder. There are also stories of collisions with whales, icebergs and other ships, as well as wrecks on rocks, islands and sand bars. Vessels, large and small, were struck by lightning, shelled or torpedoed by enemy vessels, crushed by Arctic ice, and even swallowed up whole by unexpected intense gales and hurricanes. These true tales of shipwrecks delve into the strange and curious marine disasters. The setting, mainly the northwest Atlantic Ocean, was the main route for passenger steamers and trading schooners plying their way to and from Europe and also the site of the fishing grounds. The drama, the battle with the elements, the struggle to exist and to survive was played out on this expanse of water often said to be the "stormiest ocean on earth." The time range in Ocean of Storms, Sea of Disaster is 100 years, between the 1850s and the 1950s. By the mid-point of the twentieth century the great wind-driven schooners had all but disappeared; intercontinental airplanes and jumbo jets hastened the demise of passenger liners and large cargo-carrying steamers. By then, too, great improvements in communication, navigational aids and long range forecasting greatly reduced ship losses. Robert Parsons' sea stories now number in the hundreds and have been published in a dozen or more books. Parson's passion for the history and heritage of the sea led to his interviews with sailors and fishermen who "stood before the mast" on all-sail wooden ships, although their numbers are now greatly reduced. Robert has continued his research through oral history supported by archival materials. More Books by Robert Parsons