Great Lakes Shipwrecks & Survivals [Paperback]

William Ratigan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1977

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.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

(1910–1984) Six generations of William Ratigan's family have lived in Michigan, a fact that has inspired his novels and biographies of the Great Lakes region. His father went on the Lakes at age twelve and worked up to steamboat engineer, with fresh- and salt-water licenses. The author himself once acted as dockmaster for a season at his home port of Charlevoix.

Formerly a NBC network news director and supervisor of war correspondents in the PTO, he covered the Bradley shipwreck for the mass media and was consultant to the Smithsonian Institution on technical development of Great Lakes craft. In connection with his NBC network newsroom services, he carried a card as journalism instructor for UCLA. He was proud of having quarterbacked and captained the University of Chattanooga's all-Dixie Conference football team and of being an adopted chief of the Ottawa tribe, with the name of Opwa-nan iia Kanotong, Interpreter of Dreams.

In 1954 William Ratigan founded an internationally known private press, complete with pressmark -- the Dockside. On occasion he had been a university lecturer, and a number of his manuscripts and personal papers reside in the archives of the Michigan Historical Library at the University of Michigan.

Product Details

• Paperback: 386 pages
• Publisher: William B. Eerdmans Publishing; Revised edition (1977)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802870104
• ISBN-13: 978-0802870100
• Product Dimensions: 5.9 x 1 x 9.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #481,354 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 42 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars "Full many a midnight ship with all its shrieking crew" May 14, 2001

By E. A. Lovitt HALL OF FAMETOP 100 REVIEWER

Format:Hardcover

"Great Lakes Shipwrecks & Survivals" is probably classified as a book with limited 'regional' interest, which is a shame because it deserves a much wider audience. I think it merits a place on the bestseller list next to "In the Heart of the Sea : The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex" by Nathaniel Philbrick, or "The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea" by Sebastian Junger.

William Ratigan, a journalist whose father was a steamboat engineer, has written a romantic, blood-curdling maritime history of the Great Lakes, starting with Champlain's canoe as it ventured out onto Lake Huron, and ending with the thousand-foot bulk freighters that now churn our waters.

In his introduction, Ratigan warns the reader that even the biggest freighter is not guaranteed a safe return to port:

"These great ships sail Great Lakes that can swallow them in one black moment without a trace. Storms exploding across hundreds of miles of open water pile up mountainous seas that strike swifter, and more often, than the deadliest waves on any ocean. Before the ship has a chance to recover from the last blow, the next is upon her. The Lakes captain has no sea room in which to maneuver; unlike his salt-water counterpart he must stay on course throughout the storm; he must weather the teeth of the gale."

Each Lake's storms, shipwrecks, fires, and rescues gets its own section within "Great Lakes Shipwrecks & Survivals." The last section of the book's third edition (which I own) is devoted to the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, the introduction of bulk freighters into the Lakes, and the extension of the shipping season.

I'm glad this book was reissued in 2000, as I will soon need a replacement copy. I reread it almost every November, when gray skies close down over the freighters that still steam up and down the Detroit River near our house.

Are there captains out there, like the captains of the ill-fated Howard M. Hanna, Jr., the Daniel J. Morrell, the Carl D. Bradley, and the Edmund Fitzgerald, who are trying to squeeze in 'one last run' of the season?

As Ratigan says of these captains, "...they often stay out on the Lake beyond the time of regular insurance, beyond the time of navigational prudence. Once in a while, striving to make one last trip before winter locks up the Lakes, they make one last trip indeed---the last trip forever."

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating Reading December 22, 1999

By frumiousb TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

This is one of those anecdotal history books that makes such wonderful reading. Having grown up on the shores of Ontario, it still managed to provide me with local history that I'd never heard (and filled in some gaps on things I had-- such as the Edmund Fitzgerald wreck). There are moments where the prose gets a little strained (how many different ways are there to say "stormy water"?) but it doesn't really detract from the charm of the book. It'll be hard to get me on a boat again without thinking about what we may be floating over underneath!

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Colorfully written and well organized. March 24, 1999

By karatemom

Format:Hardcover

I bought this book for my 10 year old son who is very interested in shipwrecks. We visited the shipwreck museum at Whitefish Point just this past summer, along with the Soo Locks. We viewed artifacts from many sunken ships. The Edmund Fitzgerald artifacts were most interesting. He has a tee shirt with a Michigan map and numbered dots for all the shipwrecks in the different lakes (over 200!) on it. Needless to say, he has really enjoyed this book and is able to relate so much of what he saw and learned this past summer to material in the book. It put it all together. It is very colorfully written, and a bit too difficult for him to read alone. So we take time together and I read it outloud to him. We have both enjoyed learning about the different disasters in history, and have developed quite a respect for those brave sailors. A good book for anyone who is interested in the maritime history of the Great Lakes.