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, buil der and owner (at time of loss), port of registry, type of vessel and how propelled, cause of sinking, location (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 color underwater photographs, some of the wrecks, more often of typical marine life found in the area.
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 more than 400 loran numbers of wrecks in and adjacent to the area covered. Wrecks covered in Shipwrecks of North Carolina: from the Diamond Shoals North are: Australia, Bedloe/Jackson, Brewster, Buarque, Byron D. Benson, Carl Gerhard, Carroll A. Deering, Chenango, Ciltvaira, City of Atlanta, Consols, Diamond Shoals, Empire Gem, Empire Thrush, Equipoise, Glanayron, Harpathian, Hesperides, Huron, Kassandra Louloudis, Kyzickes, Lancing, Liberator, Magnolia, Marore, Merak, Metropolis, Mirlo, Mormackite, New Jersey, Virginia, Norlavore, Northeastern, Norvana, Oriental, Palestro, Pocahontas, San Delfino, Strathairly, U-85, U-701, Venore, Veturia, Virginia, Wetherby, William Rockefellar, and YP-389.
