Wreck Ashore: The United States Life-Saving Service on the Great Lakes (Paperback)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

From stormy shipwrecks to catastrophic disasters, the lifesavers were always there, risking their lives to save others. From the mid-1780s until it transformed into the U.S. Coast Guard in 1915, the U.S. Life-Saving Service was responsible for safety on the seas. This historic look into our earliest heroes on the Great Lakes is now back in print. Illustrated with historic b/w pictures. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 213 pages
• Publisher: Lake Superior Port Cities (May 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0942235223
• ISBN-13: 978-0942235227
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #781,056 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very interesting, February 8, 1999

By	Chris Serb (Chicago) - See all my reviews

There are a few other good books on the old life-saving service, but this is the first one to focus on the Great Lakes. I bought it to discover my roots, since I've been a longtime lifeguard at a converted life-saving service station. While my station (Rogers Park) is only mentioned in passing, the great information and detail of other stations, keepers, and rescues kept me engaged. The writing's a little uneven but Stonehouse is a great researcher and obviously has a deep passion for the subject. The pictures & illustrations are top-notch.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Meticulous, but missing something., April 26, 1999

By A Customer

This is an exhaustively researched book, with interesting photos and all sorts of detail. But it was a little short of the one thing I thought it would be filled with, given the title: Life saving. There's very little in the way of actual tales of rescue, and almost none until the last quarter of the book. I would have preferred a little less day to day minutae and a little more adventure.