“Shipwreck! A Comprehensive Directory of over 3,700 Shipwrecks on the Great Lakes”, by David D. Swayze

 

260 pages, Harbor House Publishers, ISBN-13: ‎ 978-0937360125

America’s Third Coast (otherwise known as the Great Lakes of North America) refers to HOMES – that would be Lakes Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie and Superior (any of you who were born and raised in the Great Lakes region knew this already). These interconnected bodies of water are the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth by total area and are second-largest by total volume, containing 21% of the world’s surface fresh water by volume with a total surface of 94,250 square miles and a total volume of 5,439 cubic miles. Because of their sea-like characteristics, such as rolling waves, sustained winds, strong currents, great depths and distant horizons, the five Great Lakes have long been known for their treacherousness, something that is brought home in David D. Swayze’s Shipwreck! A Comprehensive Directory of over 3700 Shipwrecks on the Great Lakes.

Le Griffon was a sailing vessel built by René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, in 1679 and was the first European ship to sail in the Great Lakes – it was also the first European ship to sink in the Great Lakes, doing so in Lake Michigan sometime that same year. The Edmund Fitzgerald, meanwhile, was the last but largest freighter to sink on November 10^th, 1975, in Lake Superior with the loss of 29 men, while the Lady Elgin accounts for the largest loss of life on the lakes when she sunk in 1860 in Lake Michigan with 400 lives lost. Those are just three examples of the (as the title states) over 3700 ships that have sunk in these, truly, Inland Seas. We here in the Great American Midwest know all about these wonderful waters, but this reference guide is a one-of-a-kind resource for anyone wanting to know about this grand natural resource.

The set-up is as basic as can be: while containing a series of brief essays and historical sketches of the types of boats that have sailed these seas, the book lists each and every vessel alphabetically along with such details as type of ship, length, gross tonnage, when and where it was sunk, the circumstances of its sinking and how many lives were lost; there is even an accompanying silhouette of the boat in question. All pretty basic stuff, but just keep in mind that this is not an exhaustive study of these phantoms of the lakes but merely a record of loss; I, for one, after perusing this book found myself Googling the hell out of these ships, just to see if there was more info to be had (you know Google: sometimes yes, sometimes no). Overall, a fantastic resource for tragedy on the Lakes and an opening to search for more on these wrecks.