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True Stories Of Ships And The Men That Sailed Them
Within these links are stories and pictures of ships and the men and women that sailed them, many of them lost at sea
or on the Great Lakes.
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| Edlia Hard Aground |
The Storm That Wrecked The Freighter Edlia
At 4:05 p.m., as the coast of Cape Cod was in view, Garces knew he was losing the fight to save his ship. He issued an
SOS and ordered both bow anchors dropped in a last-ditch effort to keep the vessel from being driven aground. But the seas
were no match for the anchors. The ship was carried by the massive seas and
came high on the shore off Nauset Beach almost broadside. Once she was driven into the mud, the decks were awash under 30-foot-high
seas. Click For Story
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| U.S.S. Dixie Serving A Destroyer |
The War Horse Dixie - A Destroyer Tender
The Dixie was one of a little-known and certainly
unsung fleet of ships that participated in the Navy's great battle for the Pacific during World War II and later the Korean
conflict. She was a destroyer tender . . . that is, the vessel was a service vessel trailing behind the warships. Click For Story
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| Stolt Dagali After Collision |
Tanker Stolt Dagali Wrecked In Atlantic Collision
Nineteen sailors died when they were caught in
the aft section of the tanker Stolt Dagali following a collision with the S.S. Shalom. The accident cut the ship into
two parts and the after portion of the ship, its engines and lights still operating, dropped straight into the sea. Workers
in the engine room, those asleep in the crew's quarters, and those in the galley never had a chance. Click For Story
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| USS Defense |
Minesweeper Defense Saw Action In Two Wars
The USS Defense was an Auk Class minesweeper
launched in 1943 in the midst of the Second World War. It was a small, 221-foot steel ship that not only found itself in the
midst of the Pacific campaign against the Japanese, but also the Korean conflict. Click For Story
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| Cuyahoga |
Eleven Die In Coast Guard's Cuyohoga Disaster
The U.S. Coast Guard's Commanding Officer
Donald K. Robinson was faulted by a board of inquiry for the 1978 collision that sank his command, the Cutter Cuyohoga, and
took 11 sailors to the bottom of Chesapeake Bay with it. Click For Story
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| Sydney |
Legendary Sea Battle Between Sydney And Kormoran
During the early years of World War II, the Australian
Cruiser Sydney II and a German raider Karmoran engaged in a lonely shooting battle off the Western coast of Australia that
sank both ships and created an unsolved mystery. While 341 of
the German raider's complement of 390 were rescued by passing ships, the Sydney was lost that day with all 645 hands, and
no one has ever been able to explain why. Click For Story
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| Seafaring Brig Under Full Sail |
The Wreck Of The Brig Annie
Jane
A concrete monument still
stands on a bluff on the Island of Barra in the Outer Hebrides, marking the place where the bodies of 348 victims of the wreck
of the sailing ship Annie Jane were buried in a single pit in the fall of 1853. That wreck just off the coast of Scotland is still marked among the worst shipwreck
disasters in seafaring history. While other wrecks may have claimed nearly as many, if not more lives, few have produced a
story of the kind of terror and consternation experienced by this one. Click For Story
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| Ill-Fated Sylvanus J. Macy |
Sinking Of The Sylvanus J. Macy
The Erie gale came upon the freighter Sylvanus
J. Macy and her consort, the schooner-barge Mabelle Wilson with great fury. The two boats were on their way from Buffalo,
their holds laden with coal, bound for Kenosha, Wis., when the storm hit on the night of Nov. 23, 1902. The Macy did not survive
the gale. Click For Story
James L. Donahue is the author of four fine books
crammed with Great Lakes shipwreck and shipping history. His books, available through Thunderbay Press, can be purchased on
line at Amazon, Borders and other popular book sellers. They include Steaming Through Smoke and Fire, Steamboats In Ice 1872,
Terrifying Steamboat Stories and Schooners In Peril.
All written material on this site is copyright protected. Reproduction on other sites is permitted
if proper credit is given and the material is not sold or used for financial gain. Reproduction for print media is prohibited
unless there is expressed permission from the author, James L. Donahue, and/or Psiomni Ltd.
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