Spilsbury’s Album: Photographs and Reminiscences of the BC Coast

Shipwrecks! The very word evokes dramatic stories, images of tragedy and courage alike -- the Titanic going down as its orchestra played, the surprise torpedoing of the passenger ship Lusitania during World War I. Cathie Cush, an experienced diver, brings these stories alive with fascinating tales of once-great mistresses of the sea that now rest upon the ocean floor, and the people and the cargo they carried. Chock-full of lavish illustrations and practical information on seeing these wrecks under the sea, Shipwrecks goes beneath the waves to bring readers the underwater world.

The sea is an unforgiving arena where the slightest error can spell certain disaster. Over the last century, hundreds of ships have met their watery graves as the result of human error, mechanical Failure, acts of aggression, or the awesome power of the sea itself. Each of the 50 disasters chronicled and illustrated in this fascinating book is vividly related. From the sinking of the USS Maine off of Cuba in 1898, the tragedy of the Titanic in 1912, the grounding of the tanker Exxon Valdez in 1989, and the Acille Lauro fire of 1994, derailed explanations, along with photographs and artwork, outline the causes and human dramas behind each disaster.