Lost Voyages: Two Centuries of Shipwrecks in the Approaches to New YorkThis is the story of shipwrecks, and of the human dramas played out in the throes of howling winter nor'easters, frozen rigging, tremendous seas, wrenching collisions, burning oil and exploding torpedoes. It is a story fraught with pathos and heroism, death and survival. It is also the story of the evolution of ships and shipping, for in the approaches to New York lie the sunken hulks of hundreds of ships of every era and type, providing time capsules of the world's maritime history for the last two centuries. Wooden warships from the days of the Revolution, coastal schooners, once majestic ships from the great days of sail, tramp steamers, passenger liners like the Blue Riband winner SS Oregon (1886) and the luxurious Andrea Doria (1954), U-boats and their victims in World War I and II, armored cruisers and revenue cutters, rumrunners, and modern victims of collisions all share a haunting grave beneath the cold Atlantic. |
Contents
Disappearances at | 29 |
THE ASCENDANCY OF THE STEAMSHIP | 38 |
AGROUND ON THE BEACH | 69 |
The Wreck of the Bark Elizabeth | 76 |
The Bitter Cold Fate of the Ship John Milton | 82 |
SS Gate City | 89 |
Со | 127 |
THE ERA OF MODERN NAVIGATION | 179 |
Common terms and phrases
abandoned American coast anchor Andrea Doria ashore Atlantic attack beach began boat boilers British built Cape Captain cargo century coal Coast Guard coastal collision command Courtesy crew Culloden Cunard cutter deck depth charges destroyer divers Drumelzier east feet of water finally Fire Island fleet floating forced freighter fuel gale German hull Hylton Castle Inlet iron Island Maritime Museum Jersey coast Kapitanleutnant later launched Life-Saving Station lifeboats lightship liner located Long Island Maritime Long Island Sound marine masts merchant shipping miles Mohawk National Archives naval navigation North ocean pout operations Oregon paddle wheel passengers patrol propeller radar radio remains rigging sailing salvage schooner ship's shipwrecks shore sinking speed Spikefish starboard steamer steamship stern submarine sunk surfboat survivors tanker timbers tion torpedo U-boat U.S. Coast U.S. Navy USS San Diego vessel warships West Sayville wind wooden wreck York Harbor