A Great Lakes reading list

[Marie13]

I’m bored, you’re bored, we’re all bored. I thought I’d pull out all my Great Lakes books and put together a reading list.

Many of these are available on Kindle, others are hard copy only.

The granddaddy of them all is The Long Ships Passing: The Story of the Great Lakes by Walter Havighurst. Originally published in 1942 and updated in 1975, this is the one many authors count as their inspiration.

Great Lakes Shipwrecks & Survivals by William Ratigan. Originally published in 1960, updated in 1977 with a section on the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald, this was the book I was given in 1991 that inspired my Great Lakes wreck obsession. It served the same for many authors and shipwreck enthusiasts.

Anything by Michael Schumacher:

November’s Fury: The Deadly Great Lakes Hurricane of 1913 (my favorite by this author). This is on the deadliest storm on the Great Lakes. It sent eight freighters to the bottom on Lake Huron alone. The Regina, which went down on Lake Huron, is a favorite dive of mine.

The Mighty Fitz: The Sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald

Wreck of the Carl D. This is about the wreck of the Carl D. Bradley, which broke in two on the surface of Lake Michigan in November 1958, with two survivors. Has a section on the sinking of the Cedarville, which went down in 1965, after a collision in the Straits of Mackinac (an awesome dive, by the way)

Torn in Two. This is on the sinking of the Daniel J. Morrell, which broke in two on the surface of Lake Huron in November 1966, with one survivor.

Graveyard of the Lakes by Mark L. Thompson. This one is different in that the author looks at the different reasons for wrecks (groundings, fires, foundering, collisions, and the human factor).

The Shipwreck Thomas Hume by Valerie Van Heest and William Lafferty

Lost & Found: Legendary Lake Michigan Shipwrecks by V.O. Van Heest

Lost on the Lady Elgin by Valerie Van Heest

Stories from the Wreckage: A Great Lakes Maritime History Inspired by Shipwrecks by John Odin Jensen. This one goes into a lot of detail about wooden schooners and wooden freighters in Wisconsin waters. Goes into a lot of detail about construction I found valuable when I’m diving actual wrecks.

Anything by Frederick Stonehouse. His most well-know book is The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, originally published in 1977.

Shipwrecks of Lake Superior, edited by James R. Marshall. Part wreck history, part diving guide

Diving guides

Shipwrecks of Lake Erie, Vol. 1 by Eric Petkovic

Lake Erie Technical Diving Guide by Eric Petkovic

Shipwreck Mongraph Series, Book One: John J. Boland, Jr. by Eric Petkovic

Shipwrecks of the Straits of Mackinac by Charles and Jeri Feltner (Chuck died earlier this year)

Some of the books by Cris Kohl are actually written for divers, although others are more general wreck history

The Great Lakes Diving Guide is a 600+ page bible of wrecks and other inland diving sites near the Great Lakes. I affectionately call this book “Wrecks R Us.”

Great Lakes Shipwrecks: Recent Discoveries and Updates is a companion volume to the Great Lakes Diving Guide.

Shipwrecks at Death’s Door

Canada’s 150 Most Famous Great Lakes Shipwrecks

The 100 Best Great Lakes Shipwrecks, Vol. 1 and 2

Shipwreck Tales of the Great Lakes

The Christmas Tree Ship

Great Lakes shipping for us boatnerds

Any of the Know Your Ships: Field Guide to Boats & Boatwatching, Great Lakes & St. Lawrence Seaway annual editions. First issued in 1959. Available from The 2020 KYS is Here!

Know Your Ships: Decades (limited edition printing that sold out. Might search for a used one)

Boatnerd website: Great Lakes and Seaway Shipping - BoatNerd.Com Tons of pictures

Many groups on FaceBook are dedicated to Great Lakes wrecks and shipping (current and past)

Songs about the Great Lakes

Lee Murdock is a folk singer/songwriter/guitarist that has focused on the music of the Great Lakes, both old and contemporary songs, for approximately 30 years. I’ve gone to his annual “Christmas Ship” concert at the Chicago Maritime Museum the past two years. You can find his music on any of the various digital music platforms, as well as YouTube. My favorite CD is Great Lakes Chronicle.

 

[Marie13]

This is the article from the November 24, 1975 issue of Newsweek magazine that inspired Gordon Lightfoot to write his song "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald."

The Cruelest Month - Edmund Fitzgerald Newsweek, November 24, 1975 | Water Transport | Violence

 

[gstrek]

I really enjoyed reading The Long Ships Passing: The Story of the Great Lakes. I live on Lake St. Clair (connected between Lake Huron and Lake Erie via St. Clair River and Detroit River) and watch ship traffic passing through. My grandfather worked on some of them as an engineer. The Long Ship Passing goes back to the very earliest explorers up to more modern times.

 

[Marie13]

I really enjoyed reading The Long Ships Passing: The Story of the Great Lakes. I live on Lake St. Clair (connected between Lake Huron and Lake Erie via St. Clair River and Detroit River) and watch ship traffic passing through. My grandfather worked on some of them as an engineer. The Long Ship Passing goes back to the very earliest explorers up to more modern times.

Ah, a fellow boatnerd! I mostly only get to see them when I've been on a dive boat. Lot in the Straits last year and some when I'm diving southern Lake Michigan out of Hammond, IN (Chicago).

I grew up in a town on the Detroit River (Trenton). We'd go two towns up to Wyandotte and sit in a park watching the lakers go by.

EDIT: I only came across The Long Ships Passing last year. I love it so much that I've read it 4-5 times already.

 

[gstrek]

Ah, a fellow boatnerd! I mostly only get to see them when I've been on a dive boat. Lot in the Straits last year and some when I'm diving southern Lake Michigan out of Hammond, IN (Chicago).

I grew up in a town on the Detroit River (Trenton). We'd go two towns up to Wyandotte and sit in a park watching the lakers go by.

And I sit here watching MarineTraffic.com and listening to my VHF radio! We are a few more towns north of Wyandotte and Trenton in Grosse Pointe.

If you ever have a chance to go to Toledo, you can tour the National Museum of the Great Lakes, National Museum of the Great Lakes – Great Lakes Museum Toledo, Ohio. They have a freighter and tug that are floating exhibits you can walk through.

 

[Scuba-74]

I grew up in a town on the Detroit River (Trenton). We'd go two towns up to Wyandotte and sit in a park watching the lakers go by.

I grew up in St. Petersburg, Russia, very close to two large shipyards building freighters, tankers, icebreakers, subs, you name it. Right on the river that connects the Baltic Sea with northern-Russia's lake and canal system. Large boats were a background to my life.

Now I'm landlocked in Western Massachusetts, and really miss them.

 

[Jared0425]

I also suggest Shipwreck Hunter, the Heroic Age of Diving, Gone Missing (Hemming), Ships Gone Missing Redux (F. Stonehouse), Shipwrecks of Isle Royale, So Terrible of A Storm, The Last Laker, Shipwreck Tales of Georgian Bay, The Salvager, The Wexford, The Search for the Westermorland, All hands on deck, Shipwrecked: Reflections of a sole survivor, Lost Legends of the Lakes, and the Lake Huron Death Ship: Pewabic.

Also a few rare books is Ghost Ship of 19 fathoms: the Alvin Clark story. Along with Ghost Ships of the Great Lakes by Boyer or Bowen, Memories of the Great Lakes. And Vein of Iron: the Pickands Mather story (helped me find the Hydrus), Tales from the Bruce, and Treasure Ships of the Great Lakes (for laughs), and Blood on the Water: Great Lakes during the Civil War.

Any self respecting Great Lakes Diver needs these books in their personal library.

We are in talks with a publisher about a new book with our new discoveries, but it is a long shot.

 

[DBPacific]

Wow, Marie and Jared I love you guys for posting a book list. Now we'll see if I can pass my classes this term with all these awesome books weighing on my mind

 

[Marie13]

I also suggest Shipwreck Hunter, the Heroic Age of Diving, Gone Missing (Hemming), Ships Gone Missing Redux (F. Stonehouse), Shipwrecks of Isle Royale, So Terrible of A Storm, The Last Laker, Shipwreck Tales of Georgian Bay, The Salvager, The Wexford, The Search for the Westermorland, All hands on deck, Shipwrecked: Reflections of a sole survivor, Lost Legends of the Lakes, and the Lake Huron Death Ship: Pewabic.

Also a few rare books is Ghost Ship of 19 fathoms: the Alvin Clark story. Along with Ghost Ships of the Great Lakes by Boyer or Bowen, Memories of the Great Lakes. And Vein of Iron: the Pickands Mather story (helped me find the Hydrus), Tales from the Bruce, and Treasure Ships of the Great Lakes (for laughs), and Blood on the Water: Great Lakes during the Civil War.

Any self respecting Great Lakes Diver needs these books in their personal library.

We are in talks with a publisher about a new book with our new discoveries, but it is a long shot.

The Last Laker was in my photo.

I actually have Treasure Ships of the Great Lakes. Someone else on SB sent me some old Great Lakes books and that was in there. From that bunch, I also have Shipwreck Guide to the Western Half of Lake Superior (Elmer Engman), In the Belly of a Whale (Elmer Engman), Isle Royale Shipwrecks (Stonehouse), and Munising Shipwrecks (Stonehouse). The Gone Missing (Stonehouse) one of them, too. I had stuck them all in my bookcase and really hadn't gone through them. With all the time on my hands now (laid off), I'll definitely read my way through them.

 

[Marie13]

Hah! Lake Huron's Death Ship book is going for $375-$400 online (Abebooks.com)!