"A truly wonderful social history of a tragic and unexplained shipping disaster. Five Stars."—Scottish FieldThe wrecking of the RMS Tayleur made headlines nearly 60 years before the Titanic. Both were run by the White Star Line, both were heralded as the most splendid ships of their time and both sank in tragic circumstances on their maiden voyages.On 19 January 1854 the Tayleur, a large merchant vessel, left Liverpool for Austral...

The ship was almost instantly in flames Some jumped overboard immediately, and all was in indescribable confusion. The masts began to fall one after another, and it is supposed killed great numbers by their descent. Others, it is feared, were roasted alive, but the majority were drowned. (Hull Advertiser and Exchange Gazette, 25 August 1848)The Ocean Monarch was only a few hours out of Liverpool on 24 August 1848 when a cabin passenger shouted Fire! and all hell broke loose. Bound for Bost...

The emigrant ship William and Mary departed from Liverpool with 208 British, Irish, and Dutch emigrants in early 1853. Captained by young American Timothy Stinson, the vessel was sailing for New Orleans when the ship wrecked in the Bahamas in mysterious circumstances. Instead of grounding the ship on a nearby shore or building rafts for the passengers, Stinson and the majority of his crew sneaked away in lifeboats murdering at least two of the emigrants with a hatchet as they did so and re...

"Wild offers exceptional fiction and reportage, with a coast-dweller’s sharp eye for maritime detail, and a humane regard for both the victims and the survivors of shipwrecks, both literal and metaphorical. From 'Prospects', a marvellous, moving reconstruction of the murderous maiden voyage of the Tayleur, to 'Luck is in the Leftovers', a gripping saga of living on the edge of the land, where life and death ebb and flow like the tides. Gill Hoffs' writing, fiction and non, swells with the ...

30 powerful stories from around the world to benefit two children's charities: PROTECT: The National Association to Protect Children and Children 1st Scotland.Stories by David Ackley, Kevin Aldrich, David Barber, Lynn Beighley, Seamus Bellamy, Paul D. Brazill, Sif Dal, James Lloyd Davis, Roberto C. Garcia, Susan Gibb, Nancy A. Hansen, K.V. Hardy, Gill Hoffs, Fiona "McDroll" Johnson, J.F. Juzwik, MaryAnne Kolton, Benoit Lelievre, Veronica Marie Lewis-Shaw, Vinod Narayan, Paula Pahnk...