Great American Shipwreck Stories is a magnificent collection of gripping accounts of a shipamp39s encounter with a great whale or an overwhelming monsoon or a disastrous passage through the Straits of Magellan leading to a wreck and a crewamp39s harrowing plight for survival on the open seas or on a desert island. Capturing all the elements of ancient and powerful tragedy this book is chockful of thrilling tales of survival as well as a frightful examination of manamp39s darkest impulses which allow the reader a gruesome glimpse behind the veil of honor and bravery that history often ascribes to such men of the sea. These are all stories that have endured the test of time and have attracted discerning readers for generations. Includes stories by George Byron Merrick Owen Chase Henry Cabot Lodge Theodore Roosevelt Riley Brown J. S. Ogilvie Horace Holden and many others.