Final Voyage

The World's Worst Maritime Disasters

Jonathan Eyers

Everyone knows the story of the Titanic, but in terms of loss of life that catastrophe doesn't even figure as one of the 50 worst maritime disasters of the last three hundred years. The causes of disaster are legion: besides icebergs and enemy torpedoes, ships have been sunk by fire, explosions, flooding, capsizing, storms, collisions and human error.

Ships featured include:

Wilhelm Gustloff - how history forgot the 10,000 killed
Lancastria - why Britain's worst disaster was covered up
Mont Blanc - the ship that destroyed a city
Sultana - triumph and tragedy on the Mississippi
Dona Paz - the deadliest disaster in living memory

With disasters from all over the world, these are stories of the people - whether they lived or died - as well as the ships. They are stories of tragedy, war, heroism and cowardice, greed and sacrifice. Only for the lucky few were they also stories of rescue and survival.

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Pages: 192 • Trim: 5¼ x 7¾

978-1-4422-2167-3 • Paperback • June 2013 • $19.95 • (£14.95)

Subjects: History / World, Transportation / Ships & Shipbuilding / History, History / Maritime History & Piracy

Final Voyage

The World's Worst Maritime Disasters

Paperback

Summary

Everyone knows the story of the Titanic, but in terms of loss of life that catastrophe doesn't even figure as one of the 50 worst maritime disasters of the last three hundred years. The causes of disaster are legion: besides icebergs and enemy torpedoes, ships have been sunk by fire, explosions, flooding, capsizing, storms, collisions and human error.

Ships featured include:

Wilhelm Gustloff - how history forgot the 10,000 killed
Lancastria - why Britain's worst disaster was covered up
Mont Blanc - the ship that destroyed a city
Sultana - triumph and tragedy on the Mississippi
Dona Paz - the deadliest disaster in living memory

With disasters from all over the world, these are stories of the people - whether they lived or died - as well as the ships. They are stories of tragedy, war, heroism and cowardice, greed and sacrifice. Only for the lucky few were they also stories of rescue and survival.

Details

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Pages: 192 • Trim: 5¼ x 7¾

978-1-4422-2167-3 • Paperback • June 2013 • $19.95 • (£14.95)

Subjects: History / World, Transportation / Ships & Shipbuilding / History, History / Maritime History & Piracy

Author

Jonathan Eyers is the author of Don't Shoot the Albatross: Nautical Myths and Superstitions, and How to Snog a Hagfish: Disgusting Things in the Sea, both published by Adlard Coles Nautical.

Table of Contents

Introduction

In the Hands of God
Catastrophe at sea during the Age of Sail

America's Titanic
Triumph and tragedy aboard the Sultana

The Halifax Explosion
The loss of a ship, the devastation of a city

War at Sea
From the Spanish Armada to the Bismarck

Britain's Darkest Hour
The loss of the Lancastria and why Churchill covered it up

The Age of Total Loss
Tragedy without triumph during the Second World War

Ten Thousand Dead
The sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff

Worse than Titanic
Maritime disasters since the Second World War

Final Voyage

The World's Worst Maritime Disasters

Jonathan Eyers

Final Voyage

The World's Worst Maritime Disasters

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