Tragic History of the Sea : Shipwrecks from the Bible to Titanic

English

ISBN: 1426200943

EAN: 9781426200946

Category: Transportation / Ships & Shipbuilding / General

Publisher: National Geographic Society

Release Date: 06/21/2007

Synopsis: Is there any tale more thrilling than a shipwreck? Disaster at sea is an ever-present peril, inspiring ancient legends, great works of fiction, and countless yarns of deadly typhoons, vessels consumed by fire, and desperate castaways alone on an empty ocean. Before Homer composed theOdyssey,sailors were already telling their terrifying stories, and Anthony Brandt has culled only the very best for this essential and engrossing chronicle of shipwrecks through the ages. Brandts selections range from the apostle Paul to Mark Twain to theTitanicdisaster.The Tragic History of the Seadraws from tales around the globe: the doomed Medusa, whose survivors were abandoned to their fate by a cowardly crew, to live on only in a famous painting in the Louvre; the infamous Essex and her fatal cruise which inspired MelvillesMoby Dick;and the harrowing wreck of theWager,which left the earlier Lord Byron, the poets kinsman, starving on Patagonias bleak shores. A riveting anthology of high adventure and astonishing survival against all odds, this storm-tossed voyage through historys gales and across unforgiving seas represents the best of a storytelling tradition that goes back centuries. Each extraordinary tale is linked to the next by Brandts expert annotations and commentary, which sets them in context, provides a wealth of maritime and literary background and places this volume of shipwreck tales in a class by itself.

Excerpt: Unknown Property Excerpt

Tragic History of the Sea : Shipwrecks from the Bible to Titanic

Illustrated: No

Format: Paperback

Height: 1.0 inches

Width: 6.42 inches

Length: 8.98 inches

Weight: 16.58 oz

Pages: 352