Steaming through Smoke and Fire: True Stories of Shipwreck and Disaster on the Great Lakes

Great Lakes historian James L. Donahue gives readers a rare and exciting glimpse of life on the Great Lakes in the fateful year of 1871. But it is much more than just a collection of stories about the vessels that were lost between Duluth and Quebec and from Oswego to Chicago. The stories in this book take a slice out of Great Lakes history and paint a broad view of what was happening during the dynamic years after the Civil War. The stories are true accounts about the hundreds of disasters and near-disasters that happened in just one year. They also look into the way politics of the period affected shipping, the lumber empire and the opening of a way for larger ships and heavier cargos. Steaming Through Smoke and Fire examines the living conditions—and unfortunately, the dying conditions—of the sailors.