Great Ships

In this highly accessible history of ships and shipping on the Great Lakes, upper elementary readers are taken on a rip-roaring journey through the waterways of the upper Midwest. Great Ships on the Great Lakes explores the history of the region’s rivers, lakes, and inland seas—and the people and ships who navigated them. Read along as the first peoples paddle tributaries in birch bark canoes. Follow as European voyageurs pilot rivers and lakes to get beaver pelts back to the eastern market. Watch as settlers build towns and eventually cities on the shores of the Great Lakes. Listen to the stories of sailors, lighthouse keepers, and shipping agents whose livelihoods depended on the dangerous waters of Lake Michigan, Superior, Huron, Erie, and Ontario. Give an ear to their stories of unexpected tragedy and miraculous rescue, and heed their tales of risk and reward on the low seas. Great Ships also tells the story of sea battles and gunships, of the first vessels to travel beyond the Niagara, and of the treacherous storms and cold weather that caused thousands of ships to sink in the Great Lakes. Watch as underwater archaeologists solve the mysteries of Great Lakes shipwrecks today. And learn how the shift from sail to steam forever changed the history of shipping, as schooners made way for steamships and bulk freighters, and sailing became a recreation, not a hazardous way of life. Designed for the upper elementary classroom with emphasis on Michigan and Wisconsin, Great Ships on the Great Lakes includes a timeline of events, on-page vocabulary, and a list of resources and places to visit. Over 20 maps highlight the region’s maritime history. The accompanying Teacher’s Guide includes 18 classroom activities, arranged by chapter, including lessons on exploring shipwrecks and learning how glaciers moved across the landscape.

Here is a collective "biography" of the greatest ships the world has ever known. Since the time people first ventured into the oceans in their primitive boats and rafts, the sea has been a source of adventure, travel, exploration, and glory. Countless vessels have traveled the seas-ships of all shapes and sizes-carrying hopes and dreams, conquerors and pilgrims, traders and explorers. Their names and their stories, carried down through history, remain as vibrant and alive as the people who sailed them. Patrick O'Brien profiles twenty of the world's greatest ships, including the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria; the Mayflower; Blackbeard's Queen Anne's Revenge; the Bounty; "Old Ironsides"; the Amistad; the Monitor; the Titanic; and a fleet of others. These are ships that have made their mark through triumph, through tragedy, or sometimes simply by being in the right place at the right time. Patrick O'Brien's in-depth research and unparalleled skill with a paintbrush bring them to life on the page. Climb aboard and experience some of the magic and excitement that made these ships the greatest in maritime history.

Introduces ships over the centuries from reed boats to hovercraft.

The evolution of the Lake Michigan Schooner -- The maritime frontier : schooners and urban development on the Lake Michigan shore -- Before the mast and at the helm : captains and crews on Lake Michigan schooners -- Schooner City : the life and times of the Chicago River port -- Lost on Lake Michigan wrecks, rescues, and navigational aids.

Author is such a grand title and one for which I do not feel at all worthy. Instead, I would consider myself an adventurer with a pen and notebook. My adventurous spirit started way back when I was just seven years old and found myself plonked on the back of a rather large pony called Dawn. I had pestered my parents for horse-riding lessons, and now I sat shivering with fear and contemplating the sanity of my demands. As a shy, reticent, little girl, I did not have the courage to say actually I do not like this. So week after week, month after month, little by little, I lost my fear, and an adventurous spirit was born with me. Of course, horse riding has little to do with sailing, but for me, the experience of the former gave me the courage for the latter. Riding an unpredictable, frisky, jumpy mare has many parallels to sailing an unpredictable, frisky, jumpy yacht. Believe me when I tell you a yacht has a mind of its own. Sailing fi rst entered my life in my teens when I had the privilege to crew on the Th ames sailing barge Th alatta. In my twenties, I became a deck monkey on friends yachts and enjoyed the thrill of racing in the Solent on the south coast of England. I gained my Competent Crew certifi cate whilst taking part in the Baltic leg of the Tall Ships Race. Working as a secretary for the army at the time, I was invited to join the crew on Sail Training Yacht British Soldier, a magnifi cent 55-foot Camper & Nicholson. I briefl y co-owned a small day-sailor Pindari and cut my teeth on the perils of crossing the busiest shipping lane in the world, the English Channel. Sailing took a back seat in my early forties when I was gripped by the travelling bug. I had Australia in my sights, and I spent many a happy month soaking up the sights, sounds, and sheer vastness of that wonderful continent.I realised then that the world has a lot more to off er me. Yearning for more, I was a great believer in the saying a change is as good as a rest. I had been a secretary, a personal assistant, a hairdresser, and a professional tennis coach and have recently qualifi ed as an approved driving instructor. I was a highly profi cient horse rider, a crazy snow skier, a scuba-diver, and a tennis player. What more could I possibly achieve? Well, I have just added to that list a circumnavigator.

From the day that French explorer Robert Cavelier de La Salle launched the Griffin in 1679 to the 1975 sinking of the celebrated Edmund Fitzgerald, thousands of commercial ships have sailed on the vast and perilous waters of the Great Lakes. In a harbinger of things to come, on the return leg of its first trip in late summer 1679, the Griffin disappeared and has never been seen again. In the centuries since then, the records show that an alarming number of shipwrecks have occurred on the Great Lakes. If vessels that wrecked but were later repaired and returned to service are included, the number certainly swells into the thousands. Most did not mysteriously vanish like the Griffin. Instead, they suffered the occupational hazards of every lake boat: collisions, groundings, strands, fires, boiler explosions, and capsizes. Many of these disasters took the lives of crews and passengers. The fearsome wrath of the storms that brew over the Great Lakes has challenged and defeated some of the staunchest vessels constructed in the shipyards of port cities along the U.S. and Canadian lakeshores. Here Richard Gebhart tells the tales of some of these ships and their captains and crews, from their launches to their sad demises—or sometimes, their celebrated retirements. This volume is a must-read for anyone intrigued by the maritime history of the Great Lakes.

Know Your Ships offers everything ship fans need to know about the freighters, tankers, tugs, barges, salties, passenger ships, international visitors and other vessels in regular Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway, including owner and port of registry, year and shipyard where built, length, beam, depth, cargo capacity and former names, type of engine and horsepower.