Lost at Sea: The Truth Behind Eight of History's Most Mysterious Ship Disasters

A A Hohling has always been one of my favorite authors and 'Lost at Sea' was one of his last, if not the last, book of his. Its subject is ships that dissapeared without trace, or whose sinking was surrounded by unanswered questions. As with his other books, this one is filled with fascinating facts and figures and will be enjoyable reading for the expert and the novice alike. One group of disasters included here are ships that vanished without trace. In this category are the SS Waratah, a large passenger steamer lost near South Africa in 1909; the US Cyclops, lost in WWI, and more recently the Poet, thought destroyed in a storm in 1980. It is fascinating to speculate on what may have become of this ships that dissapeared as if they never existed. A second category includes the Lusitania, Mary Celeste, Scorpion and Moro Castle. We know what happened to these craft, but their demise is surrounded with unanswered questions. One of the great things about Hoehlings books is that so much history is packed into each chapter. Here, for instance, we learn not just about lost vessels but about the time in which they sailed. Like man, disasters are not islands but events intimately connected to the people and places in the world around them.

This is an excellent read.The author put a lot of effort into this book.Although any person who reads much history will probably be somewhat familiar with most of the ships covered in this book,Hoehling has done a supurb job of covering 8 shipwreck stories.For instance, the Mary Celeste has been written about endlessly over the years and it is likely that there will be many more books,references and articles to come in the future.Hoehling gives us a good summary of the facts and legends with this ship,and a lot of good references for further reading He takes the same approach on all 8 shipwrecks.His writing style keeps the reader,s interest and does not get bogged down in quoting endlessly from inquiries or investigative commissions that always result from the loss of life and ships,particularly those hwere there are unanswered questions.After finishing this book,the reader has a fairly good idea about each shipwreck without plowing through 8 full length books.I quite well remember following the loss of the Scorpion at the time. The author very well sums it all up in only 16 pages. The number of shipwrecks over the years must be huge in number and the total loss of lives unimagineable.It seems to me that a very large percentage of all ships that sailed the seas must have either sunk,were abandoned or otherwise wrecked,particularly sailing vessels.Although there were many warships lost at sea or sunk right in harbor,I suspect that a larger number ended up being decommissioned and salvaged,than was the case with passenger and other cargo ships.However; that is only a guess on my part.Another point that came to mind to me was the huge expansion in the size and complexity in ships in the short space of 50 or 60 years.In the late 1840,s we saw how perilous it was for the "coffin Ships" that transported the immigrants from Ireland,how unpredictable a successful crossing could be , how horrible on board conditions were and how awful food , hygine and medical was.Then ,lo and behold in the early 1900's we saw massive ,luxury liners like Lusitania and the Titanic. This book was first published in 1984 and I believe very little was done to update it,particularlr the references when re published in 1999.The only exception I noticed was some of the material at the end of the chapters on the Morro Castle and the Lusitania.So,one is naturally left with the impression that there is little here that has evolved in the past 20 years. My title was from a Breton fisherman's prayer,quoted by the author;on a plaque that sat on President Kenneddy's desk given to him by Admiral Rickover.It was also incorporated in a memorial plaque to the 34 men lost on the S.S.Poet. Churchill's quote "a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma." is most applicable when it comes to these mysterious shipwrecks.

I've seen Titanic about a half-dozen times, and the author offers eight fascinating tales of other ship disasters, including the Lusitania. You could make eight more movies out of this book, with or without Leo D. The author has obviously done a ton of homework in piecing together this stuff and comes across as maritime's version of Sherlock Holmes. This is really fun reading and the author's own wry comments of analysis are precious. This book is as fun as it is informative!