Since men have been sailing, they have been going down with their ships – ships sunk by violent storms or by collisions with rocks or reefs, or for any of a variety of reasons.
Anthony Brandt has compiled 29 tales of shipwrecks – some obscure, some well-known – from the past 2,000 years in “The Tragic History of the Sea: Shipwrecks From the Bible to Titanic” ($24).
“The Portuguese invented the shipwreck genre in the 16th century,” Brandt writes.
Portugal was then a prominent maritime trading power, and stories of mishaps at sea were often published in cheap pamphlets and proved quite popular.
One notable Portuguese shipwreck chronicle from 1552 was published in English in 1735 as “The Tragic History of the Sea” and is included in this volume.
Brandt explains in his introduction that in view of the popularity of shipwreck lore and its worldwide influence on and presence in literature, he had to decide whether to include fictional accounts as well as true stories.
He decided to go with only nonfiction, but he does mention, where appropriate, which true narratives inspired fictional accounts.
Each story is reproduced in its original form, with an introduction by Brandt. These introductions are well-written and not intrusive: They do not attempt to influence the reader’s impression of the story but do provide helpful additional information.
We learn that the rule of “women and children first” to evacuate a sinking ship originated in 1852, when the British troopship Birkenhead foundered off South Africa. The officer in charge of the troops aboard ship, Maj. Alexander Seton, ordered his soldiers to stand at attention and in formation on deck until women and children had been lowered in the lifeboats. Not one man broke ranks until then. Most of the military, including Seton, drowned.
“The Tragic History of the Sea” makes a welcome addition to the library of historians and armchair sailors alike.
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