"West Coast Wrecks & Other Maritime Tales"

West Coast Wrecks & Other Maritime Tales

by Rick James

About the Book

The romance of shipwrecks is universal and few places on earth have more of them to explore than BC’s rock-bound coast. In this special edition of Raincoast Chronicles, archaeologist Rick James takes the reader on an authoritative and well-illustrated tour of the most fascinating of BC’s shipwrecks. As well as reliving high-seas adventures, we learn the stories behind retired Cape Horn windjammers, solve the 60-year-old mystery of how Wreck Beach earned its name and investigate other shipwreck lore. Unique coastal characters step forward and tell their stories – old towboaters like Joe Quilty and Alan Heater, who risked their lives as a matter of course, along with a short biography of the “King of West Coast Shipwreacks,” retired diver Fred Rogers. Whether they were deepwater sailors who travelled the sea lanes of the world or those who spent most of their lives on inside waters towing booms from upcoast camps to south coast lumber mills, all have stories and adventures to relate. The tales of disaster at sea serve as a written memorial to all whose bones lie on the bottom of one of the most treacherous stretches of coastline anywhere on the planet.

-- taken from the back of the book