Shipwrecks in 100 Objects

Stories of Survival, Tragedy, Innovation and Courage

Simon Wills

• Publisher: Frontline Books
• Year: 2022
• Topic: History
• eBook ISBN:
  9781526792242
• Subtopic: Military & Maritime History
• Index: History

The history of shipwrecks involves many shocking episodes: from men who saw shipmates eaten by sharks, to castaways who ate each other. Learn about the cowardly captain who deserted his passengers on a sinking ship, the obstinate ship-designer who took 480 men to their deaths, and the first mate who wrecked his own ship for insurance money. Historian and genealogist Dr Simon Wills is maritime adviser to BBC's Who Do You Think You Are? program. In this fascinating book he uses objects associated with real incidents as touchstones for every tale. Our ancestors believed that sea monsters destroyed ships, but better-established causes include storms, war, pirates, human incompetence, fire and ice. The pages of this book are packed full of tales of dramatic rescues and miraculous survivals, and as well as the stories of the innovations that have improved safety at sea. Meet the man shipwrecked three times within an hour, a coastguard still diving overboard to save lives at 79, and the lifeboat inventor who endured someone else taking credit for his work. Ships can have character too: refusing to sink despite overwhelming odds, or even returning to haunt us as ghost ships. The dangerous life afloat stimulated pioneers to create the lifeboat service, offshore lighthouses, and lifejackets. Vessels lost at sea also inspired rewards for bravery, and artists and writers such as J.M.W. Turner, William Wordsworth, and Yann Martel the author of Life of Pi. Featuring famous wrecks such as Mary Rose and Titanic, this book introduces other less well-known but equally remarkable events from our nautical heritage, some of which seem almost too extraordinary to be true.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Book Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Image Credits
• Introduction
• 1 Sea monster depiction
• 2 Rosary from Mary Rose
• 3 Armada medal
• 4 Coat of arms of Bermuda
• 5 Cannon from Trial
• 6 Hull timbers of Sparrow-Hawk
• 7 Pocket sundial from the warship London
• 8 North Foreland lighthouse
• 9 Giant clam collected by William Dampier
• 10 Storm clouds over the sea
• 11 Portrait of Sir Cloudesley Shovell
• 12 Pirate flag ‘Jolly Roger’
• 13 First edition of Robinson Crusoe
• 14 Satellite image of Wager Island, Chile
• 15 Epic poem The Shipwreck by William Falconer
• 16 Château de Fougères
• 17 Snuff-box made from timbers of HMS Royal George
• 18 Bowl and lid from Palau
• 19 Lifeboat design plans
• 20 Mirror
• 21 Iceberg
• 22 Flint for a musket
• 23 East India Company token
• 24 Message in a bottle
• 25 RNLI gold medal
• 26 Diving helmet design
• 27 Wreckers, a painting by J. M. W. Turner
• 28 Grace Darling’s boat
• 29 Membership ticket for the Shipwrecked Fishermen and Mariners’ Royal Benevolent Society
• 30 An officer’s epaulettes
• 31 Lisle family gravestone
• 32 Handwritten account of two storms at sea
• 33 Commemorative brass plaque
• 34 Pocketwatch belonging to Ralph Shelton Bond
• 35 Ship’s anchor
• 36 Cork life jacket
• 37 Lifebuoy
• 38 Gold nugget
• 39 Wreck chart for the British Isles
• 40 Ceramic commemorative mug
• 41 Autograph of John King
• 42 Transported convict Thomas Berwick
• 43 Fragment of HMS Captain’s bowsprit
• 44 Sheet music and lyrics
• 45 Hand-drawn map of the coast of Chile
• 46 Sketch of survivors
• 47 Plimsoll line
• 48 Anchor of HMS Eurydice
• 49 A silver sixpence
• 50 A captain’s trunk
• Plate 1
• Plate 2
• 51 Photo of Abraham Hart Youngs
• 52 Ship portrait as carte de visite
• 53 Memorial to Richard Parker
• 54 First innings cricket scores
• 55 Advert for a lecture
• 56 Chalice
• 57 Board of Trade wreck report
• 58 Stained glass window
• 59 Maritime distress signals
• 60 Obelisk for submariners
• 61 Photo of survivors
• 62 Postcard of half a ship
• 63 Former White Star Line offices, Southampton
• 64 Press photo of Arthur Rostron and Molly Brown
• 65 A ship ablaze
• 66 Newspaper front page announcing the death of Laurence Irving
• 67 German publicity image of U-boat U-9 crew
• 68 Ship’s propeller
• 69 The ‘Lusitania medal’
• 70 A badge for a lost son
• 71 In memoriam card for Lord Kitchener
• 72 Souvenir of a captured enemy vessel
• 73 Aerial photo of a sinking hospital ship
• 74 Image of officers and cadets before a final voyage
• 75 Reconnaissance photo of three ships wrecked at Zeebrugge
• 76 Merchant Navy torpedo cuff badge
• 77 Postcards of scuttled German warships at Scapa Flow
• 78 Cecil Foster’s best-selling book
• 79 Photo on the deck as a ship is sinking
• 80 Unmarked grave of Arthur John Priest
• 81 Souvenir badge for passengers
• 82 Lifeboat from SS Anglo-Saxon
• 83 Memorial plaque on Merseyside
• 84 Book of remembrance
• 85 Doris Hawkins’ remarkable account
• 86 Model of a Japanese bomber
• 87 Sailor’s cap tally
• 88 HMS Belfast
• 89 MRC War Memorandum No. 8
• 90 A ship’s log on sailcloth
• 91 Snapshots of ships aground
• 92 Sailors’ Church, Liverpool
• 93 Tower Hill memorial
• 94 A dead seabird
• 95 Memorial sculpture and gardens
• 96 A Falkland Islands memorial
• 97 Newspaper headlines of a ferry disaster
• 98 Two London bridges
• 99 RNLI sculpture
• 100 Two Titanic museums
• Index
• Back Cover