Shipwrecks of the Delaware Coast

by George, Pam

• ISBN13: 9781596298668
• ISBN10: 1596298669
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-04-02
• Publisher: History Pr

Summary

Under the hot summer sun, vacationers stroll the Rehoboth Beach boardwalk, chewing saltwater taffy and listening to the gulls' raucous cackle. Few realize that under the sparkling water rests a graveyard. Horrific nor'easters, treacherous shoals and simple human error caused the demise of countless ships, giving birth to legends of treasure and terror. There is the De Braak, rumored to hold millions of dollars in gold; the Mohawk, which burned like a torch in the Delaware Bay; and the vessels that fell victim to the Great White Hurricane, which froze dead men to the mast. Journey with local author Pam George as she deftly picks her way through the history of Delaware's most intriguing and mysterious shipwrecks

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	p. 7
Introduction	p. 9
Hope, Courage and Calamity in the New World
Diamond in the Rough	p. 13
A Path Fraught with Peril	p. 16
Pirates and Privateers	p. 21
The Curse of the Moon Cussers	p. 23
Coin Beach	p. 25
The Tragedy of the Faithful Steward	p. 27
The Disappearance of De Braak	p. 30
Lighthouses, Lightships and Lifesavers
An Enduring Icon	p. 37
Stalwart Sentinels	p. 41
Floating Beacons	p. 46
Lifesaving and Risk-Taking	p. 48
The Elements of a Disaster
The Great White Hurricane	p. 53
The Furious Storm	p. 60
Fire and Ice	p. 63
Smoke Across the Water	p. 66
Close Encounters: Collisions at Sea
The Champion and the Lady Octavia	p. 73
The Cleopatra and the Crystal Wave	p. 76
The Manhattan and the Agnes Manning	p. 79
The City of Georgetown and the Prinz Oskar	p. 81
The Elizabeth Palmer and the Washingtonian	p. 83
The Moreno and the Enterprise	p. 85
Wrecks in Rehoboth
Double Trouble: The Merrimac and the Severn	p. 87
Burl Ives Comes to Visit	p. 89
Delaware's Most Spectacular Shipwreck	p. 90
Military Casualties
Delaware Does Its Part	p. 95
A Hero Begets a Hero	p. 97
Caught in the Fire	p. 100
Facing the Enemy	p. 101
Blown to Bits	p. 103
Tragedy or Travesty: The Plight of the Cherokee	p. 105
The Sun Sets on the "Moon"	p. 108
Mystery Ships
In Search of Clues	p. 113
The Case of the Roosevelt Inlet Shipwreck	p. 114
The China Wreck: Known and Unknown	p. 118
Bibliography	p. 123
About the Author	p. 127
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