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Transportation History

A Long, Dangerous Coastline

Shipwreck Tales from Alaska to California

by (author) Anthony Dalton

Publisher
Heritage House Publishing
Initial publish date
Sep 2010
Category
History, 20th Century, General
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9781926613734
    Publish Date
    Sep 2010
    List Price
    $9.95
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781926936116
    Publish Date
    Feb 2011
    List Price
    $7.99

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Recommended Age, Grade, and Reading Levels

  • Age: 13
  • Grade: 8

Description

On September 8, 1923, seven US Navy destroyers rammed into jagged rocks on the California coast. Twenty-three sailors died that night. Five years earlier, the Canadian Pacific passenger ship Princess Sophia steamed into Vanderbilt Reef in Alaska's Lynn Canal. When she sank, she took 353 people to their deaths. From San Francisco's fog-bound Golden Gate to the stormy Inside Passage of British Columbia and Alaska, the magnificent west coast of North America has taken a deadly toll. Here are the dramatic tales of ships that met their end on this treacherous coastline—including Princess Sophia, Benevolence, Queen of the North and others.

About the author

Anthony Dalton is an adventurer, author and public speaker. Between 1970 and 1980 he led regular expeditions across the Sahara, through the deserts of the Middle East and into the mountainous terrain of Afghanistan. In 1984 he travelled hundreds of nautical miles along the Arctic coast of north-western Alaska alone in an inflatable speedboat. In 1994 he joined twelve members of the Cree First Nation on a traditional York boat voyage on the Hayes River between Norway House and Oxford House. While canoeing the second half of the Hayes River from Oxford House to York Factory in 2000 he participated in a television documentary on great Canadian rivers for the Discovery Channel.

Dalton has written five non-fiction books and collaborated on two others. His illustrated non-fiction articles have been published in magazines and newspapers in twenty countries and nine languages. He is currently working on two television documentaries based on his books.

Anthony Dalton is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, a Fellow of the Explorers Club, a Member of the Welsh Academy and National President of the Canadian Authors Association.

Anthony Dalton's profile page

Editorial Reviews

This title in the Amazing Stories series describes the tragic fates of 14 vessels lost in the waters of North America's west coast between 1853 and 2006 . . . Each catastrophe is concisely but evocatively described. Vintage photographs capture the flavour—and sometimes the terror—of those terrible incidents. —BC Books for BC Schools

Librarian Reviews

A Long, Dangerous Coastline: Shipwreck Tales From Alaska to California

This title in the Amazing Stories series describes the tragic fates of 14 vessels lost in the waters of North America's west coast between 1853 and 2006. The stricken vessels included side-wheel steamers, hospital ships, windjammers, USN destroyers and the BC Ferries car ferry Queen of the North. In most cases, the cause of the sinking was human error, faulty navigation and reckless sailing. Some of the disasters involved horrendous loss of life. When the Princess Sophia went down in 1918 in Alaskan waters, 353 people perished. Each catastrophe is concisely but evocatively described. Vintage photographs capture the flavor—and sometimes the terror—of those terrible incidents.

Dalton also wrote The FurTrade Fleet and The Graveyard of the Pacific.

Source: The Association of Book Publishers of BC. BC Books for BC Schools. 2011-2012.

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