Anything that could happen to a ship has happened to a Prince Edward Island hull, and scores of tales within Shipwrecks and Sailors of Prince Edward Island present those weird, wonderful and tragic epics. This volume covers the period from 1775 to 1899 – the era of bark, brig, brigantine and schooner. Arranged chronologically, the stories are complete with the names of our seafaring ancestors plus descriptions of the local ports that sheltered the ships.

For more than a hundred years the wooden sailing ship was an important and vital transportation link along the shores of Prince Edward Island. The maritime records are full of stories in which local ships and their crews played an essential role. Self-sacrifice, daring, skill, wreck and rescue are all part of a fabric which makes up the history of the ships and the heritage of the villages that knew them. All of this and more is documented in Shipwrecks and Sailors of Prince Edward Island.

Prince Edward Island’s legacy of tales from this era of sail is great. There is the wreck of the immigrant-laden Elizabeth at Cascumpec where the castaways were saved by a Native and the unique tale of PEI’s Jessy thrown onto the shores of deadly St. Paul Island. Then there is the strange tale of Rival caught in the “Yankee Gale” and the SS Quebec’s demise in the death-dealing tides of East Point.

PEI ships were involved in mystery, mayhem and wrecks in practically all parts of the North Atlantic: gripped in the sandbars of Sable Island, plundered on the rugged coasts of Newfoundland, drifting with no crew off Ireland, wrecked on Nova Scotia’s shores, stranded on the Magdalenes, and “Lost with Crew” in the vast Atlantic.

Robert Parsons has been researching and publishing books about Atlantic Canada’s ships and wrecks for over two decades. In addition to more than 20 books, his articles and stories have appeared in local and national publications. He has appeared on national TV on the History Channel’s Disasters of the Century and Global TV’s Legends and Lore of the North Atlantic. His recent books published by Pottersfield Press include Shipwrecks of New Brunswick; The Edge of Yesterday: Sea Disasters of Nova Scotia; Wrecked and Ruined; and Ocean of Storms, Sea of Disaster. His website is www.atlanticwrecks.com

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