The Wexford : Elusive Shipwreck of the Great Storm, 1913

Winner for the 2010 SOS Marine Heritage Award The steamer Wexford, with her flared bow, tall masts, and her open, canvas-sided hurricane deck, charmed spectators as she carried cargo across the Great Lakes. The romance and adventure of her British and French history in the South American trade followed her. Under newly appointed 24-year-old captain Bruce Cameron, her fateful final voyage was punctuated with opportunities to be saved from destruction, but his persistence in trying to make port at Goderich led to tragedy - a victim of the storm of 1913. Over a period of 87 years, she eluded many efforts to locate her remains, but was finally discovered in 2000 by a sailor using a fish-finding device. Since then, she has been visited by thousands, but sadly plundered. Our story traces her history from her British origins in 1883, through the transition to become a "Laker," the eventful storm, the search, and her ultimate discovery in southern Lake Huron, and the controversy over how she should be protected ""Its final resting place a mystery for almost a century, Carroll reveals the story behind the story of one of the most significant shipwrecks found on the Great Lakes in recent years."--Walter Lewis, Marine Historian" ""[Shipwrecks] haunt us with the horror of lives lost at sea while at the same time provide playgrounds for sport divers. Ships like the Wexford are not only a link to our past, but they also teach us lessons for the future. They are mystery, romance, history, and science all wrapped in a single package."--Georgann and Mike Wachter, Authors of the Eriewrecks Series, Avon Lake, Ohio" ""From her builder's yard in England to the bottom of Lake Huron, you will feel part of her crew, and thankful not to have been on her last voyage."--Captain C. (BUD) Robinson, Retired Canada Steamship Lines Ships Captain of Twenty-Five Years, Forty Years on the Great Lakes" ""I was moved to horror by the savagery of the storm and the image of the master and crew of the Wexford ... I was moved to compassion for those who lost loved ones and for those poor souls who remain unidentified in death."--Mel Wilson, Engineer, British Mercantile Marine, Retired"--Jacket The steamer Wexford charmed spectators as it carried cargo across the Great Lakes. The Wexfords fateful final voyage was punctuated with opportunities to be saved, but attempts to make port led to tragedy. Paul Carroll traces the steamers history here, as well as the controversy over how the wreck should be protected.