Wreck Ashore: The United States Life-Saving Service on the Great Lakes

by Frederick Stonehouse

From stormy shipwrecks to catastrophic disasters, the lifesavers were always there, risking their lives to save others. From the mid-1780s until it transformed into the U.S. Coast Guard in 1915, the U.S. Life-Saving Service was responsible for safety on the seas. This historic look into our earliest heroes on the Great Lakes is now back in print. Illustrated with historic b/w pictures.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

213 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1994

About the author

Frederick Stonehouse has authored over thirty books on maritime history, many of them focusing on the Great Lakes and contributed to several others. The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald and Great Lakes Lighthouse Tales are regional best sellers. Wreck Ashore, the U.S. Life-Saving Service on the Great Lakes, won a national publishing award and is the predominant work on the subject. Another book, Haunted Lakes, Great Lakes Maritime Ghost Stories, Superstitions and Sea Serpents, has opened an entirely new genre in Great Lakes study. His book, Final Voyage, is the first Great Lakes shipwreck book for children.

He has been a consultant for both the U.S. National Park Service and Parks Canada and has been an "on-air" expert for National Geographic, History Channel and Fox Family, as well as many regional media productions. Awards for contributions to Great Lakes maritime history have been received from Underwater Canada, Our World Underwater, Marquette Maritime Museum and Marquette County Historical Society. He is also the recipient of the 2006 Association For Great Lakes Maritime History Award for Historic Interpretation. The Award is presented annually in recognition of an individual making a major contribution over many years to the interpretation of Great Lakes maritime history in furtherance of the goals of the Association. In addition he was named the Marine Historical Society of Detroit’s “2007 Historian of the Year.” The award is the result of election by past MHSD Historians and recognizes persons who have actively contributed to the study of Great Lakes history. He holds a Master of Arts degree in History from Northern Michigan University, Marquette, Michigan.

Reviews

[Emil · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this book at the Whitefish Point Shipwreck Museum Bookstore. I can say that I have enjoyed this easy read and learned about the U.S. Life Saving Service, one of two precursors of the U.S. Coast Guard. Anyone with an interest in history and desiring background on the bravery, sheer boldness, and tenacity of the early Life Saving Service men and women, this book read well and is full of characters.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perhaps you’re like me and tend to get caught up in the romanticism of the lighthouses and skip past the other pieces of history right in our midst - the historical lifesaving station on Plum Island. Read ‘Wreck’ and you’ll be taken back in time to the turn of the century when valiant men performed rescues in row boats along the Great Lakes. The old life savers’ motto said they had to go out but it didn’t say anything about coming back. Stonehouse begins with the conception of the US Life Saving Service and takes us through technological breakthroughs such as cork life preservers and the breeches buoy. The breeches buoy would be shot from shore to the ship to anchor a line that served as type of trolley to convey the stranded ships’ passengers to land (keep in mind that helicopters weren’t invented at the turn of the century). They risked their lives for less than $50 a month! You’ll learn about the LSS organization, station construction and operation, equipment, and the keepers -- written in a way that you’d love to have Stonehouse over for coffee and just chat about that time in history. In the last part of the book he shares his favorite stories of heroic rescues that’ll just keep you in awe of these great men for a long, long time.