The Sea Shall Embrace Them: The Tragic Story of the Steamship ArcticThe 1854 Collision at Sea between the American ship Arctic and the Vesta, a much smaller French steamship, set in motion one of the most harrowing events in maritime history. David W. Shaw has based this fascinating account on the firsthand testimony of the few who survived the wreck, including the Arctic's heroic captain, James C. Luce, who was forced to fight his mutinous crew as they took the lifeboats and left hundreds of passengers to suffer a cruel and painful death. Not only did 400 people -- including Luce's own frail son -- die by daybreak, but the wreck also ended the domination of the seas by the American maritime fleet for the rest of the nineteenth century. Utterly compelling, The Sea Shall Embrace Them is a stirring slice of heretofore little-known American history. Beautifully written, it puts the reader on deck as a ship full of men, women, and children do battle both with a mighty ocean and with their own baser instincts. Book jacket. |
From inside the book
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Page 195
... sank . The suction caused when the vessel plunged deep would draw anything in the vicinity down with it . The end might come faster for those in the cabins . There was something merciful in that , and he left them to face their deaths ...
... sank . The suction caused when the vessel plunged deep would draw anything in the vicinity down with it . The end might come faster for those in the cabins . There was something merciful in that , and he left them to face their deaths ...
Page 227
... The men with Luce and Allen grew weaker , and some of them became delirious from want of food and water and the lack of sleep . Just before Arctic sank , Allen had rushed back into the dining saloon and grabbed food 227.
... The men with Luce and Allen grew weaker , and some of them became delirious from want of food and water and the lack of sleep . Just before Arctic sank , Allen had rushed back into the dining saloon and grabbed food 227.
Page 291
... sank . This seems unlikely - given Patrick Tobbin's tes- timony , from his vantage point in Francis Dorian's lifeboat , stating that the unfinished raft got trapped beneath the starboard paddle- wheel box as the ship sank , killing most ...
... sank . This seems unlikely - given Patrick Tobbin's tes- timony , from his vantage point in Francis Dorian's lifeboat , stating that the unfinished raft got trapped beneath the starboard paddle- wheel box as the ship sank , killing most ...
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The Sea Shall Embrace Them: The Tragic Story of the Steamship Arctic David W. Shaw Limited preview - 2003 |
Common terms and phrases
aboard Arctic Allen American Atlantic Baalham began boat British Brown cabin Cambria Cape Race Captain Luce Collins Line Collins ships crew crewmen crowd disaster Dorian Edward Knight Collins engine room face fast feet firemen forward Francis Dorian friends Grand Banks hand hull J. W. Rogers James Brown Jassonet François Keyn ladies lifeboat liner Liverpool looked Luce's male passengers marine mast master mate merchant Millie night ocean officer packets paddle paddle-wheel box pea coat poop deck port raft rail reached reported rescued rigging River Robert Gourlay rope sail sailors saloon Samuel Cunard Sandy Hook sank sengers September 27 ship's shouted side soon spars speed starboard steam steamer steamship Steamship Arctic stern stood stop survivors swells tain tion transatlantic turned vessel Vesta voyage watch waves weather wheel William Gilbert Willie wind women yards Yonkers York Herald