In So Terrible a Storm: A Tale of Fury on Lake Superior author Curt Brown traces the effects of the 1905 Thanksgiving storm on Lake Superior which wrecked or disabled 18 vessels and resulted in at least 20 lives. The storm is also known as the Mataafa storm, named for the ore carrier Mataafa which was broken against a pier in Duluth. Nature’s fury and corporate greed met as shipping industry bosses wanted one last run before the season ended for the winter; their earnings for the season depended on it. The tragedy that followed went down in history as one of the nation’s worst shipping disasters. The explosive squall caught nearly 30 vessels on Lake Superior. Like the Galveston hurricane of 1900 weather forecasting and was changed forever because of this storm. Brown's story is drawn from the accounts of witnesses and survivors. (Nonfiction)
If you enjoy nonfiction stories about shipwrecks, I suggest you check out the following books in the TA library:
- 29 Missing: The True and Tragic Story of the Disappearance of the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald by Andrew Kantar
- Black November: The Carl D. Bradley Tragedy by Andrew Kantar
- A Night to Remember by Walter Lord
- Explosion of the Steamboat Saluda by William G. Hartley
- Iceberg Right Ahead: The Tragedy of the Titanic by Stephanie Sammartino McPherson
- In Harm's Way: The Sinking of the USS Indianapolis and the Extraordinary Story of Its Survivors by Doug Stantion
- Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World: The Extraordinary True Story of Shackleton by Jennifer Armstrong
- Titanic: Legacy of the World's Greatest Ocean Liner by Susan Wels and William F. Buckley, Jr.
- Titanic: Voices from the Disaster by Deborah Hopkins
- Not Without Hope by Nick Schuyler and Jeré Longman