New Jersey Shipwrecks ─ 350 Years in the Graveyard of the Atlantic

Winner of the Foundation for Coast Guard History's award for "a brilliantly researched chronicle of shipwrecks along the New Jersey Shore from 1642 to the present day." New Jersey Shipwrecks takes us on a gripping voyage through the "Graveyard of the Atlantic," a name bestowed upon the state's treacherous shoals and inlets. Before this coastline became a summer playground of second homes and resort beaches, it was a wild frontier of uninhabited and shifting sandbars. From the days of sail to steam and oil, ships (and submarines) have been drawn to this coast. And, for thousands of vessels, it became their final resting-place.Early rescuers braved the seas in small boats, using simple buoys and rope to help the wreck victims. Others invented new technologies to assist in rescues. Quoting from original letters and reports, Shipwrecks reveals the sense of duty and honor which prevailed in these brave rescuers. Many devoted their lives - literally - to help save others whose lives were turned upside down in stormy Atlantic waters.From the early wrecks of the 18th century to the present day, the life-and-death drama of maritime disasters is captured in Shipwrecks, along with the history of the U. S. Lifesaving Service (later to become the Coast Guard), lighthouses, legends, and true accounts of heroism.142 historic photographs and illustrations are displayed in this quality, large-format softcover. The book includes a detailed listing of the wrecks along the New Jersey Shore, as well as an index and bibliography.

Margaret Thomas Buchholz is co-author, with Larry Savadove, of Great Storms of the Jersey Shore (1993), which The New York Times called “one of the best documented compendiums ever published of what it meant to be there.” She edited Shore Chronicles: Diaries and Travelers’ Tales from the Jersey Shore 1764-1955 (1999) — “a real eye-opener,” as described by Booklist. Her essays about the shore have also been included in anthologies and collections.Born in Manhattan, she was brought by her parents to Long Beach Island, New Jersey, just in time to be evacuated by the Coast Guard during a 1935 northeaster. She has published The Beachcomber, a Jersey Shore weekly newspaper for four decades and lives in Harvey Cedars, on Barnegat Bay, where her family has been coming since 1833.