West Coast Wrecks and Other Maritime Tales

In this special edition of Raincoast Chronicles, maritime historian Rick James takes the reader on an authoritative and well-illustrated tour of the most fascinating of BC's shipwrecks. As well as reliving high-seas adventures, we learn the stories behind retired Cape Horn windjammers, solve the sixty-year-old mystery of how Wreck Beach earned its name as well as investigate other shipwreck lore. Unique coastal characters also step forward and tell their stories--including old towboaters like Joe Quilty and Alan Heater, who risked their lives as a matter of course, and the King of West Coast shipwrecks himself, retired diver Fred Rogers. Whether they were deep water sailors who travelled the sea lanes of the world or those who spent most of their lives on inside waters towing booms from up coast camps to south coast lumber mills, all have fascinating stories and adventures to relate. The tales of disaster at sea where lives were lost serve as a written memorial to all whose bones lie on the bottom of one of the most treacherous stretches of coastline anywhere on the planet.

Read more about Rick James and the ghost ships of Royston in the Vancouver Sun!