Disaster
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(3)
The 1967 Belvidere Tornado
by Mike Doyle
Part of the Disaster series
Claiming the lives of seven adults and seventeen children, the Belvidere tornado struck the most vulnerable at the worst possible time: just as school let out. More than five hundred people suffered injuries. New interviews and fascinating archival history underscore the horrific drama, as well as the split-second decisions of victims and survivors that saved their families and neighbors. Since the tragedy, three more devastating tornadoes have further defined Boone County's resilience: Poplar Grove in 2008, Caledonia in 2010 and Fairdale in 2015.
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(2)
Colorado and the Silver Crash
The Panic of 1893
by John F. Steinle
Part of the Disaster series
A catastrophic depression engulfed Colorado in 1893. The government's decision to adopt the gold standard and stop buying silver hit the mining industry like a cave-in. Unemployment reached 90 percent in Leadville, a city built on silver. Strikes by union miners in Cripple Creek and Leadville led to destruction and death. Political parties split along battle lines of gold versus silver. By 1898, the country had begun to recover, but silver mining was never the same. Using firsthand commentary and more than one hundred historic photographs, John Steinle skillfully commemorates the story of Coloradans trapped in the unprecedented social, economic and political conflict of America's first great depression.
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(2)
The 1849 Cholera Outbreak in Jefferson City
by Gary Elliott
Part of the Disaster series
In 1849, a steamship named after President James Monroe headed from St. Louis to Council Bluffs, Iowa. The passengers were members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from Philadelphia. At St. Louis, they were joined with a group of California gold diggers from Jeffersonville, Indiana. But their trip was interrupted when cholera broke out on board. Local fourteen-year-old James McHenry discovered the steamship after it landed at Jefferson City and observed the dead and dying victims along the riverbank. Author Gary Elliott details the history of the outbreak in the city and its far-reaching effects.
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The Great Virginia Flood of 1870
by Paula F. Green
Part of the Disaster series
In the fall of 1870, a massive flood engulfed parts of Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland. What began near Charlottesville as welcome rain at the end of a drought-plagued summer quickly turned into a downpour as it moved west and then north through the Shenandoah Valley. The James, Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers rose, and flooding washed out fields, farms and entire towns. The impact was immense in terms of destruction, casualties and depth of water. The only warning that Richmond, downriver from the worst of the storm, had of the wall of water bearing down on it was a telegram. In this account, public historian Paula Green details not only the flood but also the process of recovery in an era before modern relief programs.
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Historic Disasters in Southeast Minnesota
by Steve Gardiner
Part of the Disaster series
Southeast Minnesota has regularly felt the wrath of nature.
In 1890, a driving straight-line wind on Lake Pepin overturned the Sea Wing, killing ninety-eight people within minutes in the worst marine tragedy in Minnesota history. In 1940, a raging blizzard trapped duck hunters on islands in the Mississippi River and left motorists stranded across the region, leaving dozens injured or dead. Then, in 1965, flood waters of the Mississippi River and its vast network of tributaries kept area residents in fear for two months, shattering records for high water marks and destroying buildings and farmlands before receding and leaving behind damage that took years to rebuild.
Local author Steve Gardiner examines these powerful natural disasters and their ramifications on the people of Southeast Minnesota.
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Indiana and the Great Flood of 1913
by Nancy M. Germano
Part of the Disaster series
Indiana suffered enormous losses in the Great Flood of 1913, yet this disaster is largely forgotten. The combined tornado and flood barreled through Terre Haute, killing more than twenty. In Peru, 114 miles away, the circus lost most of its animals in the storm. At the southwestern corner of the state, a "sea of water," as local papers put it, washed over Evansville, turning streets into canals. In the capital, levee failures left hundreds homeless and vulnerable to disease and famine. Pulling from archival photographs, newspapers and local accounts, Dr. Nancy M. Germano shares stories from across the state to reveal how Indiana's history of settlement and development contributed to one of the state's worst disasters.
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Connecticut River Valley Flood of 1936
by Joshua Shanley
Part of the Disaster series
In the beginning of the twentieth-century, the Connecticut River Valley was a thriving manufacturing hub for fabric, arms and brass. But early in the spring of 1936, nearly two feet of rain created havoc on a massive scale, killing more than one hundred people and leaving tens of thousands homeless, unemployed and without power for weeks. Patrols were conducted in rowboats on city streets. Typhoid and other public health issues complicated recovery efforts. Adjusted for today's standard, damage estimates exceeded $9 billion, and the flood helped launch FDR's Flood Control Act of 1936. Dams, reservoirs, and dikes were constructed to control future flooding. Much of that system now remains in place but has gone largely unmaintained. Author Josh Shanley recounts the greatest flood in New England history and examines the potential for future floods.
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Yellow Fever on Galveston Island
by Jan Johnson
Part of the Disaster series
Jan Johnson provides a definitive account of Galveston's fight against outbreaks of Yellow Fever, which transformed an island paradise into the City of Dreadful Death.
In the summer of Galveston's founding year, a mysterious malady accompanied by black vomit descended upon the inhabitants. Names for the devastating plague came quick and fast as the body count rose. Saffron Scourge. Bronze John. Yellow Jack. Yellow Fever. The disease's cause and cure remained elusive, as did the medical institutions Galveston would need treat the illness. Four thousand souls perished in nine epidemics between 1839 and 1867. By the time of Galveston's final Yellow Fever outbreak in 1903, however, residents were better informed and equipped. Discover the key figures and pivotal events of the island city's experience with the mosquito-borne disease.
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The Sol E Mar Tragedy Off Martha's Vineyard
by Captain W. Russell Webster, USCG (Ret.)
Part of the Disaster series
On March 22, 1990, local fishermen Hokey Hokanson and his teenage son, Billy, set sail for Cape Cod in the "Sol e Mar." When disaster struck three days later, Billy transmitted a brief, heavily garbled radio distress call. A hoax call immediately followed Billy's cry for help, and believing that the two were connected, the U.S. Coast Guard did not launch rescue units for several days. The Hokansons' deaths prompted a new anti-hoax law and changed United States Coast Guard search and rescue procedures. Historian Captain W. Russ Webster, U.S. Coast Guard (Ret.), and journalist Elizabeth B. Webster chronicle the fascinating story of the "Sol e Mar" and its crew and explain the psychology of hoax callers and Coast Guard technological advancements since the tragedy.
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The Washington Arsenal Explosion
by Brian Bergin
Part of the Disaster series
In 1864, residents of Washington, D.C., mourned together at the largest funeral the district had ever seen. In the midst of the Civil War, the poor Irish neighborhood of the Island lost twenty-one mothers, sisters and daughters. On June 17, dangerous working conditions and a series of unfortunate events led to the deadly explosion of a Federal arsenal at Fort McNair, where the young women made cartridges to assist the war effort. In the wake of the horrific event, a monument was erected at Congressional Cemetery to honor those who were lost. Author Brian Bergin similarly memorializes these women through his book, detailing the poor working conditions, the investigation into the avoidable events leading to the tragedy and the reaction of a community already battered by the Civil War.
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Historic Aircraft Wrecks of San Diego County
by G. Pat Macha
Part of the Disaster series
Clear weather and a natural harbor made San Diego an early aviation hub, but success in flight came with devastating tragedies. The remains of more than four hundred aircrafts lie scattered across the county's deserts and mountains. Experts estimate that dozens more are on the ocean floor off the coast. In 1922, army pilot Charles F. Webber's DeHavilland biplane went missing over Cuyamaca Rancho State Park. In 1978, Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 178 collided midair over San Diego and crashed in the residential North Park neighborhood, claiming the lives of 144 people in what was the worst airline disaster of the era. Author and aircraft accident research specialist G. Pat Macha recounts these and other stories of astonishing survival, heroism and heartbreaking fatality.
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Hudson River Steamboat Catastrophes
Contests And Collisions
by J. Thomas Allison
Part of the Disaster series
Beginning in the mid-1800s, steamboats carried people between New York City and the Albany area on the Hudson River. Romantic images lull us into believing it was a quiet means of travel, but a crowded river, faulty equipment and the bravado of the captains resulted in at least one major catastrophe every year. Night boats collided and sank, carelessness caused boiler explosions, races put passengers at risk and fires would quickly swallow the wooden vessels. The grand "Empire of Troy "suffered many collisions. The "Swallow" broke in two on a rock, "Reindeer"'s explosion took forty lives at once and the "Oregon" and "C. Vanderbilt" entered into an epic and dangerous race. Collected from eyewitness accounts, these are some of the most exciting and frightening stories of peril aboard steamboats on the Hudson River.
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Historic Aircraft Wrecks of San Bernardino County
by G. Pat Macha
Part of the Disaster series
Weather, darkness and twists of fate have contributed to more than three hundred airplane crashes in San Bernardino County, California. Many of these accidents occurred in the vast Mojave Desert, others on the cloud-shrouded, snow-capped mountains of the largest county in the lower forty-eight states. Searches often were labored yet fruitless, even for the privileged: Frank Sinatra's mother perished here in a downed plane. The quest for an aircraft containing $5,000 in cash has become the stuff of legend. Tales of survival in uninhabited, rugged landscapes have been especially harrowing. Join renowned aircraft-crash search specialist G. Pat Macha for dozens of sorrowful, triumphant, touching and surprising true stories of those who lived through the ordeals of plane crashes--and others who didn't.
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The Brockton Tragedy at Moosehead Lake
by James E. Benson
Part of the Disaster series
On May 13, 1928, ten prominent men of Brockton, Massachusetts, headed off on a fishing trip to Moosehead Lake in Maine. After traveling fourteen hours, the group met Maine guide Samuel Budden and boarded the Mac II for the final voyage to their destination. Approximately six miles from the Tomhegan sporting camp, the boat took on water in rough seas and sank, taking Budden and all but one of the adventurers to a watery grave. Jim Benson and Nicole Casper chronicle this horrific tragedy and its legacy in two New England communities.
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The Wyoming Bomber Crash of 1943
by Sylvia A. Bruner
Part of the Disaster series
Bomber Mountain's Namesake Tragedy
June 1943 saw forty-one heavy bombers lost within the continental United States, including a B-17 that went missing over Wyoming late during the night of June 28. That aircraft had ten young men on board destined for World War II. They had been ordered overseas to participate in the intense and constant bombing raids being conducted in Europe, but they never made it out of America. Two years later, area cowboys discovered the wreckage strewn across an otherwise picturesque landscape. U.S. Air Corps Captain Kenneth G. Hamm noted in his personal diary, "The plane was so completely demolished that we were almost on top of it before we saw it." Author Sylvia A. Bruner shares the stories of the men who lost their lives deep in the Bighorn Mountains and recounts the events of the crash, search and U.S. Air Corps accident investigation.
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The Fargo Fire of 1893
by Danielle Teigen
Part of the Disaster series
In 1893, Fargo was simply trying to thrive amid an impending national depression. One Wednesday afternoon in June, a ferocious fire quickly devoured hundreds of businesses and more than thirty blocks in the heart of the fledgling city. Residents were stunned, but they weren't defeated. Through perseverance, grit and some helpful insurance money, owners immediately began rebuilding. The arduous reconstruction ended up protecting the city against unemployment and poverty. Author Danielle Teigen describes the efforts and individuals who helped rebuild a stronger, better city. More than a century later, that resilience and determination continues to be a hallmark of the Gateway to the West.
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Tippecanoe County and the 1913 Flood
by Pete Bill
Part of the Disaster series
Heralding the coming spring, the weather forecast promised a warm and sunny Easter in 1913. Little did the citizens of Tippecanoe County realize that a furious deluge would cause the Wabash River to swell to an ungovernable and lethal height. Bridges collapsed, whole buildings came unmoored from their foundations and washed away and heroic rescue attempts saved lives and cost others. Using previously untold stories and images never before seen in print, Pete Bill and Arnold Sweet unfold the human drama of communities suddenly cut off from the rest of the world and facing a natural disaster that gripped twenty states.
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(2)
Galveston Burning
A History of the Fire Department and Major Conflagrations
by James F. Anderson
Part of the Disaster series
Since 1821, when Jean Lafitte sailed away from a burning Campeche, the history of Galveston has often been wreathed in smoke. Over the next century, one inferno breached the walls of Moro Castle, while another reduced forty-two blocks of the residential district to ash. Recognizing the importance of protecting the city, concerted efforts were made to establish the first paid fire department, create a city waterworks and regulate construction standards. Yet even with all the forethought and planning, rogue fires continued to consume architectural gems like Nicholas Clayton's “Electric Pavilion”. Author James F. Anderson explores the lessons that Galveston has learned from its fiery past in order to safeguard its future.
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New Orleans Disasters
Firsthand Accounts of Crescent City Tragedy
by Royd Anderson
Part of the Disaster series
With more than one thousand books on Hurricane Katrina, somehow not one work examines a collection of Crescent City calamity-until now. Here seven tragedies and their fallout are explored through gripping firsthand interviews, planting readers amid the chaos. Revisit the agony of the Luling ferry disaster, the horror of Pan Am Flight 759 slamming into a Kenner neighborhood and the Mother's Day bus crash on 610 that claimed twenty-two lives. Sift for answers in the unsolved fires of the Rault Center and the UpStairs Lounge. Investigate the Continental Grain elevator explosion and experience the terror of the Howard Johnson's sniper. Join author Royd Anderson on this harrowing journey through New Orleans tragedy.
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Shark Attacks of New York
A History
by Patricia Heyer
Part of the Disaster series
New York's crowded beaches can come to halt with the shout of a single word: shark! The shores of Long Island and Staten Island and the waters surrounding Manhattan have had more than thirty shark attacks recorded since the days of New Amsterdam. Legend has it that Antony Van Corlear, Peter Stuyvesant's trusted deputy, was killed by a shark crossing Spuyten Duyvil Creek while blowing his famed trumpet. In the summer of 1916, after a series of bloody encounters along the Jersey Shore, sharks terrorized beachgoers of Sheepshead Bay, frightening the entire region. Two incidents on Fire Island in 2018 within mere hours and miles of each other involved a twelve-year-old and a thirteen-year-old, striking fear in the hearts of parents. Authors Patricia and Robert Heyer chart the history of New York's shark attacks.
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Terror Over Elizabeth, New Jersey
Three Plane Crashes in 58 Days and the Fight for Newark Airport
by Peter Zablocki
Part of the Disaster series
With safety protocols in their infancy and the jet engine still in development, early commercial flight above American cities was too often deadly. Between December 1951 and January 1952, three separate plane crashes barreled down onto Elizabeth, New Jersey. Many dozens perished as the crashes destroyed entire city blocks and wreaked havoc throughout various neighborhoods. Frightened residents turned to the nearby Newark Airport for blame as a groundswell of political pushback occurred in an ultimately unsuccessful bid to stop the airport's expansion. President Truman formed an airport safety commission in response that recommended better zoning around airports and runways. Author Peter Zablocki tells the harrowing story of one of the most unique and tragic series of plane crashes in the nation's history.
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(2)
Deadly Storms of the Delmarva Coast
by Michael Morgan
Part of the Disaster series
Coastal Delaware, Maryland and Virginia have always been vulnerable to the power of storms. In the early nineteenth century, storm-driven shipwrecks led to the construction of the Delaware breakwater. In 1933, a storm created an inlet on the south edge of Ocean City and changed the character of the Maryland resort. The Ash Wednesday nor'easter of 1962 devastated oceanfront communities, led to the creation of beach replenishment projects that pushed the ocean back from the new multimillion-dollar buildings that sat on the sand and spurred the creation of Assateague Island National Seashore. Michael Morgan narrates the stories of these storms and reminds us of the power of wind and water.
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The Millfield Mine Disaster
by Ron W. Luce
Part of the Disaster series
On Wednesday, November 5, 1930, Sunday Creek Coal Company Mine #6 at Millfield became the unenviable site of Ohio's worst coal mining disaster. Negligence caused an electrical spark to ignite accumulated methane and detonated untreated explosive dust. Within minutes 82 men were dead, 56 women became widows and 137 dependents found themselves fatherless. Approximately 120 men not in the direct line of blast and flame escaped. Miraculously, 19 others were found barely alive many hours after all were presumed dead. The tragedy could have been prevented if proper procedures had been followed and profit not put before worker safety. Author Ron Luce brings all of the facts together for the first time to tell the story of the Millfield Mine Disaster in full detail.
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Historic Shipwrecks of Coastside California
by Joann Semones
Part of the Disaster series
The stretch of California coast from San Francisco to Monterey has seen its share of disastrous shipwrecks with devastating losses, but there are also stories of courage, innovative rescues and unique salvage operations. Uncover the tale of the adventurous, ill-fated Sir John Franklin, now marked only by a nearly forgotten cemetery, and relive the wreck of the New York, one of the most notorious ships to ever sail. Learn about the Coastside's worst maritime tragedy, when the passenger steamship San Juan was struck by the oil tanker twice her size and sank in minutes, plunging seventy-five men, women and children into the sea. Join author JoAnn Semones as she shares the stories of doomed ships that found their end along Coastside California.
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The Collapse of Richmond's Church Hill Tunnel
by Walter S. Griggs Jr.
Part of the Disaster series
Richmond, the capital of the Confederacy, was in shambles after the Civil War. The bulk of Reconstruction became dependent on the railways, and one of the most important links in the system was the Church Hill Tunnel. The tunnel was eventually rendered obsolete by an alternative path over a viaduct, and it was closed for regular operation in 1902. However, the city still used it infrequently to transport supplies, and it was maintained with regular safety inspections. The city decided to reopen the tunnel in 1925 due to overcrowding on the viaduct, but the tunnel needed to be strengthened and enlarged. On October 2, 1925, 190 ft of the tunnel unexpectedly caved in, trapping construction workers and an entire locomotive inside. In recent years, there has been a renewed interest in the tunnel and the mystery surrounding its collapse. There were cave-ins and sink holes above the surface for decades after the tunnel was sealed up, and in 1998, a reporter from the Richmond Times-Dispatch did an investigation, trying to determine the current condition of the tunnel. In 2006, the Virginia Historical Society announced its efforts to try and excavate the locomotive and remaining bodies.
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The 1924 Tornado in Lorain & Sandusky
Deadliest in Ohio History
by Betsy D'Annibale
Part of the Disaster series
June 28, 1924, dawned hot and sunny, with fluffy white clouds hovering over a blue and inviting Lake Erie. For two Ohio communities, Lorain and Sandusky, the day ended in unimaginable disaster. In the late afternoon, the blue sky turned dark, and the wispy white puffs morphed into a mass of black thunderclouds as a monster formed on the lake. An F4 tornado, unexpected and not understood, was born from a thunderstorm on the now turbulent waters of Lake Erie. It charged ashore, smashing into Sandusky, retreated again to the lake and then headed east before turning abruptly south to make landfall in Lorain. Before the massive funnel lifted, it would destroy a city, create death records still unbroken and change the lives of thousands of people.
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When the Levee Breaks
Memphis and the Mississippi Valley Flood of 1927
by Patrick O'Daniel
Part of the Disaster series
Among the countless miles of damage caused by the Mississippi Flood of 1927, the homeless and displaced masses of the Mississippi Valley looked toward Memphis as a beacon of hope. As thousands of refugees poured into the city, Memphians opened their hearts and extolled feats of charity that could fill volumes. Join local author Patrick O'Daniel as he traces the events of the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and the crucial role Memphis played in its aftermath. From heroic rescues to maltreatment within the refugee camps, O'Daniel paints a complete picture of man struggling against nature both within and without. Follow along as the receding waters propel Herbert Hoover into the national spotlight and Mayor Rowlett Paine becomes an unlikely leader.
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Island in the Storm
Sullivan's Island and Hurricane Hugo
by Jamie W. Moore
Part of the Disaster series
On the night of September 21, 1989, Hurricane Hugo slammed into the South Carolina coast at Sullivan's Island--north of Charleston--with winds exceeding 160 miles per hour. The colossal force of the hurricane was punctuated by storm surges ranging from five to ten feet above sea level. At approximately one minute after midnight, Hugo's eye passed over the island, and the charming community oceanside community disappeared beneath the tumultuous sea for nearly an hour. After Hugo left Sullivan's Island in its furious wake, the first news broadcasts from the Charleston area reported that the island and neighboring Isle of Palms were completely destroyed. The Ben Sawyer Bridge--the only connection to the island at the time--was knocked off its pedestal and rendered useless, and so the hundreds of families who had evacuated the area could not return to their homes to see what, if anything, remained. The recovery process started slowly, and for many it would be a long, arduous journey. Island in the Storm, by local historians Jamie and Dorothy Moore, documents in vivid detail the devastation, loss and eventual rebuilding of this beloved island community. More than fifteen years later, Sullivan's Island's homes and businesses have been restored, but the memory of Hugo's fury will not soon be forgotten.
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Disaster on Lake Erie
The 1841 Wreck of the Steamship Erie
by Alvin F. Oickle
Part of the Disaster series
On August 9, 1841, the steamship Erie, one of the most elegant and fastest sailing between Buffalo and Chicago, departed carrying 340 passengers. Many were Swiss and German immigrants, planning to start new lives in America's heartland most never made it. The Erie erupted in flames during the night, and despite the heroic efforts of the crew of the Dewitt Clinton, 254 lives were lost. As news of this disaster spread, internationally renowned artists and writers, including Charles Dickens, were inspired to reflect on the lives lost. Historian Alvin F. Oickle's minute-by-minute account weaves together the tragic journey of the passengers, the legend that developed in the aftermath and the fury of a fire on an ocean-like lake.
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Shipwrecks of Massachusetts Bay
by Thomas Hall
Part of the Disaster series
Massachusetts Bay stretches along the rocky coast and dangerously sandy shoals from Cape Ann to Cape Cod and gives the Bay State its distinctive shape and the Atlantic Ocean one of its largest graveyards. Author and longtime diver Thomas Hall guides us through the history of eight dreadful wrecks as we navigate around Mass Bay. Learn the sorrowful fate of the Portland and its crew during the devastating Portland Gale of 1898, how the City of Salisbury went down with its load of exotic zoo animals in the shadow of Graves Light and how the Forest Queen lost its precious cargo in a nor'easter. Hall provides updated research for each shipwreck, as well as insights into the technology, ship design and weather conditions unique to each wreck.
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Historic Aircraft Wrecks of San Diego County
by G. Pat Macha
Part of the Disaster series
Clear weather and a natural harbor made San Diego an early aviation hub, but success in flight came with devastating tragedies. The remains of more than four hundred aircrafts lie scattered across the county's deserts and mountains. Experts estimate that dozens more are on the ocean floor off the coast. In 1922, army pilot Charles F. Webber's DeHavilland biplane went missing over Cuyamaca Rancho State Park. In 1978, Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 178 collided midair over San Diego and crashed in the residential North Park neighborhood, claiming the lives of 144 people in what was the worst airline disaster of the era. Author and aircraft accident research specialist G. Pat Macha recounts these and other stories of astonishing survival, heroism and heartbreaking fatality.
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Explosion at Morgan
The World War I Middlesex Munitions Disaster
by Randall Gabrielan
Part of the Disaster series
While World War I raged in Europe, America scrambled to supply the Allies with ammunition, and several munitions plants were constructed near the Jersey Shore. The hastily built plants hummed with hardly a mishap until the fateful night of October 4, 1918, when a series of explosions killed one hundred people. Firemen and other volunteers were powerless to stop the destruction as it devastated the Morgan-South Amboy area and terrified the surrounding region. Strangely, though, this woeful disaster has been forgotten by history. New Jersey historian Randall Gabrielan re-creates this terrifying night and its aftermath in the context of Middlesex County's role in the Great War.
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A History of Alabama's Deadliest Tornadoes
Disaster in Dixie
by Kelly Kazek
Part of the Disaster series
Journey just west of America's infamous Tornado Alley to Alabama, home to some of the deadliest tornadoes of the past century. These twisters remain etched in the collective memory of the people, from the 1908 Dixie Tornado, regarded as one of the most brutal tornadoes in U.S. history, to the 1998 Birmingham Tornado, the most expensive twister in Alabama's history. Discover how the 1932 Deep South Tornadoes resulted in 268 fatalities and millions of dollars in damage, and read the terrifying account of the 1977 Smithfield Tornadoes, which rocked this Birmingham suburb with as many as six twisters in a one-hour span. Join local journalist Kelly Kazek as she shares the tales of these natural disasters and the hardy Alabamians who endured them.
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The Santa Barbara B-24 Disasters: A Chain of Tragedies Across Air, Land & Sea
by Robert A. Burtness
Part of the Disaster series
Three separate and related tragedies occurred during and after a training run of a B-24 Liberator on July 4, 1943, over the Pacific off Santa Barbara County: The heavy bomber crashed near Santa Barbara and two of the crew were never found, another B-24 search-and-rescue crew looking for survivors off the coast never returned at all and was found later to have cashed on San Miguel Island, killing all 12 aboard, and the Air Force investigators of that accident, years later, in 1954, coming to the island in a Coast Guard cutter, hit a yacht, killing two more people. Author Robert A. Burtness takes you inside these somber stories with recorded first-hand accounts and vintage images.
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Icy Winters on the Chesapeake Bay
A History
by James L. Foster
Part of the Disaster series
Sailing on the Chesapeake Bay's myriad inlets in summer, it is hard to imagine that, come January, icebreakers may be plowing the waters you cruised in July. When portions of the Great Shellfish Bay are iced up, the flow of commerce is impeded. At the turn of the nineteenth century, with the center of the new nation's government established it its arms, a frozen Bay meant that the United States' emergence to a status on par with the foremost nations of the world might be painfully slow. James Foster chronicles the disasters and pitfalls, large and small, that come with the coldest of winters.
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The Strand Theatre Fire
The 1941 Brockton Tragedy and the Fallen Thirteen
by James E. Benson
Part of the Disaster series
On March 10, 1941, at 12:38 a.m., the Brockton Fire Department responded to Fire Alarm Box 1311, which was pulled for a fire at the Strand Theatre. Fire Alarm dispatched the deputy chief, three engine companies, a ladder company and Squad A. Within six minutes, a second alarm was struck. Less than one hour after the first alarm, the roof of the Strand collapsed, and what appeared to be a routine fire turned into a disaster that killed thirteen firefighters and injured more than twenty others. The disaster marks one of the largest losses of life to firefighters from a burning building collapse in the United States. Jim Benson and Nicole Casper chronicle this devastating tragedy and celebrate the community's heroes and resilience in the face of adversity.
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Southwest Virginia and Maritime Disasters
From The Ss Vestris To The Morro Castle And Beyond
by Brandon Whited
Part of the Disaster series
Explore southwest Virginia's local links to maritime history. Until the growing popularity of air travel post-World War II, Americans going abroad traveled by ship. Though Southwest Virginia is not a coastal region, its residents traveled far and wide. Some were involved in the most infamous shipwrecks of the age of steamships, many of whom lost their lives. The foundering of the legendary Titanic on her maiden voyage, the horrific fire aboard Morro Castle and the smoke-engulfed decks of U.S.S. Arizona at Pearl Harbor were all witnessed by Southwest Virginians. Local author Brandon Whited grants them their long-overdue place in the history books.
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The Great Memorial Day Fire of 1945 and Other Schuylkill County Disasters
by Michael R. Glore
Part of the Disaster series
Schuylkill County is no stranger to disaster.
Schuylkill County is no stranger to disaster. Protected by volunteers since 1811, residents have faced block-burning conflagrations like the Great Memorial Day Fire of 1945, which consumed sixty-seven buildings in the Mahanoy City Business District, and commercial airplane crashes like United Flight 624 near Ashland, with no survivors. The Red Church propane truck explosion near Orwigsburg caused twelve fatalities, and the Reading Railroad passenger train collision with a gasoline truck in Port Carbon sparked death and destruction, as well as a frantic search for burning money.
Telling these stories with the help of rare and many never-before-seen images, authors and veteran firefighters Michael R. Glore and Michael J. Kitsock revisit some of the region's most harrowing catastrophes.
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Historic Snowstorms of Central New York
by Jim Farfaglia
Part of the Disaster series
Central New York, a region renowned as one of the snowiest in the world, has a long and stormy relationship with its winters.
From the Lake Ontario port in Oswego to the busy streets of Syracuse and Utica, every community in the region has found themselves buried from brutal snowstorms.
Author Jim Fafaglia draws from personal memories, family diaries and newspaper accounts to craft a two-hundred-year history of Central New York's whiteouts, blizzards and snowstorms.
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Historic Shipwrecks and Rescues on Lake Michigan
by Michael Passwater
Part of the Disaster series
Facing the fury and danger of Lake Michigan
Ever since French explorers first cast their eyes on Lake Michigan, this huge inland sea has been the scene of thousands of shipwreck rescues and tragedies. As mishaps and disasters proliferated, a dedicated service of lifesavers arose. Braving perilous conditions, these servicemen pulled those aboard the merchant schooner Havanna from certain death. The intrepid St Joseph Lifesavers saved the crew and passengers of the City of Duluth. Sadly, not all rescues ended in heroism, as was the case with the doomed Arab that went down along with two other ships.
Author Michael Passwater captures the stories of shipwrecks and the brave men and women that risked their lives against an angry Lake Michigan.
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The Tragic Sinking of Gloucester's Patriot
by Captain W. Russell Webster, USCG (Ret.)
Part of the Disaster series
On the evening of January 2, 2009, Captain Matteo Russo and crewman John Orlando got underway aboard the fifty-four-foot fishing vessel Patriot, from the iconic State Pier in Gloucester, Massachusetts, bound for nearby fishing grounds in search of cod. They never returned.
What happened less than eight hours later on that bitter and dark winter early morning that caused the Patriot to sink? Why did the Coast Guard deliberate more than two hours before launching a rescue mission? Using official documents, numerous interviews and insight as a search and rescue commander, maritime historian Captain W. Russell Webster, USCG (Ret.), expertly documents the tragedy of the Patriot, with startling findings. He deftly explores the condition of "normalcy bias" linked to this heartbreaking case, which can cause people-including Coast Guard personnel-to deny and sometimes over-deliberate threats to human life.
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The Nebraska Winter of 1948-49
Stories of Survival
by Barry Seegebarth
Part of the Disaster series
In 1948-49, Nebraska experienced a winter like never before. Brutal cold, unbearable winds and record snowfall made roads impassable and life difficult for locals. Farmers and ranchers struggled with hunger due to a dwindling supply of coal and food. The governor requested federal aid, and the U.S. Air Force dropped bales of hay into pastures for animals. Many locals perished in the weather, and icy roads forced the state to redesign and rebuild highways. Author Barry Seegebarth details the tragedy and courage of the Nebraska winter of 1948.
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The Cocoanut Grove Nightclub Fire
A Boston Tragedy
by Stephanie Schorow
Part of the Disaster series
On November 28, 1942, fire roared through Boston's famed Cocoanut Grove nightclub during what was supposed to be a high-spirited Saturday night. By midnight, more than five hundred people were dead, dying, or maimed for life.
Local author Stephanie Schorow probes the club's history, the circumstances leading to the fire, and the tragedy's lingering impact. The inferno reached deep into the city's social structure-its politics, medical care, law enforcement, and religious life-and touched nearly everyone in the Boston area, even those who had never set foot in the club. In this newly updated and revised edition, Schorow has added new information, photographs, interviews and insights on the worst nightclub fire in American history.
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Train Crash at Crush, Texas
America's Deadliest Publicity Stunt
by Mike Cox
Part of the Disaster series
On September 15, 1896, Crush boasted the highest population in Texas. Built near Waco, the town provided the staging ground for a publicity stunt ramming two trains together at top speed. Showrunner and Katy Railroad official William Crush thought he had planned for every contingency. But when elephant-sized chunks of steam locomotive began raining down into the packed stands, the extravaganza quickly unraveled into one of the Lone Star State's most confounding tragedies. The soon-to-be famous Scott Joplin commemorated the debacle in "The Great Crush Collision March," and entrepreneurs like "Head-On Joe" Connolly of Iowa continued the tradition of the staged locomotive duel for decades. But the stupefying incident still slipped into the back pages of Texas lore. In the first-ever book on the subject, writer-historian Mike Cox finally tells the full story of the Crash at Crush.
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Historic Storms of Cape Cod
by Don Wilding
Part of the Disaster series
Cape Cod has always been in the path of deadly hurricanes and ferocious storms. Unwelcome summer visitors include the "Long Island Express" Hurricane of 1938, the Great Atlantic Hurricane of 1944, the twin Hurricanes Carol and Edna in 1954, and Hurricane Bob in 1991. These storms destroyed countless homes and left several coastal communities under several feet of water. Surging tides carried away houses with residents inside who didn't survive and sank the Coast Guard lightship Vineyard in Buzzards Bay, killing all 12 crew members. Fall and winter brought the benchmark Blizzard of 1978, the nor'easter of January 1987, and the infamous "Perfect Storm" of October 1991 which delivered some of the highest tides ever seen on the Outer Cape. Local author Don Wilding revisits the Cape's most severe weather events and their devastating impact.
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The Great Hurricanes of North Carolina
by John Hairr
Part of the Disaster series
From the horrific Independence Hurricane of 1775, the most lethal storm to strike its coast, to the ruinous Hugo in September 1989, a path has been cut along the shores of the Tarheel State-a path not easily forgotten. Engagingly written and illustrated with historical photos that graphically depict the disastrous effects of these mighty storms, this book is a gripping read!
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The Great Crescenta Valley Flood: New Year's Day 1934
by Art Cobery
Part of the Disaster series
As Crescenta Valley residents gathered to ring in the 1934 New Year, a cloudburst broke over Southern California's San Gabriel Mountains, unleashing a deluge on mountainsides denuded by recent fires. A roaring wall of rocks, mud and water crashed down the canyons, uprooting trees, tossing boulders and automobiles like toys and carving a path of destruction. Using painstaking research and heart-rending firsthand accounts, historian Art Cobery paints a picture of survival and redemption in the face of natural disaster, including the heroic efforts of eleven-year-old Marcie Warfield to save her father and younger brother, the devastating debris flow that claimed the lives of refugees and aid workers at the American Legion Hall and the selfless acts of neighbors caught in the storm of events.
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Portland's Greatest Conflagration
The 1866 Fire Disaster
by Michael Daicy
Part of the Disaster series
On the Fourth of July in 1866, joy turned to tragedy in Portland, Maine. A boy threw a firecracker onto a pile of wood shavings and it erupted in a blaze as residents prepared to celebrate the 110th anniversary of American independence in the momentous time following the Civil War. The violent conflagration killed two people and destroyed all structures on nearly thirty streets. Authors Michael Daicy and Don Whitney, both firefighters, chronicle the day's catastrophic events, as well as the bravery of those who fought the ferocious fire, dispelling the myth that ill-trained firefighting contributed to the devastation.