'Too Much Sea for Their Decks' by Michael Schumacher
The Titanic is history’s most infamous “unsinkable ship,” but there have been others. One of them, the Thomas Wilson, was built in West Superior, Wis., and plied the Great Lakes carrying grain, coal and other cargo.
The Wilson was a “whaleback,” with a rounded hull designed to roll with the Great Lakes’ heavy weather. She sank on a sunny day in 1902 when she collided at full speed with a larger freighter at Duluth, sinking rapidly and dragging nine crewmen to their death.
The wreck of the Wilson is one of many sinkings documented in Too Much Sea for their Decks. It’s the sixth book of Great Lakes maritime history by Michael Schumacher, the Kenosha writer known in other circles for his biographies of Francis Ford Coppola, Eric Clapton and Allen Ginsberg. His latest focuses on the sunken ships of Lake Superior with a focus on Duluth. According to Schumacher, the Minnesota city was once second only to New York in handling commercial shipping.
As with his previous maritime histories, Schumacher masterfully blends the economic forces driving the shipping industry and the technology of boat building with the human stories of the captains and crews who sailed the lakes. The waters have usually been placid in summer but in late fall, roiling waves and heavy winds can stir in an instant. The temperamental lakes have claimed many ships, giving Schumacher opportunity for more books on the subject.
