Great Stories of the Great Lakes – The first commercial ship to sail the Great Lakes promptly vanished on its maiden voyage, a prophetic beginning to the grim and tragic history of navigation on the world’s greatest fresh-water seas. The ribs and plates of thousands of vessels – the immigrant ships, brigs, schooners, steel freighters, and even big salt-water tramp ships, built to go anywhere in the world – today lie fathoms deep, victims of fierce storms, collisions, fires, shoals, and the myriad hazards of navigation. Here, too, are the ghosts of the men who sailed them, tramping the decks of lost ships.
