Shipwreck Tales of the Great Lakes by Cris Kohl

Shipwreck Tales of the Great Lakes by Cris Kohl was one of those books I saw on my recent trip around Lake Michigan that I had to pick up!

The book is packed with stories about shipwrecks, how they happen, and what we know about the ships now.

As someone who grew up away from the Great Lakes, I guess I really never realized that some shipwrecks have been brought up, and restored to usable condition (and some have been sunk and restored more than once!).  I didn't know that some shipwreck sites have been found, and then that site is lost.  I didn't know that the Griffon may or may not have been found.

Also, I like Cris Kohl's writing style.  I read another book recently about shipwrecks in the Great Lakes that was difficult.  A book about shipwrecks can get technical quick.  Cris wrote this book in a way that even people with little to no knowledge of the lakes and ships can understand.

Kohl is careful to give the reader a clear, "here is what we know now" ending.  I really like knowing what became of the shipwrecks, the wreck sites, etc.  Cris even goes to Oklahoma to investigate a ship's captain who was thought to be dead!  Great fiction writers couldn't make this stuff up!

Cris Kohl did a lot of homework on this book.  I have read some other books about events and areas where I feel like the author slopped the book together over a weekend after reading a few other similar books.  This is not the case with Kohl.  As an underwater photographer and researcher, he has put MANY gorgeous color photos he took himself at the wreck sites in the book.  Old newspaper articles are included along with old postcards.  Cris uses a lot of vintage resources from his own collection, AND he has obviously done decades worth of research on his own.