"Great Lakes Ships We Remember" is the third volume in a three volume set from the Marine Historical Society of Detroit, edited by Peter J. Van der Linden. The book is a very large and beautifully printed work with a gorgeous picture of "Edmund Fitzgerald" underway on the slipcover. The book is designed as an homage to the ships and men who sailed the Great Lakes, particularly those who lost their lives on the lakes. It is a worthy volume for anyone interested in the ships and history of the Great Lakes. The ships selected were selected because they "were creatures of engineering art," and the authors are quick to note that they are a very small percentage of the thousands of ships that have sailed the Great Lakes. These are a representative group of a wide variety of ships from the well-known ("Edmund Fitzgerald," "Eastland," "Carl D. Bradley," "Cedarville," "Tashmoo," etc.) to the extremely obscure and esoteric, e.g. the wooden steam barge "W. J. Carter" or the "Seeandbee," the largest sidewheel steamer in the world, converted to a training aircraft carrier (!) by the US Navy during World War Two, becoming the "USS Wolverine."

All of these ships have a story to tell, and reading through this book is as close to traveling back in time and exploring the world of three-masted wooden schooners, cement barges, bulk carriers, and salvage tugs that most of us will ever know. Sadly, the most well-known of the ships in the book are remembered for disaster, with "Edmund Fitzgerald" towering over all the others. While I am, of course, interested in the "Fitzgerald," all the ships presented here are fascinating, although it's astonishing how many of them now reside at the bottom of the lakes, and doubly amazing the number that met their fate from fire.

Despite its imposing size, this is a book that is enjoyable to read and is mostly photographs, so it goes by rather quickly. I am amazed at the level of detail the authors unearthed on these ships, some of which are extremely obscure, and many of which haven't been around in over 100 years. I am definitely going to read the final two volumes in the series, and commend Van der Linden and his colleagues on a masterful and worthy book that truly keeps alive the history of these ships for future generations.