The Mammoth Book of Shipwrecks and Sea Disasters by Richard Russell Lawrence

The natural world is at its most dangerous in a hostile sea – perils such as freak waves, typhoons and lee shores are ever present. This new collection brings together over 60 remarkable eyewitness accounts of catastrophe and survival on the high seas from throughout the ages.

It includes modern cases like the high-ocean dismasting of Kingfisher 2, Richard van Pham’s 100 days adrift in 2002, the Kursk submarine disaster, the Exxon Valdez and the ‘storm of the century’, as well as legendary and lesser known historical events like the HMS Proserpine catastrophe and the wreck of the Medusa.