Gary Gentile's Popular Dive Guide Series As suggested by the title and series name, this volume covers the most well-known wrecks sunk off the geographical coast of Virginia, including some wrecks in the lower Chesapeake Bay.
For each of the wrecks covered, a statistical sidebar provides basic information such as the dates of construction and loss, previous names (if any), tonnage and dimensions, builder and o wner (at time of loss), port of registry, type of vessel and how propelled, cause of sinking, location (loran coordinates if known), and depth. In most cases, an historical photograph or illustration of the ship leads the text. Throughout the book is scattered a selection of color underwater photographs, some of the wrecks, more often of typical marine life found in the area.
Each volume is full of fascinating narratives of triumph and tragedy, of heroism and disgrace, of human nature at its best and its basest. These books are not about wood and steel, but about flesh and blood, for every shipwreck saga is a human story. Ships may founder, run aground, burn, collide with other vessels, or be torpedoed by a German U-boat. In every case, however, what is emphatically important is what happened to the people who became victims of casualty: how they survived, how they died.
Also included are descriptions of the wrecks as they appear on the bottom.
At the end of each volume is a bibliography of suggested reading, and a list of more than 400 loran numbers of wrecks in and adjacent to the area covered.
Wrecks covered in Shipwrecks of Virginia are: Anglo African, Brazil, Chilore, China Arrow, City of Annapolis, Clythia, Cuhahoga, David H. Atwater, Dorothy, Edward Luckenbach, Edward R. Baird Jr., Eidsvold, Ethel C., Eureka, Francis E. Powell, Hattie Dunn, John Morgan, Julia Luckenbach, Juno, Kingston Ceylonite, Lillian Luckenbach, Louisiana, Madrugada, Marine Electric, Menominee, Merida, Monroe, O.B. Jennings, Ocean Venture, Olinda, Santore, Spring Chicken, Texas/San Marcos, Tiger, Vestris, Washington, Wm. D. Sanner, Winthrop, and a Special Report on the 1921 Billy Mitchell sinkings of ex-German warships off the Virginia Capes: U-111, U-117, U-140, UB-148, G-102, S-132, V-43, Frankfurt, and Ostfriesland.
