Donald G. Shomette takes a close look at a slice of nautical history -- broadly defined in the American timeline, although narrow in terms of geography -- in Shipwrecks on the Chesapeake: Maritime Disasters on Chesapeake Bay & Its Tributaries, 1608-1978.

Sure, one might expect a book so titled to be a dull tome listing only the dates and places of each disaster, along with the names of the ships and captains involved and perhaps a few scant details of the cause of each. But Shomette takes a closer look, in many cases -- and where the historical record is available -- giving much more context into the incidents in question.

This collection of true stories begins with a mysterious wreck off Tangier Island, supposedly discovered in 1926 and dating perhaps to 1610, all evidence of which -- if it ever truly existed -- lost in time. The book moves on from there, diving into the details of incidents that have wrecked vessels and taken lives ever since ships have sailed the region.

The book is divided into five epochs of U.S. history: The Colonial Era, Revolution, The Age of Transition, Civil War, and The Modern Era.

Given the overall thoroughness of the book, which is a comprehensive look at shipwrecks in a major nautical thoroughfare over within three centuries time, the author understandably devotes very little space to a majority of entries. Many wrecks warrant a sentence or two, maybe a long paragraph, before moving on to the next incident. And there are plenty contained here, stories of vessels lost to weather, poor seamanship, fire, war and, in a few cases, fervent patriotism.

The more interesting sections are those that devote considerably more attention to individual incidents. Many of these chapters focus on wartime encounters, where details are plentiful and often quite dramatic.

The most memorable for me was a chapter set during the Civil War, when the Confederate army captured the naval yard at Norfolk, Virginia, and later the ironclad ships Monitor and Virginia (formerly the Union ship Merrimack) battled for naval supremacy. The prelude to that battle, and the desperate fates of the USS Cumberland and Congress that fought and lost against a far more powerful opponent, is a melancholy coda to the age of the wooden ship.

Some of the stories, such as a ship carrying more than 300 immigrants lost in a storm in 1739, are especially heartbreaking. Another in that tragic vein involves a ship's captain who sought a new life with his family after the death of his wife, and who met his fate when his schooner Betsy foundered off the coast of Virginia in 1798. He died holding his two infant children in his arms, and his body was later found still touching one to his chest.

The final entry is a sad end for a ship and her captain, Chief Warrant Officer Donald Robinson, whose mishandling of the Coast Guard cutter Cuyahoga led to an avoidable collision with the much larger bulk freighter Santa Cruz II and the deaths of 11 crewmen in 1978. Afterwards, in a 50-page appendix, Shomette provides a comprehensive and chronological list of all vessels lost in the Chesapeake over the book's 370-year span.

Although dry in places, Shipwrecks on the Chesapeake is a very interesting collection of stories of loss from the massive bay area. Anyone interested in nautical history in general, or Chesapeake history in particular, should read this book.