A fascinating account of these islands’ maritime history embracing the most comprehensive details of shipwrecks and disasters ever published. There are not only stories of tragedies, grief and heroism, but also of humour, greed and folly. For all aspects of shipping accidents have been witnessed on these shores, swept as they are by treacherous tides, battered by the most ferocious winds or blanketed in dense fog. Well over 800 wrecks are recorded and detailed including two of the most important and exciting discoveries in recent times - the Elizabethan Wreck in Alderney and the Gallo-Roman ship found in Guernsey’s St Peter Port Harbour. But there are also many more accounts…. of Elizabethan brigands awaiting “Her Majesty’s pleasure” after their pirate ship had gone aground…. of looters engaging in drunken brawls after thousands of casks of wine floated ashore from a wrecked steamer …. of the major rescue operation mounted when a giant oil rig was driven on to rocks… and of individual acts of bravery after a packed passenger steamer crashed into th Casquets - the “Titanic of the Channel Islands”. And there are mysteries. Why did HMS Victory, the precursor to Nelson’s famous ship, become separated from the fleet and disappear with all hands - 1,100 officers and ratings - on the Casquets? Where did the famous 12th century White Ship come to grief and was everyone on board drunk at the time? And why did the submarine Affray sink north of Alderney, killing all on board, while on a secret naval exercise?

“Ray Dafter has given us enough of a complex tale to satisfy the curious, while firing the imagination of the inquisitive and providing sound authoritative material for the studious. If you want wrecks, start here.” Leading Lights