Reviews
Shipwrecked: Coastal Disasters and the Making of the American Beach by Jamin Wells (University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 2020, 264pp, illus, maps, notes, biblio, index, isbn 978-1-46966090-5; $29.95pb) For too long shipwrecks have been the subject of limited interpretation, due in part to the very success of their exciting individual narratives. Stories of nautical mayhem have indeed served their purpose of sharing oceanic history, though some continue to search for midrange connections to larger historical trends. Facts and wrecks are not enough…why else are shipwrecks significant? Historical and archaeological values, yes…but is there meaning beyond the individual site? Jamin Wells attempts to answer this question by employing the cultural landscape approach and recognizing the cognitive role of shipwrecks in the environment, the American shore and beach. The phenomenon of shipwrecking (vessels being lost) and ship “wrecking” (vessels being salvaged) reaches far beyond any single incident. Wells’s book aims at the full implications of shipwrecks in the broadest social sense, focusing on the Northeast in the 19th century, a period of intense maritime activity that came with a staggering number of coastal losses. His hypothesis, that shipwrecks shaped American social, political, economic and cultural institutions, is a logical extension of Westerdahl’s original maritime cultural landscape thesis. This is timely. We are in a race to better value our marine ecosystem, including heritage and cultural services, in order to improve ocean stewardship before it’s simply too late. Examination of our perceptions of the coast is warranted. Like so much else, our assessment of the modern beach is not the result of any simple process, but of complex interactions from surprising quarters. Wells begins by portraying the earlycentury beach as a remote frontier in the vein of Frederick Jackson Turner, one economically critical to a young nation. As commerce brought America the bulk of its revenue, customs enforcement, and lighthouses, “aggressive federal interventions,” were logical and necessary initiatives for the wild shoreline. Coastal salvage at this time was informal and conducted ad hoc
coastal resort owners themselves. The development of the beach cash economy further advanced with rail and steam landings and roads. This transformation continued with the technological capacity to not just salvage larger wrecks, but to clear the beach itself. Captain T. A. Scott, a quintessential professional engineer/wrecker of the industrial age, serves well as the case-study lynchpin. Like the earlier stories of plunder, myths persisted about Scott’s larger-than-life hero/engineer/salvager persona, while the reality of large faceless marine engineering corporations moved forward. Wells’s approach is broader here, positioning shipwreck salvage within the age of marine engineering that transformed The Glencannon Pressharbors and beaches alike, including dredging, pilings, harbor construction, bulk4 col. inches (2.25 x 4.5 inches) heads, and ultimately bridges and dams. Prefer right hand page,This bottom right. is the new context of the shipwrecking by the few beach locals. In addition, the industry, part of the literal reshaping of the line between ad hoc salvage and outright coastline. piracy was sometimes thin indeed. While Once the beach was tamed and transit can be argued that the spread of ship- formed, the wild coasts were safe for amusewreck stories “reinforced the notion of ments, and the book’s final chapter turns American exceptionalism,” there was, to the shipwreck as spectacle, placed among typically, only one direction for this government intervention to go…upwards. The THE GLENCANNON frontier beach began to be tamed, as states’ PRESS shipwreck laws began to be systematically applied through hired commissioners. StoMaritime Books ries of plunder continued, due in part to America’s obsession with piracy and sensationalism, but the reality on the shore NEW! began to differ. Wells continues to use specific case studies (John Minturn wreck, Black Knight village of Squan, Commissioner John ForThe Life and Times of man, etc.) to excellent effect, navigating Capt. Hugh Mulzac seamlessly between the conceptual landscape and historical events. Place-based The complete life story of jurisdiction takes firmer hold of the distant shore. the first black man to have By the mid-century the shore began and sail on an American to be transformed. The US Life Saving master’s license and the first Service (USLSS) brought more formal to command a Liberty Ship structure to the coast, as well as destinations throughout World War II. (the stations themselves) for adventuresome wanderers, an initiating element of coastal More than 300 pages, 14 in tourism. Though steam connections and full color. roads were still rare to non-existent, this was one of the few ways entrepreneurs FREE Catalog began to create a footprint, promoting the Tel. 1-510-455-9027 health advantages of sea bathing and nature. Occasionally USLSS staff became
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