Chilling watercolor illustrations, photographs, maps, and news clippings accentuate Ratigan's compelling and dramatic storytelling. An entire section is dedicated to the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald - the most famous maritime loss in modern times - in Lake Superior in 1975. Included in this striking catalog of catastrophes and Flying Dutchmen are the magnificent excursion liner Eastland, which capsized at her pier in the Chicago River, drowning 835 people within clutching distance of busy downtown streets the shipwrecked steel freighter Mataafa, which dumped its crew into freezing waters while the snowbound town of Duluth looked on the dark Sunday in November 1913 when Lake Huron swallowed eight long ships without a man surviving to tell the tale and the bitter November of 1958 when the Bradley went down in Lake Michigan during one of the greatest killer storms on the freshwater seas. In this breathtaking chronicle of the most spectacular shipwrecks and survivals on the Great Lakes, William Ratigan re-creates vivid scenes of high courage and screaming panic from which no reader can turn away. Included in this striking catalog of catastrophes and Flying Dutchmen are the magnificent excursion liner Eastland, which capsized at her pier in the Chicago River, drowning 835 people within clutching distance of busy downtown streets the shipwrecked steel freighter Mataafa, which dumped its crew into. Ratigan's home in Charlevoix was located at 223 Park Avenue, which was known as 'Main Street' during the first part of the 20th century.In this breathtaking chronicle of the most spectacular shipwrecks and survivals on the Great Lakes, William Ratigan re-creates vivid scenes of high courage and screaming panic from which no reader can turn away. During World War II, Ratigan was employed by The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) and was named best all-around newsman in the world by Radio Life Magazine. from Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan. Ratigan graduated from the University of Chattanooga (Tennessee, USA) in 1935 and was published shortly thereafter. In his latter years, he would spend winters in Dunedin, Florida. Ratigan made his home in Charlevoix, Michigan for much of his life, where he operated a small used bookstore in a fish shanty called The Dockside Press.

He began attending the University of Detroit in 1931. Big, Hiawatha and America's Mightiest Mile, The Long Crossing, The Adventures of Captain McCargo and Soo Canal!. His other books include Straits of Mackinac!, Young Mr. William Ratigan (1910–1984) was a Michigan (USA) based writer who is best known for his book entitled Great Lakes Shipwrecks and Survivals. JSTOR ( October 2009) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message).

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Great Lakes by William Ratigan