MAGIC MASTS AND STURDY SHIPS
  • Welcome to Magic Masts and Sturdy Ships
  • Immigrant Engineer Joseph Van Blerck
  • The Fitzgeralds :Ships and Men
  • Captain John Miner: Savvy Sailor, Skillful Skater
  • Eber and Samuel Ward, Captains of the Great Lakes Shipping Industry
  • Does Captain Byron Inman Haunt His Tug Record in Duluth Harbor?
  • Great Lakes Captains
    • Chaplain John David Jones Preached on the Cleveland Waterfront
    • Great Lakes Winds in the Rigging..
    • Captain Robert Mayo Invents a Revolving Life Boat
    • Did Captain John McKay Float a Bottle Note as the Manistee Sank?
  • The Lake Michigan Steamer Alpena Sinks in a Monster October Storm
  • Captain Delos Smith Says Rescues Are All in a Day's Work
  • Captain William Callaway Sailed a Milwaukee Schooner to Hamburg
  • The Maritime Mixed Blessings of Captain John Pridgeon
  • Captain Henry Woods, Muskegon's Traveled and Talented Lifesaver
  • Captain George L. Thompson and the Pere Marquette 16
  • CQD, Captain Peter Kilty, and Pere Marquette Car Ferry No. 18
  • Silver Islet - Mining Silver Under Lake Superior
  • The Eastland/Wilmette Steamed a Wide Wake on the Great Lakes
  • Captain Amos Foster Meets Admiral Porter and President Lincoln
  • The Newly-Weds, a Winter Storm, and the Waubuno
  • President Grover Cleveland's Secret Surgery on the Steam Yacht Oneida
  • Yankee John Murray vs. Conspirator Charles Cole - the Johnson's Island Plot
  • Ice Skater Benjamin Langford is Rescued from Lake Erie Ice
  • The Legend of Cape Maleas in Greece Transcends Time
  • The Miami Canal Is Part of Toledo Maritime History
  • Does Columbus Sail His Ships in Jackson Park Lagoon?
  • The Ticonderoga's Haunted Blue Bell with the Bewitching Tone
  • The Last Voyage of the Slave Ship Martha Kane and Her Haunted Jolly Boat
  • Two Great Lakes Ships Still Make Ghostly Voyages on Lakes Superior and Michigan
  • The Poet and the Prisoners: Philip Freneau and the Revolutionary War Death Ships
  • A Thanksgiving Break in Lake Michigan Breakers
  • Titanic Headlines, Titanic Questions
  • George Gordon Meade Built Lighthouses and Surveyed the Great Lakes Before the Civil War
  • President Abraham Lincoln Refused to Pardon Slave Trader Captain Nathaniel Gordon
  • A Privateer Whaleboat Raid on a New Jersey Night
    • CSS Shenandoah, the First World Voyager Fires the Last Shot in the Civil War
    • The CSS Tallahassee - Terror of the Eastern Seaboard
    • The CSS Alabama's Canon is Home in Alabama
    • Thomas Adams Fought the Great Detroit Fire and Sailed with Captain Robert Hackett
    • Two Rival Captains Challenge the Atlantic Ocean in Small Boats
    • A German U-Boat Sinks the Algonquin and Bombs America Into World War I
    • Six Small Boys in a Lifeboat - The Story of the City of Benares
  • "I have One More Hour of Fuel"- Operation Frequent Wind and the USS Midway
  • SS Orduna- Warrior, Troop Ship, and Stage for Human Drama
  • Operation Dynamo at Dunkirk is an Inspiring Maritime Historical Story
  • Christmas Parties on Captain Hiram Meeker's Floating Bethel
  • Colonel Lafourche Reported the Story of the Capture of Sam Ferrell's Mississippi River Pirate Gang
  • "Father Put Me in the Boat -" The Story of the Northfleet
  • Veterans Stories - Charles Wedel
  • The Thirteenth Voyage of the USS Northern Pacific
  • Maritime People
    • Bill and Nell Lively Make Maritime History on Isle Royale
    • Captain James Byers Hijacks His Own Steamer and Rejoins the Union
    • Canadian and American Fishermen Fight a New Battle of Lake Erie
    • Sturdy Ships >
      • Ecorse Rowing Club History
      • A Bright Red Lightship, LV75, Guided Ships Across Lake St. Clair
      • The USS Michigan - the First Iron Ship of Her Age
      • The USS Yantic Enjoys a Sixty Year Career and a Home Birth on the Great Lakes
      • Gun Fight at the Cape Florida Lighthouse
      • The Coal Pirates of Cold Spring Harbor
      • Maria Bray Lights Up a Christmas Celebration on Thacher Island
    • The Steamship Pulaski's Passengers Survive Her Sinking and Fall in Love
    • Women Help Save the Crew of the Bark Martha P. Tucker >
      • Does Faithful Florence Martus Still Wave to Her Yankee Lover?
      • Captain Matthew Webb Challenged the English Channel and Niagara Falls
      • Lights Shine from St. Philips and Beverly Baptist Church Steeples
      • Lightkeeper Chase and His Crew Rescue the H.P. Kirkham and Its Crew
      • Major Archie Butt and His Titanic Gift >
        • Captain Harry Ward Cruised Gold Fields and Commanded a Slave Ship
        • Alfred Lord Tennyson and the River Witham - Re-Crossing the Bar
  • Imaginary Lenses: Great Lakes Lighthouse Fiction
  • Immigrant Engineer Joseph Van Blerck
  • Immigrant Engineer Joseph Van Blerck
Picture
Photograph: Milwaukee, Wisconsin Harbor Scene

​To reach a port we must set sail –
Sail, not tie at anchor
Sail, not drift.” 
― Franklin D. Roosevelt



Hello and Welcome to Magic Masts and Sturdy Ships!

I am Kathy Warnes, and I was born in the maritime shadow of the Detroit River and the Great Lakes and I have spent my life making both real and imaginary voyages of discovery around them and the rest of the watery world. Ship sails and masts are magic, because whether they are wooden or steel or real or imaginary, they take us on voyages around the world and beyond the stars. Our ships are sturdy because they bring us back safely to our own worlds and encourage us to set sail again. I invite you to explore the lakes, seas, and waterways of the world with me. 

​
Sincerely,

Kathy Warnes Ph.D. , historian, writer, and life-long student



(For detailed credentials check my writing website, Kathy Warnes Writer 

Other History Websites
History Because It’s Here
 
​womenofeverycomplexionandcomplexity.weebly.com/Women of Every Complexion and Complexity 

Ecorse Along the Detroit River

Union City Pennsylvania's Past Lives

Windows to World History - Windows to World History 

Meandering Michigan History -  Meandering Michigan History 

Written With the Wind.  A website of poems, stories, articles and plays for children and their teachers.

Stories in Science - Science Fact and Science Fiction

Amazon Books
Here is the link for these books on my Amazon author page
Amy, Laura, and the Snowflake Bear
Don’t Fence Me In:  Memories of the Fort Ontario Refugees and Their Friends
Downriver Prohibition:  Its People and Perspectives
Ecorse, Michigan:  A Brief History
Ecorse Along the Detroit River
Four Pigs, Four Wolves, and the Treaty of Styville
Granny Godfroy Grows Up!
Mary Walker’s Lighthouse
Rachel, a Prism of History:  The Story of Rachel Jackson
Rhymes and Reasons for the Seasons
The Year the Teacher Lived with Jeb
 

 
Rafting the Waters and Pulling an Oar for Ecorse – The Story of the Ecorse Rowing Club

Google Play Books
Abby the Good Soldier
Searching for Spring
Singing Bicycle Safety Songs and Rapping Bicycle Safety Rhythms
Ginger and Ollie’s GRRROUCHY Day
Sarah Smelly Boots
The Magic Canoe
The Wind is My True Friend
Henry the Gentle Giant and January the Mean
Solo Soldier’s Stories
Grouchy King Doom and the Land of Gloom
 
History Blogs:  Monroe Memories and More

Onward Ohio History
​
​
​

    Nautical Notes

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  • Welcome to Magic Masts and Sturdy Ships
  • Immigrant Engineer Joseph Van Blerck
  • The Fitzgeralds :Ships and Men
  • Captain John Miner: Savvy Sailor, Skillful Skater
  • Eber and Samuel Ward, Captains of the Great Lakes Shipping Industry
  • Does Captain Byron Inman Haunt His Tug Record in Duluth Harbor?
  • Great Lakes Captains
    • Chaplain John David Jones Preached on the Cleveland Waterfront
    • Great Lakes Winds in the Rigging..
    • Captain Robert Mayo Invents a Revolving Life Boat
    • Did Captain John McKay Float a Bottle Note as the Manistee Sank?
  • The Lake Michigan Steamer Alpena Sinks in a Monster October Storm
  • Captain Delos Smith Says Rescues Are All in a Day's Work
  • Captain William Callaway Sailed a Milwaukee Schooner to Hamburg
  • The Maritime Mixed Blessings of Captain John Pridgeon
  • Captain Henry Woods, Muskegon's Traveled and Talented Lifesaver
  • Captain George L. Thompson and the Pere Marquette 16
  • CQD, Captain Peter Kilty, and Pere Marquette Car Ferry No. 18
  • Silver Islet - Mining Silver Under Lake Superior
  • The Eastland/Wilmette Steamed a Wide Wake on the Great Lakes
  • Captain Amos Foster Meets Admiral Porter and President Lincoln
  • The Newly-Weds, a Winter Storm, and the Waubuno
  • President Grover Cleveland's Secret Surgery on the Steam Yacht Oneida
  • Yankee John Murray vs. Conspirator Charles Cole - the Johnson's Island Plot
  • Ice Skater Benjamin Langford is Rescued from Lake Erie Ice
  • The Legend of Cape Maleas in Greece Transcends Time
  • The Miami Canal Is Part of Toledo Maritime History
  • Does Columbus Sail His Ships in Jackson Park Lagoon?
  • The Ticonderoga's Haunted Blue Bell with the Bewitching Tone
  • The Last Voyage of the Slave Ship Martha Kane and Her Haunted Jolly Boat
  • Two Great Lakes Ships Still Make Ghostly Voyages on Lakes Superior and Michigan
  • The Poet and the Prisoners: Philip Freneau and the Revolutionary War Death Ships
  • A Thanksgiving Break in Lake Michigan Breakers
  • Titanic Headlines, Titanic Questions
  • George Gordon Meade Built Lighthouses and Surveyed the Great Lakes Before the Civil War
  • President Abraham Lincoln Refused to Pardon Slave Trader Captain Nathaniel Gordon
  • A Privateer Whaleboat Raid on a New Jersey Night
    • CSS Shenandoah, the First World Voyager Fires the Last Shot in the Civil War
    • The CSS Tallahassee - Terror of the Eastern Seaboard
    • The CSS Alabama's Canon is Home in Alabama
    • Thomas Adams Fought the Great Detroit Fire and Sailed with Captain Robert Hackett
    • Two Rival Captains Challenge the Atlantic Ocean in Small Boats
    • A German U-Boat Sinks the Algonquin and Bombs America Into World War I
    • Six Small Boys in a Lifeboat - The Story of the City of Benares
  • "I have One More Hour of Fuel"- Operation Frequent Wind and the USS Midway
  • SS Orduna- Warrior, Troop Ship, and Stage for Human Drama
  • Operation Dynamo at Dunkirk is an Inspiring Maritime Historical Story
  • Christmas Parties on Captain Hiram Meeker's Floating Bethel
  • Colonel Lafourche Reported the Story of the Capture of Sam Ferrell's Mississippi River Pirate Gang
  • "Father Put Me in the Boat -" The Story of the Northfleet
  • Veterans Stories - Charles Wedel
  • The Thirteenth Voyage of the USS Northern Pacific
  • Maritime People
    • Bill and Nell Lively Make Maritime History on Isle Royale
    • Captain James Byers Hijacks His Own Steamer and Rejoins the Union
    • Canadian and American Fishermen Fight a New Battle of Lake Erie
    • Sturdy Ships >
      • Ecorse Rowing Club History
      • A Bright Red Lightship, LV75, Guided Ships Across Lake St. Clair
      • The USS Michigan - the First Iron Ship of Her Age
      • The USS Yantic Enjoys a Sixty Year Career and a Home Birth on the Great Lakes
      • Gun Fight at the Cape Florida Lighthouse
      • The Coal Pirates of Cold Spring Harbor
      • Maria Bray Lights Up a Christmas Celebration on Thacher Island
    • The Steamship Pulaski's Passengers Survive Her Sinking and Fall in Love
    • Women Help Save the Crew of the Bark Martha P. Tucker >
      • Does Faithful Florence Martus Still Wave to Her Yankee Lover?
      • Captain Matthew Webb Challenged the English Channel and Niagara Falls
      • Lights Shine from St. Philips and Beverly Baptist Church Steeples
      • Lightkeeper Chase and His Crew Rescue the H.P. Kirkham and Its Crew
      • Major Archie Butt and His Titanic Gift >
        • Captain Harry Ward Cruised Gold Fields and Commanded a Slave Ship
        • Alfred Lord Tennyson and the River Witham - Re-Crossing the Bar
  • Imaginary Lenses: Great Lakes Lighthouse Fiction
  • Immigrant Engineer Joseph Van Blerck
  • Immigrant Engineer Joseph Van Blerck