Magic Masts and Sturdy Ships
Sailors, Ships, and Shore Mates from the Great Lakes to the Great Barrier Reef
  • Welcome to Magic Masts and Sturdy Ships
  • Immigrant Engineer Joseph Van Blerck
  • The Fitzgeralds :Ships and Men
  • E Books and Print Books for Sale
  • Great Lakes Captains
    • Captain John Miner: Savvy Sailor, Skillful Skater
    • Does Captain Byron Inman Haunt His Tug Record in Duluth Harbor?
    • Great Lakes Winds in the Rigging..
    • Chaplain John David Jones Preached on the Cleveland Waterfront >
      • Captain William Callaway Sailed a Milwaukee Schooner to Hamburg
      • Captain Delos Smith Says Rescues Are All in a Day's Work
      • Captain Robert Mayo Invents a Revolving Life Boat
      • Did Captain John McKay Float a Bottle Note as the Manistee Sank?
      • Captain Amos Foster Meets Admiral Porter and President Lincoln
      • Eber and Samuel Ward, Captains of the Great Lakes Shipping Industry
      • Captain Henry Woods, Muskegon's Traveled and Talented Lifesaver
      • The Maritime Mixed Blessings of Captain John Pridgeon
      • Captain George L. Thompson and the Pere Marquette 16
      • CQD, Captain Peter Kilty, and Pere Marquette Car Ferry No. 18
      • The Lake Michigan Steamer Alpena Sinks in a Monster October Storm
    • The Newly-Weds, a Winter Storm, and the Waubuno
    • Silver Islet - Mining Silver Under Lake Superior
    • Yankee John Murray vs. Conspirator Charles Cole - the Johnson's Island Plot
    • Ice Skater Benjamin Langford is Rescued from Lake Erie Ice
    • The Eastland/Wilmette Steamed a Wide Wake on the Great Lakes
    • Does Columbus Sail His Ships in Jackson Park Lagoon?
    • The Legend of Cape Maleas in Greece Transcends Time
    • Two Great Lakes Ships Still Make Ghostly Voyages on Lakes Superior and Michigan
    • The Ticonderoga's Haunted Blue Bell with the Bewitching Tone
    • The Last Voyage of the Slave Ship Martha Kane and Her Haunted Jolly Boat
    • The Poet and the Prisoners: Philip Freneau and the Revolutionary War Death Ships
    • A Thanksgiving Break in Lake Michigan Breakers
    • The Miami Canal Is Part of Toledo Maritime History >
      • 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
    • President Grover Cleveland's Secret Surgery on the Steam Yacht Oneida
  • 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
  • A German U-Boat Sinks the Algonquin and Bombs America Into World War I
  • Two Rival Captains Challenge the Atlantic Ocean in Small Boats
  • Six Small Boys in a Lifeboat - The Story of the City of Benares
  • Veterans Stories - Charles Wedel
    • "I have One More Hour of Fuel"- Operation Frequent Wind and the USS Midway
    • The Thirteenth Voyage of the USS Northern Pacific
    • 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
  • 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
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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. 

My Amazon Author Page is:  amazon author page
​
Sincerely,

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



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

Other History Websites
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

​Nook Books
 
Rafting the Waters and Pulling an Oar for Ecorse – The Story of the Ecorse Rowing Club
 
Amanda’s Fishing Trip
The Grouchy Day
 
Ecorse Along the Detroit River
A Brief History of Ecorse
 
 
Amazon Books
Four Pigs, Four Wolves, and the  Treaty of Styville
Amy, Laura, and the Snowflake Bear
Rhymes and Reasons for the Seasons

The Year the Teacher Lived with Jeb
 
Mary Walker’s Lighthouse
Granny Godfroy Grows Up
 
Ecorse Michigan, A Brief History
Ecorse Along the Detroit River
Rachel, a Prism of History:  The Story of Rachel Jackson
 
 



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    • COPYRIGHT NOTICE
      All of the material on this website is copyrighted.  You are free to link to any of the articles and to download any of the PDF books to read and use as long as you credit me as the author. You can contact me at:  kathywarnes@gmail.com




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Photograph courtesy of the Ecorse, Michigan Rowing Club.
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