Edward Rowe Snow (1902–1982)

An entertaining if uneven collection of sea stories told in a casual, chatty style. Quite a variety of material: pirates and treasure hunting, ghosts and phantom ships, storms and shipwrecks, and the Mary Celeste rounds out the book. The modern editor brings many of the stories up to date with additional information. Well worth a read if you enjoy tales of the sea.

I had picked this one up many years ago and never read it. Then my wife and I went on a trip to Maine and I found the book a wonderful introduction to the area. The author is more of a folklorist than a true historian, and he is a bit too credulous of pirate tales and such. But it is a wonderful piece of Americana nonetheless and an unselfconscious enthusiasm for a sense of place that coastal Maine can still elicit in a visitor.