Dwight Boyer Shipwreck Books

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Re: Dwight Boyer Shipwreck Books

by pcolachap » June 10, 2021, 2:16 pm

I too have enjoyed Dwight Boyer's books & his column in the Cleveland Pain Dealer. If you like this quality of material and the time frame, read Dana Thomas Bowen's books on the Lakes.

Re: Dwight Boyer Shipwreck Books

by Jon Paul » June 10, 2021, 11:55 am

My father had all of Boyer's books and I grew up reading them.I even took a few of them with me when I was sailing. One thing I appreciated about his stories is that he never left out the itinerant sailors, some nameless or living under assumed names, that drifted from boat to boat barely making enough to live on and who died sometimes in obscurity.
Yes he took artistic license at times but far less than some of the current crop of GL writers who use wild speculation and few facts to push a narrative.
One of my favorites was his short story "Soft and Brown with a touch of Green" which was his tale of the ill fated Andaste.
Anyone who wants an honest perspective of what life was like working on the Great Lakes in the first half of the 20th Century should read his books.

Re: Dwight Boyer Shipwreck Books

by Guest » June 10, 2021, 7:39 am

Woodtick wrote:I have all of his books, they are well written, it is hard to find good books written about the Great Lakes shipping industry
Unfortunately, there is not a large market for such books, and as such larger publishing houses will shy away from pursuing titles of this genre. Great Lakes shipping is a very regional subject based on a relatively small market group. As the shipping industry has shrunk over the past several decades the market for books on this subject has also declined. I know some people will argue that certain social media groups have thousands of followers and that every time a ship goes through the piers at Duluth there is a large crowd to greet them as signs that there is a huge interest in this hobby. However, the fact is that regardless of this apparent popularity, how many of these people are interested in buying books on the subject? It is like saying that everyone that attends an air show is an enthusiast rather than a good percentage of the crowd being casual observers. For instance, my son follows some of the Great Lakes shipping Facebook pages primarily because he grew up going with me to the river to take pictures of the boats. He is, however, no enthusiast and has no interest in reading about them.

I don't know what the current practices are but at one time most of the well-known publishing houses and their subsidiaries would not touch a title if there was not a potential market to sell 100,000+ copies of a book. From my experience, most Great Lakes shipping books fall mostly into a category of 5,000 copies or less. There are some subjects, such as the Edmund Fitzgerald, that have the potential for larger sales volume but these would still likely fall far short of the volume large publishers would deem as worthy of pursuing. That being said, the emergence and growing trend of digital short-run and POD books have opened up opportunities for a larger number of titles and a more diverse range of subjects. This has allowed consumers access to books that they would not otherwise have had an opportunity to purchase.

Re: Dwight Boyer Shipwreck Books

by Woodtick » June 9, 2021, 10:41 pm

I have all of his books, they are well written, it is hard to find good books written about the Great Lakes shipping industry

Re: Dwight Boyer Shipwreck Books

by Jared » June 9, 2021, 9:12 pm

I consider Boyer and Bowen as the best authors of books pre-dating 1960s (even though some of their material is later). To this day it is very accurate as many of the stories are not only from first hand accounts of people that witnessed events, but their access to material that many simply did not have. As I recall Boyer was a reporter himself in the 40s and 50s and surviors of wrecks and shipboard incidents from the 1870s and 80s were still alive.

So to answer your question, the books hold up quite well information wise. There may be a couple instances of artistic licenses used, but nothing absurd.

Re: Dwight Boyer Shipwreck Books

by Guest » June 9, 2021, 7:03 pm

Dwight Boyer was a marine reporter and writer for the Toledo Blade (1944-1954) and the Cleveland Plains Dealer (1954-1977).

https://ohiocenterforthebook.org/2017/0 ... er-dwight/

- Brian

Dwight Boyer Shipwreck Books

by Guest » June 9, 2021, 3:46 pm

The Great Lakes shipwreck books by Dwight Boyer are very interesting reads. Does anyone have any biographical information on him? How accurate are his books? I have a feeling he may have taken a little bit of an artistic license on some of his stories, but not complaining as they are very interesting and enjoyable to read.

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