Sweetwater, Storms, and Spirits

Stories of the Great Lakes

Edited by Victoria Brehm

Subjects: Michigan and the Great Lakes, Maritime, Literary Studies, American Literature
Paperback : 9780472081516, 352 pages, illustrations, map, 5.5 x 8, May 1991
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.12209
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A collection of Great Lakes maritime stories

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Contents

Map     xi
Introduction     1
Editor's Note     18

Masters and Men
Out of the Trough, Ralph Emberg     23
Helmsmen on Lake Erie, Anonymous     38
A Gold-Headed Cane, Walter Havighurst     44
The Bosun's Chair, George Vukelich     61

St. Elmo's Fire
A Lake Huron Ghost Story, Anonymous     85
From Scenes on Lake Huron, A North American     93
Nanabushu Swallowed by the Sturgeon, Ojibwa Myth Collected by William Jones     112
Now Great-Lynx, Ojibwa Story Collected by William Jones     119
The Snow Wassett, Anonymous: Collected by Ivan H. Walton     122
An Anchor in a Graveyard, C.H.J. Snider     125

Fishermen
The Origin of the White Fish, Ojibwa Myth Collected by Henry Rowe Schoolcraft     141
The Fish Pirates, James Oliver Curwood     146
The Sturgeon, George Vukelich     172

Lighthouses and Lockkeepers
Ballast Island, Constance Fenimore Woolson     199
The Fall of the Lighthouse, Frances Ward Hurlbut     229
Geraniums, Dean Eltham     233

White SquallGetting Bounty from the English, Menomini Story Collected by Leonard Bloomfield     251
The Deep Water Mate, Norman Reilly Raine     255
The Survival of the Fittest, Morgan Robertson     274
From November Storm, Jay McCormick     295

 

Bibliography     335
Biographical Notes     337

Description

Native American legends, shipping tales, folklore, and myths spanning the last 150 years are gathered together for the first time in this collection. The presence of Native American culture, the unpredictable climate, the dangerous closeness of the shoreline, and the bloody history of shipping on the Lakes contribute greatly to the uniqueness of maritime literature on the Lakes.

Sweetwater, Storms, and Spirits will appeal to those interested in both Native American literature and history and Great Lakes maritime history, and to those who simply enjoy a good maritime tale. The collection is a seabag of different kinds of stories, myths, and tales that together create a picture of life as it has been lived on the Great Lakes.

Victoria Brehm is retired professor of American literature and helped found the Constance Fenimore Woolson Society.

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