In this book readers explore the historic threads which came together in 1986 as Baltimore's popular ambassador replica topsail schooner Pride of Baltimore was overcome by a sudden wind and sank quickly with the loss of her captain and three young crew members. Readers accompany Pride incident by incident, log entry by log entry, port-of-call by port-of-call, to learn how she ventured one cruise too far from her design mission. Hear maritime investigators report an earlier incident in the Baltic that came to notice only after Pride sank and should have raised a red flag for everyone in Baltimore. Read the only interviews in reportage of the Pride story with Dr. Tetsuya "Ted" Fujita, the meteorologist to first describe a microburst (before he died in 1998) and in which he debunks the microburst theory of the casualty. Finally, evaluate lessons learned during the investigation and how sailing school vessels and other tall ships now operate in greater safety because of as well as in spite of it.

The impact of the Civil War was felt far beyond American shores. Many sites associated with the war remain in Britain and France--the two countries most affected--and traces of it can still be found in such unlikely places as Sweden and Turkey. Both Union and Confederate agents sought support overseas, aided by local sympathizers. Some Victorian Britons, despite their disdain for slavery, saw the South as an incipient nation struggling for recognition, like the Italians or the Poles, but linked to Britain by ties of blood, language and history. The sinking of the CSS Alabama by the USS Kearsarge off Cherbourg brought the war to the European coastline. Ten years after Appomattox, veterans from both North and South found themselves on the same side in the Egyptian army. Drawing on a wide range of sources, this book examines the international side of the Civil War.

A comprehensive guide to the poems, prose, biography, ideas and contexts of Byron, entries range from detailed coverage of the major poems to items on Byron's songs, conversation, interest in boxing, swimming and vampires, and sexual liaisons; also the 'Byronic Hero', Byron in fiction and drama, and his pervasive influence on subsequent literature.