THE WRECK OF THE WILLIAM BROWN: A True Tale of Overcrowded Lifeboats and Murder at Sea

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THE WRECK OF THE WILLIAM BROWN: A True Tale of Overcrowded Lifeboats and Murder at Sea By Tom Koch 212 Pages, Illustrated, 5.5-in x 8.75-in, Paperback. ISBN: 0-07-145631-7 - $12.95. McGraw-Hill Companies; 1-800-262- 4729; www.internationalmarine.com

In the legerdemain of famed shipwrecks, the April 1841 sinking of the sailing ship William Brown, with its loss of 65 mostly immigrant passengers, hardly rates more than passing mention. The wreck itself was neither unique nor especially newsworthy, for in that early era of transatlantic sea travel, collisions with drifting icebergs was a fairly common occurrence - a period map revealing no less than 31 such sinkings from 1830 to 1842. …