'The wind noise was screaming, howling . . . incredible, plus the rain and the sea spray, it was just like being hit by nails or stabbed in the face.' From the first wreck in 1622 off Western Australia to the tragedy of the 1998 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, Evan McHugh captures all the drama of Australia's maritime history. There are swashbuckling mutineers, violent storms, uncharted reefs, enemy warships, as well as ripping yarns about Dutchmen and lascars, Aborigines and escaped convicts. Shipwrecks is a white-knuckle voyage through chaos and tragedy which proclaims the courage and strength of the human spirit. It is a powerful reminder that even in the twenty-first century the sea remains a great, unconquered frontier. 'The ship seemed not to sink, but the waters seemed to rise around us. The vessel went down suddenly at the last moment, leaving 200 people all huddled together in the water.'