The Sarnia Historical Society is hosting author Bruce Kemp to talk about his new book: “Weather Bomb 1913: Life and Death on the Great Lakes”

When: Tuesday, November 28th, 7PM
Where: Sarnia Legion (upstairs) 286 Front St N, Sarnia, ON N7T 5S7 (MAP HERE)
Admission: Free to the public.  Refreshments provided
Contact: Call Ron RealeSmith @ 519-328-5009 or email [email protected]

Book Information Link: Click here

Book Intro:

In the dark hours of November 9, 1913, death screamed across the Great Lakes in the guise of a rare, white hurricane. The Storm brutalized the region for most of the following week leaving in its wake cities crippled by devastating snowfalls, paralyzed communications, mysteries that remain unsolved to this day and the corpses of 256 men and women from twelve of the largest ships on the fresh water seas.
 
Taking its storyline from interviews with the few remaining survivors – like the Stratford senior who skipped school to help collect bodies off the beach, the woman who tried to chop the Storm in two with an axe and the little girl who hid all day under the kitchen table waiting for word of her captain father – Bruce Kemp collected up as many living memories of the event as possible then fleshed them out with period media reports making Weather Bomb 1913 an accurate recounting of the causes and costs of the Storm.
 
But Kemp didn’t leave it at that. He went to incredible lengths to write this book, (which took 40 years from start to finish). Along with material garnered from archives, museums and libraries, he interviewed ship captains who know the Lakes intimately and were part of many of the stories that give the book a gritty authenticity. Kemp also worked with meteorologists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to present and interpret brand new computer modeling of the Storm they’ve branded “the worst natural disaster ever to hit central North America…”
 
Largely forgotten today, the Storm of 1913 was an important event in the history of the Great Lakes. It should be part of the fabric of the regional and national cultural fabric.
 
Bruce Kemp is an internationally known writer and photographer and has covered everything from fine dining in Europe to the America’s Cup and voyages through the fabled Northwest Passage. Previous books include: The Complete Travel Writer, the Ports Cruising Guide To Lake Erie and Lake St. Clair, updates to the Ports Cruising Guide to the Rideau Canal and the novel Letters From A Fugitive’s Son.

Bruce Kemp Bio
 
An Award-winning journalist and photojournalist, Bruce Kemp has been an involved boating writer or more than 35 years covering both the power and sail sides of the story. Since the 1980s he has travelled the world sending stories home about everything from Canada’s America’s Cup effort to how to carve a Haida canoe. His work is seen in Boat Guide Canada, Boating Business and Ports Guides. It appears in international publications like Sailing World, Cruising World and Wooden Boat as well. His career has stretched to include: a textbook for travel writers, “The Complete Travel Writer”; a novel about fugitive slaves in Canada and their fight in the American Civil War to end slavery, “Letters From A Fugitive’s Son” (Little White Publishing); and his just-released book of Great Lakes maritime history, “Weather Bomb 1913 – Life and Death on the Great Lakes”. He has been honored with the Caribbean Photographer of the Year Award, numerous national, provincial and regional awards for both writing and photography.