Book excerpt: The ghosts of ships long dead on the Oregon coast have been brought to life in this stirring account of shipwreck and disaster off the mouth of the Columbia River, whose treacherous bar has been the bane of mariners for generations. Sailing vessels and steamers; freighters, tankers, and passenger ships--all take part in the gripping drama of the sea and the tragedy of marine loss. Here are true stories of man's age-old struggle with the sea, recounting, from the dim past to the present, exciting tales of ships that perished on the Pacific shore, of watery deaths, and of thrilling rescues, and of the gallant work that has made the sea safer and aided in the conquest of the Columbia River bar.