Heroes of the Surf

Adventure on the high seas!

WHAM! The Pliny jolts as if Black Beard himself has just punched her in the belly. Pedro and I slide and smack--bang--into the bulwark.

"We're grounded," cries the first mate. "We've hit a shoal!"

In May of 1882, a large steamship ran aground off the coast of New Jersey. Elisa Carbone imagines what it was like for two boys on that ship: waking up in the middle of the night, waves crashing over the side, the storm too big to lower the lifeboats. And then the flash...