This book is an account of ships that have borne the name Queen of the Lakes, an honorary title indicating that, at the time of its launching, a ship is the longest on the Great Lakes. In one of the most comprehensive books ever written on the maritime history of the lakes, Mark Thompson presents a vignette of each of the dozens of ships that have held the title, chronicling the dates the ship sailed, its dimensions, the derivation of its name, its role in the economic development of the region, and its sailing history. Through the stories of the individual ships, Thompson also describes the growth of ship design on the Great Lakes and the changing nature of the shipping industry on the lakes.

The launching of the fist ship on Lake Ontario in 1678 - the diminutive Frontenac, a small, two-masted vessel of only about 10 tons and no more than 40 or 45 feet long - set in motion an evolutionary process that has continued for more than 300 years. That ship is the direct ancestor of all the ships that ever have operated on the Great Lakes, from the Str. Onoko, launched in February 1882 and the first ship to bear the name Queen of the Lakes, to the Str. W. D. Rees, which held its title only for a few weeks, to the Tregurtha, the longest ship on the lakes in 1981.

Although the ships on the Great Lakes may be surpassed in size and efficiency by many of the modern ocean freighters, Thompson notes that the ships now sailing on the great freshwater seas of North America have achieved a level of operating mastery that is unrivaled anywhere in the world, considering the inherent limitations of the Great Lakes system.

This audiobook is published by University Press Audiobooks.