N

Local Author Dr. Lona Bailey’s recently published book titled “Corners of the Sea” has officially been named an Amazon Best Selling Book.

Published in August, “Corners of the Sea” is Bailey’s first work of historical fiction. Her previous works are mainly biographies.

“It is actually based on what we know as the first “Titanic,” she said.

Bailey said that while the 1912 sinking of the RMS Titanic has gone down in history as perhaps the most iconic maritime disaster, the 1873 sinking of the SS Atlantic off the coast of Nova Scotia was also a serious disaster.

The wreck caused the deaths of 535 people, and no female passengers and only one child survived the sinking. Like Titanic, the SS Atlantic was also a White Star Line passenger liner.

“The story is just kind of a fictional retelling of that disaster and it looks at the aftermath of the Civil War and this maritime disaster that predates Titanic,” she said.

Bailey at first glance, it might seem like a random topic to write about, but she came across the story of the Atlantic while researching for her upcoming book about the Countess of Rothes, who was a Titanic survivor.

“I sort of stumbled upon the story of the Atlantic and just kind of looking at the history of the White Star Line and seeing if they had any other disasters before Titanic and they did,” Bailey said.

An interesting aspect to the SS Atlantic story involves a woman working as a member of the crew.

“She was in disguise as this seaman named Bill,” Bailey said. “So she travelled the seas as a crewmen named Bill for weeks and months and she actually died in the disaster and that is when they learned that she actually wasn’t Bill she was a woman.”

Bailey said it was a controversial and shocking discovery at the time.

“I thought what a story,” she said. “Nobody knew her background and nobody knew why she felt so desperate that she needed to disguise herself and intentionally put herself in this very rigorous occupation of being a seaman.”

“I kind of pulled her out of the pages of history and gave her a story that might kind of explain why she felt the need to do that,” Bailey added.

“Corners of the Sea” by Dr. Lona Bailey is currently available in both print and Kindle editions on Amazon.