Graveyard of the Pacific: Shipwreck and Survival on America’s Deadliest Waterway

More than 2,000 shipwrecks have been caused by the “collision of tide and current” that occurs where the Columbia River, which forms much of the border between Washington and Oregon, empties into the Pacific Ocean, according to this immersive mix of history and travelogue. Journalist Sullivan (Untouchable) centers the narrative on his attempt to cross the Columbia River Bar, the area where ships make the dangerous transition between river and ocean, in a kayak. Interwoven with the weather analysis, safety training, and strategic mapping Sullivan and his friend Ray did in the months before they turned 70 to prepare for the journey are insights into how Clatsop tribespeople made the passage in “immense, sixty-five-foot-long canoes that could carry more than fifty paddlers” and accounts of the many ships and sailors lost to the waterway’s unpredictable tides, towering waves, and hidden sandbars. Even modern freighters rely on specially trained bar pilots” to guide them through the area, Sullivan notes. Driven by “a wish for some unpronounceable rite of passage that could only happen in the late stage of life,” Sullivan and Ray, both survivors of childhood abuse, viewed their mission “as a salvage operation, one involving the recovery of something lost in childhood and reconciliation with the ghosts of our fathers.” Vividly evoking Sullivan’s deep fascination with the Pacific Northwest and thirst for friendship and adventure, this is a thrill ride. (June)