Art&DesignSpring2025

ALSO AVAILABLE ISBN: 978-0-7643-6795-3 Size: 6" x 9" (152 x 229 mm) Pages: 344 Price: $34.99 USD, £31.99, 48.99 CAD Illustrations: 40 color & b/w images Binding: hardcover BISAC: HISTORY / Maritime History & Piracy TRUE CRIME / Historical HISTORY / United States / 19th Century The Adriatic Affair A Maritime Hit-and-Run off the Coast of Nantucket By Jennifer N. Sellitti After seven years of research, shipwreck hunter Jennifer Sellitti has delivered the first and definitive account of the sinking of Le Lyonnais and the hunt for Jonathan Durham. The American sailing vessel Adriatic collided with the French steamship Le Lyonnais on November 2, 1856, off the coast of Nantucket in what can best be described as a high-seas hit-and-run. Adriatic’s captain, Jonathan Durham, rendered no aid and left the steamship to fend for herself. In total, 114 people died in the collision and in the days that followed. Durham did not count on a hero, French sailor Jean-Marie-Louis Choupault, who helped 18 Lyonnais passengers and crew adrift on a small lifeboat in the brutal North Atlantic. Starvation, intense storms, and bitter cold took the lives of two, but the others survived to tell the tale of Durham’s indifference. Durham fled to France to escape scrutiny. There, the authorities seized his ship as damages. He escaped again, this time by disguising Adriatic as another vessel, slipping port in the dead of night, and outrunning French warships. News of his daring escapades made Durham a celebrity in America. He never answered for Le Lyonnais . Instead, he went to Washington, DC, where he featured prominently in congressional debates about international maritime regulations before living out his latter years as a merchant sea captain. The Civil War ended further inquiry into what became known in diplomatic circles as “the Adriatic affair,” and the victims of the disaster never received justice. After seven years of research, shipwreck hunter Jennifer Sellitti has delivered the first and definitive account of the sinking of Le Lyonnais and the hunt for Jonathan Durham. About the Author Jennifer Sellitti is a shipwreck hunter, and USCG-licensed ship captain. A criminal defense attorney by profession, she spends her spare time locating, diving, and salvaging shipwrecks aboard D/V Tenacious , a dive vessel that she runs with her partner, Joe Mazraani. ISBN 978-0-7643-6795-3 D. B. COOPER AND FLIGHT 305 978-0-7643-6256-9 264 pp. | 7" x 10" (178 x 254) | HC $29.99 USD, £27.99, 42.99 CAD THE OUTLAW GUNNER 978-0-7643-6061-9 192 pp. | 7" x 10" (178 x 254 x 22 mm) | HC $34.99 USD, £31.99, 48.99 CAD AVAILABLE FEBRUARY 2025 UK PUB DATE APRIL 2025 14 | NEW THIS SEASON