Award winning artist, author and historian Robert McGreevy is a regular contributor of The Lakeshore Guardian. McGreevy’s work is a unique combination of original research and artwork that brings to life many of the untold stories of our maritime heritage. Rather than write about or paint ships that are well known, he tries to find new material by doing only original research and making use of information provided by the finding of new shipwrecks.
McGreevy is fascinated by the interplay between contemporary accounts of a ship’s loss, and the actual facts uncovered when the wreck is found. That was the basis for his feature on the Civil War-period sidewheeler Key Stone State, which printed in the Guardian several years ago. While the finding of the wreck in 2013 did answer some of the questions regarding her sinking, it also brought up more questions that only further study of the wreck site can answer. Historians are now trying to understand why she was able to continue as far as she did after being sighted in a sinking condition of the tip of the Thumb as well as solve the mystery of what she was actually carrying as cargo on that fateful last voyage. These new findings will be included in McGreevy’s new book, Lost Legends of the Lakes, available in soft cover in 2014, and his second book, Legacy of the Lakes, that will explore the many recently discovered shipwrecks in Lake Huron.
McGreevy’s paintings and illustrations have appeared on National Geographic Television, PBS Programs and Deep Sea Detectives. He is a frequent speaker at historical societies and museums around Michigan. He is presently engaged in a project for the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary, a series of paintings featuring ships lost in the Preserve of which there are no known illustrations.
For more information about McGreevy’s artwork and projects, go to www.mcgreevy.com, or visit his gallery in Harbor Beach.