"In 1679, a French ship called the Griffon, the first sailing vessel built on the Great Lakes, left Green Bay on Lake Michigan, bound for Niagra with a cargo of furs."
-- Shipwrecks, Monsters, and Mysteries of the Great Lakes by Ed Butts.
This is a short book with 10 stories of Great Lakes adventures, just a sample of stories about the 6,000 or so ships lost on the Great Lakes since the Griffon disappeared.
It would be a great book to read with kids ready to learn history. All the adventures and mysteries would make learning about inter-coastal commerce, industrial development, and navigable waterways much more interesting.
This is my latest LibraryThing Early Reviewer book. There are others on that list that I should get to first, but this was too inviting.