John Boileau

A compelling, illustrated narrative history of the children who sailed aboard the doomed RMS Titanic-both those who survived and those who perished-from the celebrated author of Halifax and Titanic. More than half the children aboard Titanic died in the sinking, calling into question the notion of "women and children first." In The Lucky and the Lost: The Lives of Titanic's Children, historian John Boileau tells the stories of the children who fortunately escaped in lifeboats and those who tragically did not. It also examines the heart-breaking circumstances of the victims' deaths as well as the fascinating stories of survivors' lives. Uniquely, The Lucky and the Lost tells the stories of ten yet-unborn children whose mothers survived to give birth. This includes the children of Madeleine Astor, wife of John Jacob Astor-the richest man to perish in the disaste-and Juliette Laroche, wife of Joseph Laroche, the only Black man onboard, as well as the stories of twenty-three Lebanese children onboard, another largely unknown feature of the disaster. The Lucky and the Lost includes compelling stories of survivors in later life (an aspect not included in most Titanic books) and the lasting effect the sinking had on them. With forty black-and-white images as well as numerous maps and illustrations, The Lucky and the Lost offers the most complete accounting to date of the fates of the children aboard the doomed ocean liner.

John Boileau and Dan Black tell the stories of some of the 30,000 underage youths - some as young as fourteen - who joined the Canadian Armed Forces in the Second World War. This is the companion volume to the authors'’ popular 2013 book Old Enough to Fight about boy soldiers in the First World War. Like their predecessors a generation before, these boys managed to enlist despite their youth. Most went on to face action overseas in what would become the deadliest military conflict in human history. They enlisted for a myriad of personal reasons -- ranging from the appeal of earning regular pay after the unemployment and poverty of the Depression to the desire to avenge the death of a brother or father killed overseas. Canada's boy soldiers, sailors and airmen saw themselves contributing to the war effort in a visible, meaningful way, even when that meant taking on very adult risks and dangers of combat. Meticulously researched and extensively illustrated with photographs, personal documents and specially commissioned maps, Too Young to Die provides a touching and fascinating perspective on the Canadian experience in the Second World War. Among the individuals whose stories are told: Ken Ewing, at age sixteen taken prisoner at Hong Kong and then a teenager in a Japanese prisoner of war camp Ralph Frayne, so determined to fight that he enlisted in the army, navy and Merchant Navy all before the age of seventeen Robert Boulanger, at age eighteen the youngest Canadian to die on the Dieppe beaches

Between 15,000 and 20,000 underage youths, some as young as ten, signed up to fight in Canada's armed forces in the First World War. They served in the trenches alongside their elders, and fought in all the major battles: Ypres, the Somme, Passchendaele, Vimy Ridge, and the rest. Many were injured or suffered psychological wounds. Many died. This is the first book to tell their story. Some boys joined up to escape unhappy homes and workplaces. Others went with their parents' blessing, carrying letters from fathers and mothers asking the recruiters to take their eager sons. The romantic notion of a short, victorious campaign was wiped out the second these boys arrived on the Western Front. The authors, who narrate the fighting with both military professionalism and humanity, portray many boys who, in the heat of battle, made a seamless transition from follower to leader to hero. Authors Dan Black and John Boileau combed the archives and collections to bring these stories to life. Passages from letters the boy soldiers wrote home reveal the range of emotions and experiences they underwent, from the humorous to the unspeakably horrible. Their parents' letters touch us with their concern, love, uncertainty, and often, grief. Meticulously researched and abundantly illustrated with photographs, paintings, and a collection of specially commissioned maps, Old Enough to Fight is military and social history at its most fascinating.

The story of Titanic's tragic sinking on April 15, 1912, has been told countless times in films and books, inscribing it into popular culture as perhaps the best-known disaster of all-time. When Titanic went down off the coast of Newfoundland, the city of Halifax, Nova Scotia, was the base from which recovery operations were mounted. Eventually, 337 bodies were recovered, the majority of them by ships dispatched from Halifax. Of this total, 128 were buried at sea and 209 were delivered to Halifax--150 of those buried in three Halifax cemeteries. They remain there to this day, the largest number of Titanic graves in the world, cared for in perpetuity by the city and visited by thousands of people each year. On the one-hundredth anniversary of Titanic's sinking, author John Boileau examines the relationship between the city and the unprecedented tragedy. This illustrated history includes over 100 historical photographs of the people and places involved in Halifax's sombre recovery effort.

Valiant Hearts chronicles the stories of inspiration and courage shown by men in wartime, stretching from the Crimean War (1854-1856) to World War Two, telling the life stories of the gallant men from Atlantic Canada who won that most coveted of bravery awards- the Victoria Cross. The twenty men profiled in this book all have strong connections to Atlantic Canada (11 of them were born in the region; 9 have other ties to the region, having either lived or served here). With a focus on historical accuracy, this book tells the stories of these courageous men by filling in the details of their lives before and, for those who survived, after winning the VC, with attention to the specific events that led to their recognition as heroes. No comparable book has ever been written. Most books about Canadian Victoria Cross winners cover the entire country and were published some time ago. Most of the previously published books contain little more than citations for the awards or excerpts from them, with only the briefest of personal details. This book is particular to the Atlantic region, and is detailed, personal and informative as well as being carefully written.

The untold chapter of reluctant enemies caught up in a continental war When the US declared war on Great Britain in 1812, the Canadian colonies found themselves committed to armed conflict with their American neighbours. While Upper and Lower Canada became the main battlegrounds, Nova Scotia was reluctant to disrupt its lucrative trade with New England and immediately established a truce so that commerce could continue to flow freely. In this book author John Boileau explores many aspects of the involvement of Nova Scotia in the War of 1812. He recounts many of the famous privateering and naval escapades up and down the coast, including the most famous prize, USS Chesapeake, which was captured by the Royal Navy and brought into Halifax Harbour. Halifax was also the site of the military prison where, over the course of the war, 10,000 men endured overcrowded and unhealthy living conditions. In May 2005 a ceremony will take place in Halifax to memorialize the 200 American prisoners who died in Melville Island prison. During the war many escaped slaves found passage to Nova Scotia. This book reveals that instead of peace and prosperity the refugees found prejudice, hardship and smallpox. This book sets out the history of a war whose spoils helped to establish Dalhousie College (now Dalhousie University) and the Cambridge Military Library (Halifax).

Like the builders of the Avro Arrow, the pioneers of hydrofoils are celebrated in this book for their world-class accomplishments. When Alexander Graham Bell was experimenting with flying machines, he developed hydrofoils as a means of getting airborne from water. In 1919, on the Bras d'Or lakes in Cape Breton, Bell and his collaborator Casey Baldwin broke a world speed record when their prototype HD-4 skimmed across the waves at 61.5 knots. Fifty years later, the Canadian navy set a record for the fastest speed of any warship with their hydrofoil craft, HMCS Bras d'Or. In Fastest in the World, John Boileau tells the story of the naval architects and engineers, excited by the prospect of developing high-speed submarine chasers, who built this world-class vessel. This book examines how, just when Canada was on the brink of taking a unique role in anti-submarine warfare, the government withdrew support for the Bras d'Or. The orphaned vessel is now on view at the Maritime Museum of Quebec at l'Islet near Quebec City.