I chose to use the image of a tile as the cover of Fortuna because, for me, that's how the story began - with a small piece of red tile that washed up on the beach on Long Beach Island, New Jersey in 1970. More than half a century before, the Fortuna, loaded with roofing tiles for ballast, set sail on a two-year voyage to New York. Just short of her final destination, she became one more shipwreck off the coast of Long Beach Island. Those tiles were her calling cards. Fortuna almost ended the same as it started. While photographing the tile for the cover of this book, a huge wave came in and washed the tile back into the sea. But, like all the other pieces of this story that landed at my feet, the tile washed back onto the beach five days later.

I chose to use the image of a tile as the cover of Fortuna because, for me, that's how the story began - with a small piece of red tile that washed up on the beach on Long Beach Island, New Jersey in 1970. More than half a century before, the Fortuna, loaded with roofing tiles for ballast, set sail on a two-year voyage to New York. Just short of her final destination, she became one more shipwreck off the coast of Long Beach Island. Those tiles were her calling cards. Fortuna almost ended the same as it started. While photographing the tile for the cover of this book, a huge wave came in and washed the tile back into the sea. But, like all the other pieces of this story that landed at my feet, the tile washed back onto the beach five days later.