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Describing six historic shipwrecks which took place off Scotland, from the time of the Spanish Armada to the 18th century. This text tells of their rediscovery and the archaeological investigation on the sea floor. Each shipwreck is set in its wider historical context.
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McMurray's is an earnest journal of deep-sea wreck diving, mostly over the Italian passenger liner Andrea Doria, which sank in a collision off Cape Cod in 1956. The Doria still draws extreme scuba divers 235 feet down to "the Everest of scuba," where, over the last 20 years, 12 divers have met their deaths. After a Night to Remember-style introduction to the ship's history, the author turns his talents as a journalist and diver (he has reached and explored the Doria hulk several times) to question why inverse mountaineers still come back to the wreck. McMurray renders a shared obsession, mostly through fuzzy sketches of expeditions to the wreck in the 1980s and '90s, and follows a dozen divers down to the Doria. Yet his descriptions are uninspiring; even the accounts of fatal dives are flat (despite a multiple-photo series of a body being hauled to the dive boat). His we-band-of-brother-divers tone can't substitute for description or character; indeed, it proves an obstacle to thoughtful storytelling. McMurray the scuba diver never quite admits to McMurray the journalist-observer that divers visit the Andrea Doria because of not in spite of the risks. 75 b&w photos. (June) Forecast: Despite the current public fascination with dangerous sport, this book won't appeal to the uninitiated. McMurray could become a sort of Sebastian Junger-esque celebrity he holds a world record for swimming around the island of Manhattan except that his book can't compare with The Perfect Storm. It is for fellow scuba samurai only.
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In 1941 an 8000-ton cargo ship ran aground in the Sound of Eriskay in the Outer Hebrides. In the difficult war years any gift from the sea was welcome and the SS Politician had among her cargo a quarter of a million bottles of whisky. The events that followed inspired Compton Mackenzie's novel "Whisky Galore". Using eyewitness accounts, historical papers and official documents, this book tells the story of the SS Politician and the circus that surrounded her, from islanders in small skiffs to wartime excise officers and the final solution to the problem of the vessel affectionately known as the "Polly".
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Besides loving the sport of Scuba diving, the authors Daniel and Denise Berg have a genuine interest in the history of shipwrecks. They have travelled extensively in search of great wreck diving adventures and spent countless hours researching each site in order to compile this text.Tropical Shipwrecks conatins a wealth if information such as; aquatic life, currents, bottom composition, depth, visability and the history and present condition of 135 shipwrecks spread over 35 tropical islands. This text includes 127 illustrations comprised of color photos, Black and white historical images, maps, and drawings which combined with an informative text paint a complete picture of each wreck site. Many of these rare photos have never before been published. Divers, snokelers, marine historians, armchair sailore or anyone with a general interset in history, diving or the sea will surely find this book fascinating and the perfact addition to their library.
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To be published in the 60th anniversary year of the infamous bombing of Pearl Harbor, Graveyards of the Pacific is Dr. Robert Ballard’s compelling survey of the major WWII Pacific battlefields and graveyards, including Midway, Guadalcanal, and Truk Lagoon. This authoritative overview of the Pacific war begins with a thrilling account of Ballard’s search for an elusive midget sub sunk just prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor, and ends with the American nuclear tests on Bikini Island, where captured German and Japanese craft were scuttled.
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