From Publishers Weekly
More than a million ships have gone lost or missing in the seas, and going down in ''the museum of the deep'' to find famous shipwrecks is a risky yet profitable business, sometimes challenging the limits of human endurance. Delgado, a marine archeologist and a member of the Sea Hunter TV retrieval team, presents a chronicle of distinguished wreckage, addressing the wrecksβ histories, the scope of the undersea explorations to locate them, the joy of discovery and the thrill of bringing artifacts to the surface. There are some very significant finds here: the supply ship Isabella, lost in 1830; the Pearl Harbor wreckage of USS Arizona and USS Utah; the flotilla of ships destroyed by an atomic bomb at the Bikini atoll; the massive ruin of the ''unsinkable'' Titanic; the Russian ship carrying Catherine the Greatβs jewels, which sank off Finland in 1771; and others. Fans of the National Geographic International TV series will attest to Delgadoβs expert care of the ship artifacts as theyβre studied, mapped, tagged, photographed and raised to the surface, where they are treated to stop the ravages of time. This sea adventurerβs inside look will excite thrill seekers, inform novices and educate all readers about the importance of preserving the seaβs historic past against poachers and souvenir hunters. Photos.
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Product Description
Leading archaeologist and consummate storyteller James Delgado takes readers on a rollicking deep-sea dive into his highly unusual life's work: locating and exploring the world's most famous shipwrecks. Colorful characters, near misses, and the thrill of standing β or floating β in history's footprints make for a highly entertaining look at the fascinating history and glittering bounty beneath the waves. Included are accounts of Pearl Harbor, the Titanic, and Bikini Atoll, site of the world's first nuclear tests.