The Gulf of Mexico: A Maritime History presents the first such
narrative of the earth's tenth largest body of water. In this
beautifully written and illustrated volume, John S. Sledge explores
the people, ships, and cities that have made the Gulf's human
history and culture so rich. Many famous figures who sailed the
Gulf's viridian waters are highlighted, including Ponce de Leon,
Robert Cavelier de La Salle, Francis Drake, Jean Laffite, Tyrone
Power, Richard Henry Dana, Libbie Custer, Elizabeth Agassiz, Ernest
Hemingway, and Franklin D. Roosevelt, as well as Charles Dwight
Sigsbee, at the helm of the doomed Maine. But Sledge also
introduces a fascinating and diverse array of people connected to
maritime life in the Gulf, including Mesoamerican pyramid builders,
Spanish conquistadores, French pirates, Creole women, Cajun
fishermen, African American stevedores, British jack-tars, and
Greek sponge divers.Gulf events of global historical importance are
detailed, such as the only defeat of armed and armored steamships
by wooden sailing vessels, the first accurate deep-sea survey and
bathymetric map of any ocean basin, the development of shipping
containers by a former truck driver frustrated with antiquated
loading practices, and the worst environmental disaster in American
annals. Occasionally shifting focus ashore, Sledge explains how
people representing a gumbo of ethnicities built some of the
world's most exotic cities--Havana, way station for conquistadores
and treasure-filled galleons; New Orleans, the Big Easy, famous for
its beautiful French Quarter, Mardi Gras, and relaxed morals; and
oft-besieged Veracruz, Mexico's oldest city, founded in 1519 by
Hernan Cortes. Throughout history the residents of these cities and
their neighbors along the littoral have struggled with challenges
both natural and human-induced--devastating hurricanes, frightening
epidemics, catastrophic oil spills, and conflicts ranging from
dockside brawls to pirate raids, foreign invasion, civil war, and
revolution. In the modern era the Gulf has become critical to
energy Production, fisheries, tourism, and international trade,
even as it is threatened by pollution and climate change. The Gulf
of Mexico: A Maritime History is a work of verve and sweep that
illuminates both the risks of life on the water and the riches that
come from its bounty.
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