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A detailed and riveting account of the U.S. Navy's greatest mutiny
and its wide-ranging cultural and historical impact The greatest
controversy in the history of the U.S. Navy of the early American
Republic was the revelation that the son of the Secretary of War
had seemingly plotted a bloody mutiny that would have turned the
U.S. brig Somers into a pirate ship. The plot discovered, he and
his co-conspirators were hastily condemned and hanged at sea. The
repercussions of those acts brought headlines, scandal, a fistfight
at a cabinet meeting, a court martial, ruined lives, lost
reputations, and tales of a haunted ship "bound for the devil" and
lost tragically at sea with many of its crew. The "Somers affair"
led to the founding of the U.S. Naval Academy and it remains the
Navy's only acknowledged mutiny in its history. The story also
inspired Herman Melville's White-Jacket and Billy Budd. Others
connected to the Somers included Commodore Perry, a relation and
defender of the Somers' captain Mackenzie; James Fenimore Cooper,
whose feud with the captain, dating back to the War of 1812,
resurfaced in his reportage of the affair; and Raphael Semmes, the
Somers' last caption who later served in the Confederate Navy. The
Curse of the Somers is a thorough recreation of this classic tale,
told with the help of recently uncovered evidence. Written by a
maritime historian and archaeologist who helped identify the
long-lost wreck and subsequently studied its sunken remains, this
is a timeless tale of life and death at sea. James P. Delgado
re-examines the circumstances, drawing from a rich historical
record and from the investigation of the ship's sunken remains.
What surfaces is an all-too-human tale that resonates and chills
across the centuries.
The remains of the world's most famous passenger liner, RMS
Titanic, were discovered off the coast of Newfoundland in 1985,
seventy-three years after it sank. Since then there have been
numerous deep-water expeditions to the wreck site, yet little has
ever been revealed about the details of these operations. Now, in
this fully updated book, Eugene Nesmeyanov recounts all the major
Titanic expeditions from 1985 to 2021, taking us on a journey
alongside the scientists, cinematographers and other specialists
who have visited the legendary wreck 21/2 miles below the surface
of the North Atlantic. A thorough analysis of the sophisticated
technical equipment used is presented, along with historical,
biological and other scientific findings, and rare material from
official archives and private collections.
The ocean is humanity's largest battlefield. Resting in its depths
lie the lost ships of war, spanning the totality of human history.
Many wrecks are nameless, others from more recent times are
remembered, honored even, as are the battles that claimed them,
like Actium, Trafalgar, Tsushima, Jutland, Pearl Harbor, and
Midway. Underwater exploration is increasingly discovering
long-lost warships from the deepest parts of the ocean, revealing a
vast undersea museum that speaks to battles won and lost, service,
sacrifice, and the human costs of warfare. War at Sea is a dramatic
global tour of this remote museum and other formerly lost traces of
humanity's naval heritage. It is also an account by the world's
leading naval archaeologist of how underwater exploration has
discovered these remains, thus resolving mysteries, adding to our
understanding of the past, and providing intimate details of the
experience of naval warfare. Arranged chronologically, the book
begins with the warships and battles of the ancient Egyptians,
Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, and Chinese, and then progresses
through three thousand years to the lost ships of the Cold War.
James Delgado, who has personally explored, dived, and studied a
number of the wrecks and sites in the book, provides insights as an
explorer, archaeologist, and storyteller. The result is a unique
and compelling history of naval warfare. From fallen triremes and
galleons to dreadnoughts, aircraft carriers, and nuclear
submarines, this book vividly brings thousands of years of naval
warfare to life.
"Waterfront" is a magnificently illustrated, authoritative and
lively tour of the dynamic ebb and flow between the water, the
surrounding land and the people who strove and dreamed along the
shores of the sea and the mighty river that dominate Greater
Vancouver. Dramatic stories abound of this place, its people, ships
and events: European explorers who sought a fabled passage to the
Orient; enterprising lumbermen, railway tycoons, shipping magnates,
scoundrels and heroes, hard-working men and women. Their tales play
out in this book, entwining the story of the birth and growth of
cities, ports, and industries.
The ocean is humanity's largest battlefield. It is also our
greatest graveyard. Resting in its depths lay the lost ships of war
spanning the totality of human history. Many wrecks are nameless,
others from more recent times are remembered, honored even, as are
the battles they fought, like Actium, Trafalgar, Tsushima, Jutland,
Pearl Harbor, and Midway. This book is a dramatic global tour of
the vast underwater museum of lost warships. It is also an account
of how underwater exploration has discovered them, resolving
mysteries, adding to our understanding of the past, and providing
intimate details of the life of war at sea. Arranged
chronologically, the book begins with ancient times and the
warships and battles of the Egyptians, Phoenicians, Greeks and
Romans, the Chinese, and progresses through three thousand years to
the lost ships of the Cold War. In bringing this violent past to
life, James Delgado's approach is informed by scholarship, but it
is not academic. Through his insights as an explorer,
archaeologist, and story teller, Delgado provides a unique and
idiosyncratic history of naval warfare, the evolution of its
strategy and technology, and it critical impact on the past. From
fallen triremes and galleons to dreadnoughts, aircraft carriers,
and nuclear submarines, this book vividly brings naval warfare to
life.
Documents the maritime historical research and archaeological
fieldwork used to identify the wreck of the notorious schooner
Clotilda Clotilda: The History and Archaeology of the Last Slave
Ship is the first definitive work to examine the maritime
historical and archaeological record of one of the most infamous
ships in American history. Clotilda was owned by Alabama
businessman Timothy Meaher, who, on a dare, equipped it to carry
captured Africans from what is now Benin and bring them to Alabama
in 1860—some fifty years after the import of captives to be
enslaved was banned. To hide the evidence, Clotilda was set afire
and sunk. What remained was a substantially intact, submerged, and
partially buried shipwreck located in a backwater of the Mobile
River. The site of the wreck was an open secret to some people who
knew Meaher, but its identity remained unknown for more than a
century as various surveys through the years failed to locate the
ship. This volume, authored by the archaeological team who
conducted a comprehensive, systematic survey of a forgotten “ship
graveyard,” details the exhaustive forensic work that
conclusively identified the wreck, as well as the stories and
secrets that have emerged from the partly burned hulk. James P.
Delgado and his coauthors discuss the various searches for
Clotilda, sharing the forensic data and other analyses showing how
those involved concluded that this wreck was indeed Clotilda.
Additionally, they offer physical evidence not previously shared
that situates the schooner and its voyage in a larger context of
the slave trade. Clotilda: The History and Archaeology of the Last
Slave Ship serves as a nautical biography of the ship as well.
After reviewing the maritime trade in and out of Mobile Bay, this
account places Clotilda within the larger landscape of American and
Gulf of Mexico schooners and chronicles its career before being
used as a slave ship. All of its voyages had a link to slavery, and
one may have been another smuggling voyage in violation of federal
law. The authors have also painstakingly reconstructed Clotilda’s
likely appearance and characteristics.
Described as a 'forest of masts', San Francisco's Gold Rush
waterfront was a floating economy of ships and wharves, where a
dazzling array of global goods was traded and transported. Drawing
on excavations in buried ships and collapsed buildings from this
period, James P. Delgado re-creates San Francisco's unique maritime
landscape, shedding new light on the city's remarkable rise from a
small village to a boomtown of thousands in the three short years
from 1848 to 1851. Gleaning history from artifacts - preserves and
liquors in bottles, leather boots and jackets, hulls of ships, even
crocks of butter lying alongside discarded guns - "Gold Rush Port"
paints a fascinating picture of how ships and global connections
created the port and the city of San Francisco. Setting the city's
history into the wider web of international relationships, Delgado
reshapes our understanding of developments in the Pacific that led
to a world system of trading.
"One of the last remaining and persistent mysteries of the Pearl
Harbor attack is that of the Japanese Midget Submarines. It is a
fascinating story of innovation, courage, secrets, and failed
expectations. And it is not only a story of the morning hours of
December 7, but of the years before to develop these weapons and
the years after, where they were deployed in the great Pacific War
and how they fared as weapons of war." These words by Daniel J.
Basta, Director of the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, from
the foreword of this manuscript, capture both the essence and the
impact of this work, assembled by James P. Delgado and his
coauthors. Th e authors have combed the records of the Imperial
Japanese Navy and the recollections of its veterans as well as US
Department of Defense archives. They have logged hours of direct
observation and research on the mini-subs in their final resting
places, in some cases more than 1,000 feet below the surface of the
Pacific. And in the end, they have woven a tapestry of scholarship,
historical sleuthing, scientific insight, and good storytelling
that will enthrall specialists and history buff s alike.
This book tells the story of the steamship Robert J. Walker, an
early coastal survey ship for the agency that would later become
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), that
sank with loss of 21 crew off the coast of New Jersey in 1860. The
wreck was a frequent stop for divers and anglers before it was
identified by a team of researchers in 2013. Here, leaders in the
documentation efforts describe the history of the ship and the
archaeology of the shipwreck, emphasizing the collaborative
community participation that made the project successful.James
Delgado and Stephen Nagiewicz highlight the contributions of
government archaeologists from NOAA as well as local divers from
varying backgrounds. Although such groups are not typically known
for working together, they united to achieve the shared goal of
mapping and interpreting this historically significant shipwreck.
Delgado and Nagiewicz show how incorporating local knowledge both
improves archaeological work and empowers community members as
stakeholders, inspiring residents to promote their maritime
heritage.With Contributions from Vincent J. Capone, Matthew S.
Lawrence, Dan Lieb, Deborah E. Marx, Lisa J. Stansbury, Peter F.
Straub, and Albert E. Theberge.
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