What is the 'required reading' for maritime treasure salvage?

[LM]

I'm trying to get to the point where my understanding of historic wrecks is solid enough to branch out into independent research. So far, I've been plowing through a lot of sunken treasure books from Amazon- some have been very interesting, others, kinda fluffy, a few, VERY fluffy.

We have some heavy hitting salvors here, so, what would you guys say is the required reading as far as books on underwater treasure hunting? Are there any 'definitive books' that everyone must read in order to grasp the game?

(and it wouldn't surprise me if this question has already been answered- if so, a link to that thread would be great)

Any help appreciated

LM

[signumops]

Here's a few for starters...

Title (*) Author Lastname (*) Author Firstname (*) Publisher Name (*) Year (*)
Marine Salvage Gores Joesph Doubleday 1971
Archaeology Beneath The Sea Bass George Harper & Row 1975
Diving To A Flash Of Gold Meylach Martin Florida Classics Library 1986
In Search of Spanish Treasure Wignall Sydney David & Charles 1982
In The Wake Of The Golden Galleons Volker Roy OroQuest Press 1976
Lore Of The Wreckers Shepard Birse Beacon Press 1961
Lost At Sea: The Strange Route Of The Lena Shoal Junk Goddio Franck Periplus Publishing 2002
Marine Salvage Operations Brady Edward M. Cornell Maritime Press 1960
Pieces Of Eight Wagner Kip E.P. Dutton & Co. 1966
Ships And Shipwrecks Of The Americas Bass George Thames & Hudson 1988
Shipwreck Horner Dave Sheridan House 1999
Sinkings - Salvages - And Shipwrecks Burgess Robert American Heritage Press 1970
Sunken Treasure On Florida Reefs Weller Robert Weller unk
The Last Voyage of El Nuevo Constante Pearson / Hoffman Charles / Paul Louisiana St. University Press 1995
The Underwater Dig Marx Robert Henry Z. Walck Inc. 1975
The Rainbow Chasers In The Great Florida Treasure Hunt Gore / Armstrong Tommy / Terry Signum Ops 2007
Dragon Sea Pope Frank Harcourt, Inc. 2007
Walk The Plank Kiesling Stephen Nordic Knight Press 1994
True Stories Of Sunken Treasure Weller Bob Crossed Anchors Salvage 2005
Treasures Of The Spanish Main Fine John Christopher The Lyons Press 2006
Historic Shipwrecks Of The Dominican Republic And Haiti Kordac Lubos Signum Ops 2009
Treasure - The Business & Technology Olin Phillip Phillip Olin 1991
Following The Lure Of The Galleon Treasures Molinari Ronald / Theresa Rat Reef Salvage 2009
Anomaly 27 Baer Robert Signum Ops 2010
Galleons And Sunken Treasure Bonifacio Claudio Signum Ops 2010
The Treasure Galleons Horner Dave Florida Classics Library 1990
Shipwrecks In Puerto Rico's History Cardona Bonet Walter Walter Cardona Bonet 1989
The Search For The Atocha Lyon Eugene Florida Classics Library 1989

[Hangingfor8]

I'd start with this book "The Rainbow Chasers In The Great Florida Treasure Hunt Gore / Armstrong Tommy / Terry Signum Ops 2007" It'll give you a better idea of things

[Mackaydon]

I'd start with one of the original 'bibles' of underwater exploration:
Mendel Peterson's History Under the Sea (Smithsonian Institution--publication #4358) 1965
Don.......

[capt dom]

For a "nuts and bolts" approach to
becoming a responsible 21st century undersea
explorer take a look at our books by clicking on the link
below. We have an offer that includes a genuine
Certified 17th century Silver "piece of eight" from the Jupiter Wreck Site
if you wish. Either book may be purchased without the coin.

Take a look:

[stevemc]

Also Segwick's Book of Cobs, is a must have. There are a bunch of books out there, many useless, but many very informative, or at least good reading. I used to read some when I was young, 50 years ago, and they were most likely tourist books, as much of it was made up, or wrapped around old legends. But sometimes old legends are from fact.

[aquanut]

The Treasure Divers Guide, John S. Potter
Funnel of Gold, Mendel Peterson
History Under the Sea, Mendel Peterson

[FISHEYE]

Pick any 5 books out of the list that signumops posted and read them.You will learn all you need to know as book content is repeated every time someone comes out with a new book.I would recommend "The Rainbow Chasers" By Tommy Gore and "Nautical Archaeology" by Bill St John Wilkes,pub date 1971.

[seismosaurus]

to get a wider view on researching shipwrecks you can download a 100 page pdf (the final report) for free on the MACHU site
it is more archeologic, but it might lead you to some new idears:


http://www.machuproject.eu/news-cms/news-53.htm

[Old Bookaroo]

It's tough to beat "The Homewrecker" - Potter's one-volume sunken treasure library. It's an extraordinary book - nothing like it.

However, I would like to recommend Robert "Frogfoot" Weller's Salvaging Spanish Sunken Treasure (Lake Worth, Florida: 1999). All of his books are worth reading. He combined years of successfully treasure recovery with a rare willingness to help others. Ernie Richards played a key role in getting those books in print, and should be mentioned, as well.

Good luck to all,

~The Old Bookaroo

[Tuberale]

Didn't see anyone list these, so here goes:

Sunken Treasure Latil, Pierre de & Rivoire, Jean American Book-Stratford Press c.1959
Treasure of the Buccaneer Sea Rieseberg, Harry E. The Naylor Company c. 1962
1001 Lost, Buried or Sunken Treasures Coffman, F. L. Thomas Nelson & Sons, c. 1957
Shipwrecks of the Western Hemisphere 1492-1825 Marx, Robert F. David McKay Company c. 1971

[bronzecannons]

There's some fine book already listed here above.

I suppose a lot also would depend on which part of the world you're planning on working in and/or are interested in.
TW

[Old Bookaroo]

Bronzecannons makes an excellent point: Which books are best depends, to a large extent, on what someone is interested in reading about.

So I took the list and broke it down into general categories. Any errors and all opinions are, of course, my own.

Once again, David Crooks' Sunken Treasure Books (Author: 2002) was quite helpful.

Underwater Salvage and Archaeology – Recovery Techniques

Bass, George Archaeology Beneath the Sea (Harper & Row, New York: 1975)
Brady, Edward M. Marine Salvage Operations (Cornell Maritime Press
1960)
Gores, Joseph Marine Salvage (Doubleday, New York: 1971)
Marx, Robert The Underwater Dig (Henry Z. Walck, Inc., New York: 1975)
Olin, Phillip S. Treasure; The Business & Technology – 2nd Revised and Enlarged Edition (Key Lime Publishing, Micanopy, Florida: 1998)
Peterson, Mendel History Under the Sea (Numerous editions)
Potter, John S. The Treasure Divers’ Guide (Revised edition Doubleday, New York: 1972) : "The Homewrecker" - Potter's one-volume sunken treasure library. It's an extraordinary book - nothing like it.
Weller, Robert “Frogfoot” Salvaging Spanish Sunken Treasure (Crossed Anchors Publishing, Lake Worth, Florida: 1999).
Wilkes, Bill St. John Nautical Archaeology (Stein and Day Publishers, New York: 1971)

Florida Treasures – First-hand Accounts of Recovery

Gore, Tommy The Rainbow Chasers In The Great Florida Treasure Hunt (Signum Ops: 2006)
Lyon, Eugene The Search for the Atocha (Harper & Row, New York: 1979) – Reprinted in Trade Paperback by Florida Classics Library (1989)
Meylach, Capt. Martin & Whited, Charles Diving To A Flash Of Gold (Doubleday, New York: 1971) – Reprinted in Trade Paperback by Florida Classics Library (1986) with an inserted pamphlet 1986 Federal Court Opinion Regarding Salvage Rights at Coffins Patch Reef
Wagner, Kip Pieces Of Eight (E.P. Dutton & Co., New York: 1966) – Reprinted in Trade Paperback by Florida Classics Library (1998)

Florida Treasures (History)

Molinari, Ronald & Teresa Following The Lure Of The Galleon Treasures (Rat Reef Salvage: 2009
Weller, Robert “Frogfoot” Sunken Treasure On Florida Reefs (Crossed Anchor Salvage, Lake Worth, Florida: 1987, Revised 1993)
---, True Stories of Sunken Treasure (Crossed Anchor Salvage, Lake Worth, Florida: 2005)

Spanish Galleons – Caribbean Sea (History)

Bonifacio, Claudio Galleons And Sunken Treasure (Signum Ops: 2010)
Bonet, Walter Cardona Shipwrecks In Puerto Rico's History (Author: 1989)
Horner, Dave Shipwreck (Sheridan House: Dobbs Ferry, New York: 1999) – Searching for La Capitana (lost off Ecuador in 1654) and the Maravillas.
---, The Treasure Galleons (Dodd, Mead & Co., New York: 1971) – Reprinted in Trade Paperback by Florida Classics Library (1990)
Fine, John Christopher Treasures Of The Spanish Main (The Lyons Press 2006
Kordac, Dr. Lubos Historic Shipwrecks Of The Dominican Republic And Haiti (Signum Ops: 2009)
Peterson, Mendel Funnel of Gold (Little Brown and Company, Boston: 1975)
Volker, Roy In the Wake of the Golden Galleons (OroQuest Press, St. Louis, Missouri: 1976) – Searching for the Maravillas treasure lost on Little Bahama Bank, 1656.

Shipwrecks – “New World”

Bass, George Ships And Shipwrecks Of The Americas (Thames & Hudson 1988
Burgess, Robert Sinkings - Salvages - And Shipwrecks American Heritage Press 1970
Marx, Robert F. Shipwrecks of the Western Hemisphere 1492-1825 (The World Publishing Co., Cleveland, Ohio: 1971) – Reprinted in hardcover and paperback several times with different titles. If you already own a copy of one edition, take a long and hard look at any other before you purchase it.

Shipwrecks – History - Worldwide

Birse, Shepard Lore Of The Wreckers (Beacon Press, Boston: 1961) – Wrecks and rescues from Newfoundland to Key West
Latil, Pierre de & Rivoire, Jean Sunken Treasure (Hill and Wang, New York: 1962)
Goddio, Franck Lost At Sea: The Strange Route Of The Lena Shoal Junk (Periplus Publishing, London, England: 2002)
Kiesling, Stephen Walk The Plank (Nordic Knight Press, Ashland, Oregon: 1994) – Wreck and recovery of the pirate ship Whydah on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, 1717.
Pope, Frank Dragon Sea; A True Tale of Treasure, Archaeology and Greed off the Coast of Vietnam (Harcourt, Inc., Orlando: 2007) – Salvaging the mid-15th Century “Hoi An” wreck in the South China Sea
Potter, John S. The Treasure Divers’ Guide (Revised edition Doubleday, New York: 1972) : "The Homewrecker" - Potter's one-volume sunken treasure library. It's an extraordinary book - nothing like it.
Wright, John Encyclopedia of Sunken Treasure (Michael O’Mara Books Limited: London, England: 1975)

? – No classification because I’m not familiar with these

Constante, Pearson & Hoffman, Charles The Last Voyage of El Nuevo (Louisiana St. University Press [Baton Rouge?]: 1995)
Baer, Robert Anomaly 27 (Signum Ops: 2010)


Fiction

Coffman, F.L. 1001 Lost, Buried or Sunken Treasures (Thomas Nelson & Sons, New York: 1957)
Rieseberg, Lieut. Harry E. Treasure of the Buccaneer Sea (The Naylor Company: 1962)

Note: Collectors tend to want the first edition. However, researchers generally favor the most recent (often in paperback) if it has been revised and corrected by the author.

Good luck to all,

~The Old Bookaroo

[bronzecannons]

Old Bookaroo,

You certainly have listed some fine books above. However, one minor book that's about wrecks in Southeast Asia was left out and that's, Shipwrecks & Sunken Treasure in Southeast Asia.

TW

[Old Bookaroo]

bronzecannons:

Tony did a very nice job on that book - I certainly agree with you! If this is a topic of interest to you, it's tough to beat Frank Pope's Dragon Sea. I could not put it down once I started.

The book list should be credited to "signumup." I just tried to organize it.

Good luck to all,

~The Old Bookaroo

[LM]

It's tough to beat "The Homewrecker" - Potter's one-volume sunken treasure library. It's an extraordinary book - nothing like it.

Evidence of this books existence doesn't seem to exist anywhere on the internet.

[Darren in NC]

The "Homewrecker" is not a real title. It is the nickname acquired over the years for John S. Potter's The Treasure Diver's Guide. It is THE classic source for beginning a search for shipwrecks. He was surprisingly accurate.

[Vox veritas]

LS,
the best books are those which contain primary source information (archive, section & bundle #).
Good reading VV

[piratediver]

Here are a few on my office shelf now: A Guide to the Artifacts of Colonial America by Ivor Noel Hume; Those Vulgar Tubes by Joe J. Simmons III; The Low-Tech Archaeological Survey Manual by Sheli O. Smith; Ships' Fastenings by Michael McCarthy; Small Arms of the Spanish Treasure Fleets by Noel Wells; Revolutionary Medicine by C. Keith Wilbur, MD.; A Complete Manual of Field Archaeology by Martha Joukowsky; Historical Archaeology by Ivor Noel Hume; Artifacts of the Spanish Colonies of Florida and the Caribbean, 1500-1800 by Kathleen Deagan; The Philosophy of Shipbuilding by Fred Hocker and Cheryl Ward; Boarders Away II: Firearms of the Age of Fighting Sail by William Gilkerson; The Construction and Fitting of the English Man of War, 1650-1850 by Peter Goodwin; The 74 Gun ship and anything else by Jean Boudriot.


I'll post more when time allows.


Pirate Diver

[Old Bookaroo]

Darren in NC:

Thank you for helping to clear that up! I was trying to help - not be obscure.

You mentioned that Potter's book is "surprisingly accurate." I'd certainly agree with that. When I was working in the Caribbean in the mid-70's, there was the story going around about the tourist couple who went to a dive shop, rented equipment, and said "Oh - we'll take a copy of that book."

"That book," of course, being Potter's.

Several days later they turned in the gear. The diveshop operator, feeling a bit sarcastic, asked "Well, did you have any luck?"

"Oh yes," the couple replied. "It was all right where the book said it was."

Splash,

~The Old Bookaroo