Hello everybody,
When I received the copy of the book “Shipwrecks of the Dominican Republic and Guide to Shipwreck Identification Through Recovered Artifacts” I found out to know personally the author of the book. He is professional cave diver with huge sense for details and perfection and with passion for shipwrecks. All shipwrecks, not only historical ones. Ballast pile of any kind or piece of airplane wing under the water means a shipwreck site for him no matter how old it is. He has been systematically searching the seas of the south of the island for a long time and the records of his dives and discoveries are an example of detailed, systematical work. As I know, he never touched anything what he found under the water, just recorded the spot with photos, descriptions and GPS coordinates. He wrote his book in the same precise way, in the first part of the book giving a reader some samples of mostly modern shipwrecks around the island, some of them even with exact GPS coordinates, and mentioning some historical ones, principally in the area of his interest on the southern coast, west of Santo Domingo. His information about these old wrecks is based on Chaunu records of transatlantic voyages of Spanish ships and on information from the books of other authors as well. The second part of his book is, by my opinion, very good guide for anybody who is seriously interested in treasure hunting business and wants to know what to do and what to avoid. Description and way how to use different types of magnetometers, side scan sonar and other instruments that are necessary for any successful underwater treasure hunt is very useful and quite comprehensive. The basic description of principal artifacts that can be found on shipwrecks like cannons, anchors, ship bells, timbers and spikes completes the picture of basic knowledge for modern treasure hunters.
Regards to all,
Lobo (Bobadilla)
