What is the required reading for maritime treasure salvage?

[dcrooks]

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

I agree with signumops' list and would add a few more books. See my "Top 75" list at:
http://www.sunkentreasurebooks.com/top75.htm
For the complete bibliography of 1500 books and auction catalogs see:
http://www.sunkentreasurebooks.com

 

[mckee]

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

Watching TREASURE QUEST DVD the program detailing the exploits of Odyssey Marine Exploration, you'll spot a dog-earred copy of Potter's THE TREASURE DIVER'S GUIDE prominent on their bookshelf, and they even reference it in a couple of episodes.

 

[LM]

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

Picked up a 1972 ed of "The Treasure Divers Guide" (reading copy with no jacket) off Amazon.

It is indeed a helluva book. I guess one can usually assume that by the the time info hits a book, you're too late to the party, but a most of this stuff comes off as 'relevant research' and it seems like a lot of these ships hadn't yet been found, when it was originally written... and probably, quite a few still haven't been.

 

[mad4wrecks]

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

Old Bookaroo wrote:

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.

bronzecannons is Tony Wells.

 

[Old Bookaroo]

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

mad4wrecks:

Then I'm glad I could, in all honesty, have something nice to say about that book!

Good luck to all,

~The Old Bookaroo

 

[ropesfish]

Another good thread, Fred.

 

[ivan salis]

Duro - the Spanish historical naval writer

 

[Salvor6]

Bill why are you polluting the shipwreck forum with all these dead threads? Some of the original posters have not posted in more than 10 years. If anything, start a new thread.

 

[Alexandre]

George Bass edited the Beneath the Seven Seas, a great part of it is now on PDF format, for free, here:

https://www.academia.edu/37265774/2005_Beneath_the_Seven_Seas

 

[ropesfish]

Gee, Pete. I wasn't aware that you were appointed the Dead Thread Policeman...but here is why -- as it gets closer to the 1715 season, I get more people asking me how to find information. The threads I bumped are (as far as I am aware) some of the best ones involving that subject. I figured I* would make them easier to find.
No reason to re-hash the same subjects when they've been well discussed in the past.

 

[Alexandre]

I am still laughing on this guy's "well researched book". On p. 275 he states that the Azores are composed of ten major islands... well, they are only nine..

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

 

[Darren in NC]

Perhaps he never visited. There are a number of books, especially older ones, but as late as the 70s that state there are ten islands that comprise the Azores. A cursory book search would tell you this.

 

[Alexandre]

Any good chart, starting from the 16th century, would show you that there are only 9, not 10.

Speaking of the Azores:

"The European Heritage Label has been awarded to ten new sites that have played a significant role in the history and culture of Europe or the building of the European Union. The awards were announced on 31 March 2020."


https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/cre...derwater-cultural-heritage-azores-portugal_en

Perhaps he never visited. There are a number of books, especially older ones, but as late as the 70s that state there are ten islands that comprise the Azores. A cursory book search would tell you this.

 

[xaos]

Bill why are you polluting the shipwreck forum with all these dead threads?

a lot has happened in 10 years...

 

[Salvor6]

a lot has happened in 10 years...

Then start a new thread.

 

[capt dom]

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

Here is the Treasure Hunters Bible

 

[grantler]

Hi
A few from my shelf .
Have most of the one´s mentioned bevor , but here some more
Encyclopedia of Underwater and Maritime Archaeology By James P.Delgado 1997
A History of Seafaring , Based on Underwater Archaeology by George F. Bass 1974
Atlas of Treasure Maps By Coffman
I will look for more :-)
Stay save and stay home
grantler

 

[Steve Baldwin]

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

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

Several of these books recommended by the Old Bookaroo and others as well, list books by David Horner, such as his "The Treasure Galleons," but his books have phony stories in them such as the Trinidad story. That was proved to be a hoax even before Horner published his book. I did a report proving it to be hoax four years ago. Anyone who did the most elementary research on this story could figure that out so if that's Horner's idea of "research" I wouldn't buy anything he wrote.

 

[Colombiapictures]

Several of these books recommended by the Old Bookaroo and others as well, list books by David Horner, such as his "The Treasure Galleons," but his books have phony stories in them such as the Trinidad story. That was proved to be a hoax even before Horner published his book. I did a report proving it to be hoax four years ago. Anyone who did the most elementary research on this story could figure that out so if that's Horner's idea of "research" I wouldn't buy anything he wrote.

There is some merit in your remark. However, treasure hunting is more complicated than that.

• Any and all information needs to be checked and double checked.
• Often the dates are not correct. More often than not, the dates are from when the story was told, not from the actual happening. Survivors would tell the story weeks, months or years later.
• There were many ships of exactly the same name or similar names. Many ships would be known by their nicknames rather than their names of registry.
• The people telling the story, the people writing down the story, the editor and many others could introduce errors voluntarily and involuntarily.

So lets look at your story of the “Trinidad”

I found a description about a shipwreck that closely coincided with that story in a file in the archives of the congress library of Venezuela, in Caracas. In 1993. I had the file copied at great cost, but over the years, that file got lost. So what I am telling you now is from my own memory, as well as I remember.

In 1958 an expedition was made using a Venezuelan Navy ship, to check on that shipwreck. The name of the leader of the expedition was “Santelli” or “Santaelli”. They located a shipwreck located at the position indicated by the story. Several cannons were recovered. There were photos of the cannons being hoisted on board.

Bearings and depth and a good description of the shipwreck location were given. In 1994 I made an expedition to the location with my boat, but a swell was running. Waves were breaking on the spot and the visibility was about 1 foot.
Wrong time of the year.
No result for my own expedition.

During the 1958 expedition, they also visited the site of the “San Pedro De Alcantara” 1815. The shipwreck lies in about 24 meters depth. They recovered one anchor.

There was a diving accident and one of the divers nearly died. The expedition was terminated. The file contained a drawing of the shipwrecks made by the divers. Many old black and white photos. A history of the various salvage operations executed over the years since the ship blew up. An account of the amount of silver and other goods salvaged.

 

[Colombiapictures]

When we read shipwreck stories, we always wonder: “What is the truth?”

The original first hand account may have been the whole truth and only the truth, but even then it was told by people who were highly influenced by the often traumatic circumstances.

Every time the story is retold, some things are omitted or added or distorted.

Shipwreck stories are prone to be similar to “fishermen stories”. How big was that fish again?

And then we have some enigmas: The books written by Harry Rieseberg. Tall tales. But the most interesting part were the listings of shipwrecks from his books. Here is a sample page. The stuff treasure divers dream about. Most first generation treasure divers read these books and it changed their lives.