Browse

The USS Saginaw was a Civil War gunboat that served in Pacific and Asian waters between 1860 and 1870. During this decade, the crew witnessed the trade disruptions of the Opium Wars, the Taiping Rebellion, the transportation of Confederate sailors to Central America, the French intervention in Mexico, and the growing presence of American naval forces in Hawaii. In 1870, the ship sank at one of the world's most remote coral reefs; her crew was rescued 68 days later after a dramatic open-boat voyage. More than 130 years later, Hans Van Tilburg led the team that discovered and recorded the Saginaw's remains near the Kure Atoll reef. This book's narrative provides fresh insights and a vivid retelling of a classic naval shipwreck. It provides a perspective on the watershed events in history that reshaped the Pacific during these years. And the tale of archaeological search and discovery reveals that adventure is still to be found on the high seas.

For millennia, Malta has always been considered a site of strategic importance. From the arrival of the Phoenicians through rule under Carthage, Rome, Sicilian Arabs, Normans, and Genovese, to the Order of St. John (“Knights of Malta”), the advent of the Napoleonic Wars, and even World Wars I and II, the Maltese islands have served as re-provisioning stations, military bases, and refuges for pirates and privateers. Building on her underwater archaeological survey of the Maltese archipelago, this book presents an interdisciplinary approach to maritime history in the Mediterranean. Offering a general overview of essential facts, including geographical and oceanographic factors that would have affected the navigation of historic ships, major relevant historical texts and documents, the logistical possibilities of ancient ship design, a detailed study of sea currents and wind patterns, and especially the archaeological remains (or scarcity thereof) around the Maltese maritime perimeter, this book builds a convincing argument that Malta mattered far less in maritime history than has been previously asserted.

Sunken treasure may seem like the stuff of legends and movies, but the seas still hold prizes to be found. HMS Fowey was a small ship, carrying 44 guns and over 200 men, captained by a descendant of Sir Francis Drake's brother. It had scored victories over French and Spanish ships in battle, but in 1748 was done in by a reef in what is now Biscayne National Park. In 1978, an underwater treasure hunter came upon a shipwreck in the park and began to search for treasure. Eventually, after years of precedent-setting legal wrangling, the National Park Service asserted ownership of the wreckage and turned the investigation over to underwater archaeologists, including George Fischer and Russell Skowronek. This book traces the life of the ship, the court martial of her captain, her rediscovery in the 1970s, and the long process of artifact recovery and ship identification. Written for general readers, the result is a story of intrigue and adventure that stretches across the centuries.

This is a theoretical study that avoids the single-site bias prevalent in most underwater archaeology research. It also eschews the traditional examination of shipwreck sites as the core component of study in this field. Instead, the author seeks to discover what we can learn by examining intentionally abandoned vessels and to determine what the differences are between cultural site formation processes and those created “naturally” (that is, by shipwrecks and other nautical disasters). Using Australian waters as a case study, he examines over 1,500 vessels abandoned over a period of more than 200 years. In offering such a detailed focus on an underutilized archaeological resource, the author provides a model for the examination of similar sites and processes in many other locations around the world.

Spanish flotas (convoys) traversed the Atlantic throughout the colonial period, shuttling men and goods between the Old and New Worlds. In August 1750, at the height of hurricane season, a small convoy of seven ships left Havana for Cádiz. A fierce storm scattered the ships from North Carolina's outer banks to Maryland's eastern shore. Spanish merchants, military officers, and sailors struggled to survive, protect their valuable cargo, and, eventually, find a way home. They faced piracy, rapacious English officials, and discord among crew and passengers (including dozens of English prisoners). Two and a half centuries later, the discovery of the wreckage of the convoy's flagship, La Galga, set off a legal battle between Spain and American treasure companies over salvage rights.