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ON THE BOTTOM.By Commander Edward Ellsberg. Hardback, 0.64kg, 157mm x 236mm, 243 pages, black and white photographs. Sinking of the Submarine S-51, 1979 Oral Interview with Rear Admiral Edward Ellsberg CD included. This special edition published 2002.
The son of Jewish immigrants, Edward Ellsberg was born in 1891 in New Haven, Connecticut, but his family moved to Colorado when he was a boy. He entered the U.S. Naval Academy in 1910 and graduated first in his class in 1914. After varied service on the USS Texas, he was ordered to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for postgraduate work in Naval Architecture and graduated in 1920.
In 1925, he led the salvage efforts to raise the sunken submarine USS S-51, for which he became the first sailor to earn the Navy's Distinguished Service Medal in peacetime and was promoted to commander by a special act of Congress.
Shortly after the raising of S-51, Ellsberg entered civilian service but remained in the naval reserve. He returned to active duty briefly in December 1927, to assist with the rescue of men from the sunken submarine USS S-4.
In the late 1920s Ellsberg began his long and prolific career as a writer of naval history and fiction. On the Bottom, first published in 1929, is his account of the raising of the USS S-51. During this time Ellsberg wrote a novel about World War I submarines called Pigboats, which was later made into the movie Hell Below, and the important Hell on Ice, about the ill-fated U.S. Navy Jeannette Expedition to the North Pole.
Ellsberg reentered the active Navy on December 8, 1941, and his World War II accomplishments in Ethiopia, North Africa, and the Invasion of Normandy are considered his most valuable work. He chronicled his war years in the books Under the Red Sea Sun; No Banners, No Bugles; and The Far Shore.
Edward Ellsberg retired from the Navy in 1951 with the rank of Rear Admiral. He returned to private life as a consulting engineer and continued to write and lecture. He and his wife Lucy of sixty years divided their final years between Maine and Florida. He died in 1983 at 91 and was buried in Willimantic, Connecticut.
NZ$70.00 + delivery.
THE REMAINS OF THE BOYD DVD.By New Zealand Underwater Heritage Group. DVD. Duration 35 minutes.
December 1809, the sailing ship Boyd was attacked and destroyed while at anchor in Whangaroa Harbour, New Zealand. We take a look at what remains of the ship after 200 years under water, and begin the search for other remains outside the area of the wreck site.
With modern technology it's now possible to search and hopefully locate the ship's anchors and guns that may still lie undiscovered in the harbour's muddy bottom.
This is the beginning of on-going research to document the history of one of New Zealand's oldest and historically significant shipwrecks.
NZ$25.00 + delivery.
THIS BARREN ROCK.By Sylvie Haisman. Paperback, 0.28kg, 135mm x 210mm, 238 pages, black and white illustrations.
Imagine one woman, forty-seven men and a three-year-old boy, shipwrecked on a tiny sub-Antarctic island. For seven months they eat albatross and burn penguin skins for fuel, before a passing whaler picks them up.
The Scottish clipper Strathmore sailed from London in 1875, laden with gunpowder, iron and immigrants. Wrecked at night in furious seas, half her passengers struggled ashore to the bare, inhospitable rocks of the remote Crozet Islands. There they remained stranded, struggling to survive the bitter southern winter, given up for lost by their families and friends.
Over 130 years later, award-winning writer Sylvie Haisman rediscovered her ancestors' epic adventure. Drawing on their journals, faded photographs and letters, she unearthed a story of gallant sailors, orphaned children, cruel hunger and debilitating cold.
The Strathmore shipwreck was a sensation in Victorian times. Now this compelling story of courage, endurance and the determination to survive will move and inspire readers all over again.
NZ$36.00 + delivery.
GREAT SEA STORIES.By Joseph Cummins. Paperback, 160mm x 198mm, 192 pages, black and white photographs.
The age of sail and steam gave rise to many epic tales of the victims of shipwreck, mutiny and marooning. Author Joseph Cummins recounts the enthralling circumtances of some of the most exciting and bizarre stories of the sea, encompassing the predations of pirates; the last-resort horrors of cannibalism; the unleashed madness of psychopaths; and, always, the desperate attempt to survive against all odds.
Illustrated with contemporary image, this collection of real-life adventure stories makes gripping reading.
NZ$25.00 + delivery.
DISASTERS AT SEA.By Dag Pike. Paperback, 188mm x 245mm, 192 pages, colour photographs.
Disasters at sea come in all shapes and sizes, and are a voyage into the unknown for everyone involved.
From trawlers pulled under by submarines, to the notorious 1979 Fastnet race, ferry disasters and boats run down in open water, Dag Pike looks at all types of disasters at sea and gives a gripping analysis of what went wrong, how it was dealt with and what lessons were learned. Covering accounts of yachts, motorboats and commercial vessels running into difficulty, each chapter includes sections on rescue, survival and an account from the Marine Accident Investigation Branch, who monitor accidents at sea all over the world. Dag Pike's vast experience as captain, navigator and journalist, as well as his personal experience of being rescued 10 times and rescuing others 9 times, adds keen personal insight as well as drama.
This book challenges many preconceived ideas, and provides a thought provoking account of why things go wrong at sea as well as paying tribute to the courage and daring of many of those who have survived.
NZ$61.50 + delivery.
TAKING THE SEABy Dennis M Powers. Hardback, 160mm x 240mm, 304 pages, black and white photographs.
Perilous waters, sunken ships, and the true story of the legendary wrecker captains.
By the mid 19th century, an intrepid, reckless group of men ruled the ocean. Known as “wreckers”, they made their living by rescuing ships in distress and raising sunken ones, even in the face of monstrous waves and fierce weather.
In Taking the Sea, Dennis Powers traces the journey of these legendary men througthe story of Captain Thomas P.H. Whitelaw, the most important ship salvager of his day. Powers offers a compelling portrait of Whitelaw and the other wrecker captains, recounting the dangerous lives they and their men led.
NZ$43.00 + delivery.
SHIPWRECK - A History of Disasters at SeaBy Sam Willis. Hardback, 260mm x 300mm, 191 pages, full colour photographs and drawings.
In Shipwreck, maritime expert Sam Willis traces the astonishing tales of ships that have met with disastrous ends. Bringing the events of the time to life, he describes the acts of courage, moments of sacrifice and episodes of villainy that occurred as the sea threatened.
Complemented by 100 colour paintings, photographs and maps, his enthralling narrative also sheds light on the causes and consequences of each sinking and how, often, the discovery of the wreck has added a twist to the story.
NZ$45.00 + delivery.
DESTINATION DISASTER: The Sinking Of The Mikhail Lermontov DVD.By Ninox Collecter's Edition. Approx 90 mins DVD.
It begins with the promise of the holiday of a lifetime, climaxes in a tragic international incident and ends with a web of human betrayal and suffering.
In this vivid picture of the ship's last voyage, viewers are carried along with the ship onto the rocks and into they urgency of the ensuring rescue. Combined with amateur video footage of terrified passengers preparing to disembark, actual radio transmissions paint the picture of a desperate and confused situation.
The story of the sinking is a haemorrhaging controversy, but the most compelling viewing comes with the emotional reflection of the passengers who fought for their lives and the heroes who worked day and night to rescue them. The investigation which follows features a multinational cast of characters from St Petersburg in Russia to the High Courts of Australia into the tiny community of Picton New Zealand.
A very emotional story, and the pilot still will not explain his actions.
NZ$31.00 + delivery.
THE WHITE SWAN INCIDENT, The Shipwreck That Could Have Sunk a Government.By Mike Warman. Pbk, 170mm x 240mm (A4), 73 pages, monochrome photographs and drawings.
This is a book about a New Zealand shipwreck. On 29 June 1862 the S.S White Swan was holed by a rock while steaming down the North Island coast between Napier and Wellington. A number of New Zealand's leading politicians and civil servants were among the passengers. A heavy loss of life would have been calamitous for the government and the administration of the colony. Miraculously, Captain Allen Harper managed to find the one safe spot on a notoriously rugged coastline to run the ship ashore on Wairongo Beach, at Uriti Point on the Wairarapa coast. All the passengers and crew managed to scramble ashore without injury.
The author's fascinating and thoroughly researched book provides the background to the ill fated voyage, with the vessel steaming to take passengers to their places in the first sitting of the New Zealand parliament.
He describes the likely reason for the shipwreck; how the passengers fared ashore; the irony behind their rescue; the mysterious enquiry in Wellington; and the subsequent histories of a large number of the passengers on board.
NZ$25.50 + delivery.
THE PROVING GROUND. By G. Bruce Knecht. Pbk, 110mm x 180mm, 283 pages, monochrome photographs.
The worst disaster in recent ocean racing history began on Boxing Day 1998, a perfect summer day on Sydney Harbour, in New South Wales, Australia.
One hundred and fifteen boats set out from Sydney but only forty-three reached the finish line - in Hobart, Tasmania. In the cycloe that shredded the fleet seven boats were abandoned, five sank, six sailors died and fifty-five needed to be pulled from the water.
This book is a "page-turner" of the highest order and it is more than one of the most compelling adventure stories written in years. It is an incisive look at the forces that continue to draw men who have triumphed on land to risk everything at sea.
NZ$25.50 + delivery.
AFTER THE STORM. By John Rousmaniere. Pbk, 165mm x 240mm, 330 pages, monochrome photographs.
"True stories of disaster and recovery at sea." John Rousmaniere wrote the classic Fastnet, Force 10 and in After the Storm. He takes storm stories to a new level of revelation an universality. In the book's interrelated stories, he tells of the hopes and chioces that put sailors in harm's way, and then takes us into the gales themselves with authoritative knowledge of horrific weather and the split-second decisions that seafarers must make in appalling conditions. He expolores the consequencies of these disasters for survivors, rescuers, families, communities, and in some cases, nations. And he shows how storm experiences shape reputations and beliefs often creating myths springing from the hunger for explanation.
NZ$28.50 + delivery.
FATAL STORM, The 54th Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race. By Rob Mundle. Pbk, 130mm x 200mm, 380 pages, colour photographs.
This deals with the same topic as Proving Ground above. The Sydney to Hobart yacht race is one of the world's major sporting events. In 1998 it became one of the world's major sporting disasters. Six sailors tragically lost their lives and countless others suffered injuries, and numerous yachts sank or were badly damaged. The subsequent search and rescue operation was one of the most phenomenally accomplished peacetime efforts the world has ever seen.
In this fully updated edition to mark the 10th anniversary of the tumultuous race, Rob Mundle, one of Australia’s leading journalists and yachtsmen, tells this story of challenge and survival with compassion, vigour and understanding.
NZ$27.50 + delivery.
WAKE OF THE INVERCAULD.By Madelene Ferguson Allen. Hardcover, 198mm x 268mm, 256 pages, colour photographs.
Robert Holding, a young English adventurer, was only 23 when in 1864 he was shipwrecked with 19 others on the windswept, inhospitable Auckland Islands in the sub-Antarctic Ocean south of New Zealand. By the time he was rescued a year later, only two of his shipmates were taken off the island with him, the rest having perished from starvation and exposure. This is the extraordinary story of how the three survived, and why their companions did not.
It is also a gripping tale of discovery. Holding's great-granddaughter Madelene Ferguson Allen had her relationship to the sailor revealed when she was researching the history of her birth family. Subsequently she learned of the existence of his account of the shipwreck and enforced stay on the Aucklands, and she decided to retrace her forebear's footsteps.
As the Auckland Islands are one of the world's last great "untouched" wildlife sanctuaries, getting permission to visit from New Zealand's Department of Conservation is no easy task. However, eventually the author was granted access and she conducted her research at first-hand on the islands in 1993 and 1995.
In this wonderfully readable tale of adventure, wildlife encounters and life aboard a sailing ship in the roaring sub-Antarctic seas, Madelene Allen has brought an obscure piece of maritime history to life. Robert Holding's chronicle is interwoven with his great-granddaughter's story, as she visits the original home of the Invercault in Scotland, follows the young sailor's trail from England, through Australia, to the tragic encounter with the bleak Auckland Islands, and finally to his resting place in Canada.
NZ$46.00 + delivery.
THE GENERAL GRANT'S GOLD.By Madelene Ferguson Allen and Ken Scadden. Paperback, 152mm x 235mm, 192 pages. Monochrome photos.
The wreck in 1866 of the General Grant in the desolate sub-Antarctic Auckland Islands is one of the world's great nautical mysteries, a story that still tantalises and thrills. When the ship was crushed in a cave beneath a sheer cliff face, a few crew members and a handful of passengers managed to escape in a lifeboat. For more than two years they lived a hand-to-mouth existence on a nearby island before they were rescued. This story is extraordinary in itself, but soon compelling legends spread that the ship had sunk with a fabulous hoard of gold from the Victorian goldfields. For almost 140 years, expeditions and bounty hunters have searched for the ship and her elusive cargo. In the relentless seas of the Auckland Islands, it has been a soul-destroying endeavour. Locating the vessel has been difficult enough; finding the gold has proved impossible.
In this book the authors tell the full story of the voyage, the shipwreck, the plight of the castaways and the search for the gold. At this distance in time, separating the facts from the legends is difficult, but the authors have scrupulously researched the events of the shipwreck and examined every subsequent search for the gold. The story is more remarkable than fiction, a tale of heroes and cads, heartbreak and loss, hope and despair, hunger and greed. As it has betwitched so many in the past, so it will haunt you long after the last page is turned.
NZ$35.00 + delivery
DEAD MEN'S SILVER.By Hugh Edwards. Paperback, 0.59kg, 152mm x 232mm, 408 pages. Colour photos. Published 2011.
Brought up on tales of pirates and great treasure hunters, Hugh Edwards never expected to handle 'pieces of eight' himself. But one exciting day off the West Australian coast that is exactly what happened, when he and his team located treasure lost from the Dutch East Indiaman shipwreck the Vergulde Draeck. It was a moment of astonishment and euphoria, as there in his hand lay a piece of silver the date of which was 1654.
Nearly fifty years later the author has explored shipwrecks around the world. He has been recognised as 'primary finder' of the 1629 wreck of the Batavia and the 1727 wreck the Zeewyk.
This is the story of a lifetime of adventure - of dangerous seas, thrilling underwater locations, of pirate diplomacy and empire building, and of modern derring-do.
NZ$40.00 + delivery
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