Misadventures of a Civil War Submarine: Iron, Guns, and Pearls (Ed Rachal Foundation Nautical Archaeology Series)

Amazon.com Price: $34.95 (as of 02/05/2019 03:14 PST- Details)

Categories: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Description

In 2001, at the same time as vacationing on Panama’s Pacific coast, maritime archaeologist James P. Delgado found out the hulk of a mysterious iron vessel, revealed by the ebbing tides in a small cove at Isla San Telmo. Local inquiries proved inconclusive: the wreck was once described as everything from a sunken Japanese “suicide” submarine from World War II to a poison-laden “craft of death” that was once responsible for the ruin of the pearl beds, decades before.
 
His professional interest fully aroused, Delgado would go on to be told that the wreck was once the remains of some of the first successful deep-diving submersibles, built in 1864 by Julius H. Kroehl, an innovator and entrepreneur who to begin with sought to develop his invention for military use all through the Civil War. The craft’s completion coming too late for that conflict, Kroehl therefore convinced investors that it may be used to harvest pearls from the Pacific beds off Panama, in waters too deep for native pearl divers to achieve.
 
In Misadventures of a Civil War Submarine, Delgado chronicles the confluence of technological advancement, entrepreneurial aspiration, American capitalist ambition, and ignorance of the physiological effects of deep diving. As he details the layers of knowledge uncovered by his work both in archival sources and in the field excavation of Kroehl’s ill-fated vessel, Delgado weaves the tangled threads of history into a compelling narrative. This finely crafted saga will fascinate and inform professional archaeologists and researchers, naval historians, students and aficionados of maritime exploration, and interested general readers.

Related products

Home » Shop » Books » Subjects » Arts and Photography » History and Criticism » History » Americas » United States » Civil War » Campaigns and Battlefields » Misadventures of a Civil War Submarine: Iron, Guns, and Pearls (Ed Rachal Foundation Nautical Archaeology Series)

Recent Products