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A history of the world in twelve shipwrecks / David Gibbins.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York : St. Martin's Press, 2024Edition: First U.S. editionDescription: xiv, 289 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (chiefly color) ; 25 cmISBN:
  • 9781250325372
  • 1250325374
Other title:
  • History of the world in 12 shipwrecks
Subject(s): DDC classification:
  • 909 23/eng/20231229
Contents:
Prologue -- Early sea traders of prehistory in the 2nd millennium BC -- Royal cargoes at the time of Tutankhamun in the 14th century BC -- Wine trade in the Golden Age of classical Greece in the 5th century BC -- A shipwreck from the height of the Roman Empire in the 2nd century AD -- Christianity and early Byzantium in the early 6th century AD -- Tang China, the Land of Gold and Abbasid Islam in the 9th century AD -- Viking seafaring and voyages of discovery in the 11th century AD -- The Mary Rose (1545) : flagship of King Henry VIII -- The Santo Cristo di Castello (1667) : lost masterpieces of the Dutch Golden Age -- The Royal Anne Galley (1721) : gold, piracy, and the African slave trade -- HMS Terror (1848) : to the limit of endurance at the ends of the earth -- SS Gairsoppa (1941) : courage and loss in the Battle of the Atlantic -- Afterword.
Summary: "From renowned underwater archaeologist David Gibbins comes an exciting and rich narrative of human history told through the archaeological discoveries of twelve shipwrecks across time. The Viking warship of King Cnut the Great. Henry VIII's the Mary Rose. Captain John Franklin's doomed HMS Terror. The SS Gairsoppa, destroyed by a Nazi U-boat in the Atlantic during World War II. Since we first set sail on the open sea, ships and their wrecks have been an inevitable part of human history. Archaeologists have made spectacular discoveries excavating these sunken ships, their protective underwater cocoon keeping evidence of past civilizations preserved. Now, for the first time, world renowned maritime archeologist David Gibbins ties together the stories of some of the most significant shipwrecks in time to form a single overarching narrative of world history. A History of the World in Twelve Shipwrecks is not just the story of those ships, the people who sailed on them, and the cargo and treasure they carried, but also the story of the spread of people, religion, and ideas around the world; it is a story of colonialism, migration, and the indominable human spirit that continues today. From the glittering Bronze Age, to the world of Caesar's Rome, through the era of the Vikings, to the exploration of the Arctic, Gibbins uses shipwrecks to tell all. Drawing on decades of experience excavating shipwrecks around the world, Gibbins reveals the riches beneath the waves and shows us how the treasures found there can be a porthole to the past that tell a new story about the world and its underwater secrets"--
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Holdings
Item type Current library Collection Call number Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book *Middletown Public Library NON-FICTION 909 GIB Ordered 33581009172313
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

From renowned underwater archaeologist David Gibbins comes an exciting and rich narrative of human history told through the archaeological discoveries of twelve shipwrecks across time.

The Viking warship of King Cnut the Great. Henry VIII's the Mary Rose. Captain John Franklin's doomed HMS Terror. The SS Gairsoppa, destroyed by a Nazi U-boat in the Atlantic during World War II.

Since we first set sail on the open sea, ships and their wrecks have been an inevitable part of human history. Archaeologists have made spectacular discoveries excavating these sunken ships, their protective underwater cocoon keeping evidence of past civilizations preserved. Now, for the first time, world renowned maritime archeologist David Gibbins ties together the stories of some of the most significant shipwrecks in time to form a single overarching narrative of world history.

A History of the World in Twelve Shipwrecks is not just the story of those ships, the people who sailed on them, and the cargo and treasure they carried, but also the story of the spread of people, religion, and ideas around the world; it is a story of colonialism, migration, and the indominable human spirit that continues today. From the glittering Bronze Age, to the world of Caesar's Rome, through the era of the Vikings, to the exploration of the Arctic, Gibbins uses shipwrecks to tell all.

Drawing on decades of experience excavating shipwrecks around the world, Gibbins reveals the riches beneath the waves and shows us how the treasures found there can be a porthole to the past that tell a new story about the world and its underwater secrets.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Prologue -- Early sea traders of prehistory in the 2nd millennium BC -- Royal cargoes at the time of Tutankhamun in the 14th century BC -- Wine trade in the Golden Age of classical Greece in the 5th century BC -- A shipwreck from the height of the Roman Empire in the 2nd century AD -- Christianity and early Byzantium in the early 6th century AD -- Tang China, the Land of Gold and Abbasid Islam in the 9th century AD -- Viking seafaring and voyages of discovery in the 11th century AD -- The Mary Rose (1545) : flagship of King Henry VIII -- The Santo Cristo di Castello (1667) : lost masterpieces of the Dutch Golden Age -- The Royal Anne Galley (1721) : gold, piracy, and the African slave trade -- HMS Terror (1848) : to the limit of endurance at the ends of the earth -- SS Gairsoppa (1941) : courage and loss in the Battle of the Atlantic -- Afterword.

"From renowned underwater archaeologist David Gibbins comes an exciting and rich narrative of human history told through the archaeological discoveries of twelve shipwrecks across time. The Viking warship of King Cnut the Great. Henry VIII's the Mary Rose. Captain John Franklin's doomed HMS Terror. The SS Gairsoppa, destroyed by a Nazi U-boat in the Atlantic during World War II. Since we first set sail on the open sea, ships and their wrecks have been an inevitable part of human history. Archaeologists have made spectacular discoveries excavating these sunken ships, their protective underwater cocoon keeping evidence of past civilizations preserved. Now, for the first time, world renowned maritime archeologist David Gibbins ties together the stories of some of the most significant shipwrecks in time to form a single overarching narrative of world history. A History of the World in Twelve Shipwrecks is not just the story of those ships, the people who sailed on them, and the cargo and treasure they carried, but also the story of the spread of people, religion, and ideas around the world; it is a story of colonialism, migration, and the indominable human spirit that continues today. From the glittering Bronze Age, to the world of Caesar's Rome, through the era of the Vikings, to the exploration of the Arctic, Gibbins uses shipwrecks to tell all. Drawing on decades of experience excavating shipwrecks around the world, Gibbins reveals the riches beneath the waves and shows us how the treasures found there can be a porthole to the past that tell a new story about the world and its underwater secrets"--

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Publishers Weekly Review

Maritime archaeologist and novelist Gibbins (Atlantis) delivers an entertaining and knowledgeable survey of world history with a seafaring spin. Profiling 12 sunken vessels, dating from the second millennium BCE to WWII, each of which preserves a specific slice of time--a degree of precision that he explains is not typical of most archaeological sites--Gibbins uses each wreck as a window onto that ship's wider historical context. The earliest shipwrecks shed light on ancient networking. For example, two swords recovered from Britain's Bronze Age Dover boat reveal the extent of the era's metal trade. The Plemmirio shipwreck off Sicily, dating to the height of the Roman Empire in the second century CE, provides insight on the personal lives of its sailors, which included a specialist surgeon who left behind several scalpel handles. Other chapters discuss how the Belitung Island wreck--a trading vessel of Arab origin found off the coast of Indonesia--exemplifies the spread of new inventions from China to the West in the 800s CE; and dig into Henry VIII's flagship the Mary Rose, an artifact-rich (nearly 200,000 well-preserved items have been recovered) slice of life from the Tudor period. A well-informed and dynamic narrator, Gibbins glides breezily between stories of his scuba dives and quotes from medieval Chinese poetry. History buffs will find this smooth sailing. (Apr.)

Booklist Review

Best-selling novelist Gibbins (Inquisition, 2018) returns to his passion for archeology in this examination of 12 sunken vessels ranging from a Bronze Age wreck off England's Dover coast to a WWII merchant ship sunk off the coast of Ireland. Each of these dozen shipwrecks in some way reflects the state of the world at the time the ships went down. The Bronze Age wreck's cargo shows that international trade flourished even in prehistoric times; copper cargo from the Uluburun shipwreck found off Turkey's shore gives similar evidence of thriving commerce in the eastern Mediterranean. A sunken vessel from the sixth century CE held marble columns clearly intended for a Byzantine church. The remains of Henry VIII's renowned flagship, Mary Rose, tells much about Tudor seamanship and England's nascent ability to colonize so much of the world. As Gibbins notes, none of this history would be available today save for the invention of scuba technology, allowing underwater archeology to flourish. Gibbins' remarkable research will grant both maritime and general historians a deeper perspective on how our world developed.

Kirkus Book Review

A popular novelist turns his hand to historical writing, focusing on what shipwrecks can tell us. There's something inherently romantic about shipwrecks: the mystery, the drama of disaster, the prospect of lost treasure. Gibbins, who's found acclaim as an author of historical fiction, has long been fascinated with them, and his expertise in both archaeology and diving provides a tone of solid authority to his latest book. The author has personally dived on more than half the wrecks discussed in the book; for the other cases, he draws on historical records and accounts. "Wrecks offer special access to history at all…levels," he writes. "Unlike many archaeological sites, a wreck represents a single event in which most of the objects were in use at that time and can often be closely dated. What might seem hazy in other evidence can be sharply defined, pointing the way to fresh insights." Gibbins covers a wide variety of cases, including wrecks dating from classical times; a ship torpedoed during World War II; a Viking longship; a ship of Arab origin that foundered in Indonesian waters in the ninth century; the Mary Rose, the flagship of the navy of Henry VIII; and an Arctic exploring vessel, the Terror (for more on that ship, read Paul Watson's Ice Ghost). Underwater excavation often produces valuable artifacts, but Gibbins is equally interested in the material that reveals the society of the time. He does an excellent job of placing each wreck within a broader context, as well as examining the human elements of the story. The result is a book that will appeal to readers with an interest in maritime history and who would enjoy a different, and enlightening, perspective. Gibbins combines historical knowledge with a sense of adventure, making this book a highly enjoyable package. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

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