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
