Dead Men's Silver: The Story of Australia's Greatest Shipwreck Hunter

by Hugh Edwards

The story of more than sixty years of diving adventures, through starkly contrasting locations and extraordinary advances in technology. From boyhood dreamer to master treasure hunter, Hugh Edwards documents his life through tales of shipwreck and salvage. the story of more than sixty years of diving adventures including his significant find of the Batavia, Hugh Edwards documents his life through tales of shipwreck, treasure hunting and salvage. 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 with the inscription: PHILIPPUS IIII ... REX HISPANIA ... DG - Philip IV, King of Spain, Dei Gratia (by the Grace of God). the date on the coin was 1654. Nearly fifty years later Hugh Edwards has explored shipwrecks around the world - in the Mediterranean, the Falklands, Cambodia - wherever there is treasure to be found. He has been recognised as 'primary finder' of the 1629 wreck of the Batavia and the 1727 wreck the Zeewyk. He has worked with some of the world's craziest, daring and most successful divers in some of the most beautiful or stormy places on Earth. 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. 'Ever since there have been ships and sailors there have been shipwrecks. Each is different, and each is a time capsule, arrested at a particular moment - and they all came to the same unexpected and unscheduled end.' Hugh Edwards

Genres: Nonfiction

416 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 1, 2011

Reviews

[Samone Black · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hugh Edwards is a man to be admired. His adventures in diving are amazing and inspiring. The amazing history he has uncovered in a unforgiving underwater environment and the contribution he has made to the discovery of pre-britannic Australian history is to be commended. A great read for any history lover and/or diving enthusiast!

[Greg Barron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable read. I really admire the author and his ethics in a tough world with its share of shady characters.

[Deb Omnivorous Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been wanting to read this non-fiction account of a WA man's life diving and discovering shipwrecks for AGES, a hard book to find I am delighted to have done so.

This is a book written by Edwards himself, and as one might expect from someone who was a journalist for fifteen years at the Daily News in WA it has a clear, workman like style, matter of fact and honest, telling a fascinating story. I melted at his descriptions of his first experiments snorkelling as a kid with a Army Disposals bought gas mask allowing him to discover the magic of the underwater – a completely new world back in the 40's.

He is humble in describing his luck at becoming a newspaper cadet and about the lucky chance that made him the go-to reporter and authority for all things Marine at the Daily News.

WA had a lot of shipping and shipwrecks going back to the Dutch East India company, about 60 years before Captain Cook and the endeavour bumped into the Eastern Coast. Many of those are fascinating stories that historians piece together, often discovered by the purest chance; I have read quite a few of them and am always riveted. Edward's describes them with the added bonus of diving and underwater discovery of their wrecks and stories.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes a little boring however for the most part this book is great. A good insight into treasure hunting

[Joey · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Story of Australia’s Greatest Shipwreck Hunter is exactly as advertised. This book is the story OF him. When I got this book I was hoping for a book recanting the wonderful tales of diving into the depths of the ocean and coming across a sunken ship. I wanted to read how he worked his way across the bow of the ship that is completely covered with sea creatures and coral. While instead I got to read about how Hugh Edwards was moving poles and someone else yelled ‘BELL!’ And then they found it and how cool it was that the divers had found it. That is not at all what I was hoping for out of this book. This book was very good at telling the reader what is it like to be on a crew that finds a treasure, but not of finding the treasure itself. Throughout the book Mr. Edwards made references to other books he had written and perhaps those books are the ones where we can go on a visual journey with Hugh, but this is not that book. I can say that I am disappointed and for the time being I will go ahead and stick to fiction. If you are into story’s about some cool finds, read this book. If you are hoping to get lost in a book where you can see what the diver saw, then this book is not for you and I recommend that you keep looking.

[Peter Ritchie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The nonfiction section of the library that I had ventured into was dank and empty. As I made my across the shelves of the various dusty books which lay dormant there, a glint of light caught my eye. There, on an upper shelf, sat the section devoted to exploration and adventure, a garish front cover had caught a gleam of light. Pirate books from my youth called back to me. I reached out a hand and took my chances; pulling a well-worn copy of this book while carefully not disturbing the silent shelves. Upon surfacing from the library, I uncovered a tale of adventure, of a full life, of a fascinating Australian. It was a significant find to say the least!

[Pippa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very interesting book, but I'd already read 'Islands of Angry Ghosts', and there was some overlap. The story of how the divers were treated for years was quite horrifying - but it needed to be told. Many other interesting stories besides the Batavia. Worth reading, even if you too have read 'Islands of Angry Ghosts'. This man writes extremely well.