The Shipwreck Hunter

by David L. Mearns

David Mearns has found some of the world's most fascinating and elusive shipwrecks. His deep-water searches have solved the 66-year mystery of HMAS Sydney, discovered the final resting place of the mighty battlecruiser HMS Hood and revealed the Australian Hospital Ship Centaur in the narrow underwater canyon that served as its grave. His painstaking historical detective work has led to the shallow reefs of a remote island that hid the crumbling wooden skeletons of Vasco de Gama's sixteenth century fleet.

The Shipwreck Hunter is the compelling story of David's life and work on the seas, focusing on some of his most intriguing discoveries. It details the extraordinary techniques used, the research and the mid-ocean stamina and courage needed to find a wreck kilometres beneath the sea, as well as the moving human stories that lie behind each of these oceanic tragedies.

Part detective story, part history and part deep ocean adventure, The Shipwreck Hunter is a unique insight into a hidden, underwater world.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Memoir, Adventure, Nautical, Biography, Science

546 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 5, 2017

Reviews

[Philip · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was bogged down with waaaaay to many details. Each shipwreck story is interesting but the detail the author goes into about getting permission to dive the wrecks, excruciating detail about the court cases, and over abundance of technical detail bored me to death. I really had to muscle through to finish. This book could have been 1/2 as long.

[Deb Omnivorous Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the 1970's David Mearns was studying Marine biology, like many of us who did so his career did not end up exactly where he was thinking. The author's life went off in a fascinating and almost unique direction when, as an undergrad he found himself going off in the directions of marine geology and geophysics with a fascination in field work that led to his first experiences with sonar. These interested and experiences led to a career of finding shipwrecks and in this book the author takes us to some of the interesting jobs he has worked upon.

The cases themselves are interesting, while there is not a lot of jargon, the descriptions of the difficulties in towing sonar equipment to the depth of thousands of meters, interpreting the seafloor and the development of search patterns are all interesting and help set the scenes of discovery. One of the strengths of this book is the writing; a strong matter of fact voice combines with great sincerity to make these wrecks that he is hunting come to life in a human and humane way.

Each wreck is described before the actual hunt is described and these histories are often enrapturing reading. The fist is the MV Lucona, purposefully sunk, it's crew intentionally murdered for financial gain. The hunt was commissioned by the court in an attempt to bring the people responsible to justice.

Several of the ships the author has found are WWII wrecks and I found these stories as fascinating and captivating as any adventure fiction. I think most people have heard of the Bismarck - I had, but not of the HMS Hood without which the Bismark would have had no notoriety outside England. The story of their encounter and it's repercussions is truly epic - and the author found the wrecks of both of them in a single trip, using one to navigate to the other. Exciting stuff!

As an Australian who likes history, the story of how the HMAS Sydney and her attacker the HSK Kormoran were found is not entirely new, I read and watched things about it at the time. This extended story of events was so much more vivid however, as once again the author tells us the human side of the story as well as describing the sea battle vividly.

Still in Australia, this time in my backyard the AHS Centaur a hospital ship torpedoed by a (almost certainly) Japanese submarine, against all conventions and laws warfare, sunk off Morton Island and the most amazing detective work required to locate the area to search....

There are more stores, each of them as fascinating as the other, and the book winds down slowly with a description of the wrecks the author wold like to work on in the future, including Shackleton's Endurance sunk in 1915 in the Weddell sea.

This vividly written book is more exciting, in it's own way than many 'thrillers' I have read, it brings the history of these ships and the people who sailed in them and, often, died in them into vivid reality. It described the oceans of the world and many of their faces as only someone who has lived on them for many years can. The writing opened up visions of the deep dark of the ocean floors, the unexplored depths of the world, of which we know less than we know about the surface of the moon. Reading it was not quite the boundless adventure that living it would have been, but I am glad to have had the chance to partake, just a little in this extraordinary career.

[Jeff Mauch · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'll probably never get enough of treasure hunting and the hunting of things lost at sea. The focus of this book is the latter, but just and fascinating as the former. I think we forgot just how vast and unexplored our oceans are sometimes and this book brings that into perspective rather quickly. Most of us has heard a tidbit about the discovery of the titanic and it gets a lot of the credit as far as shipwrecks goes, but while Ballard's discovery got a lot of press, David Mearns has done so much more and probably doesn't get the credit he deserves. Mearns walks us through his shipwreck finding career chronologically and while you'd think it'd get dull after a ship or three, the truth is that it just gets more interesting with every chapter. Mearns has solved centuries long mysteries, including ships from World War II as well as wooden ships from the Age of Exploration. He's a wonderful story teller and you'll be left wanting more from him even after he covered his decades long career in great depth.

[Saturday's Child · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I noticed a paperback copy of this book at my local library I just had to borrow it. Shipwrecks fascinate me especially when they are discovered and photographed. I was aware of the discovery of HMAS Sydney (II) but did not realise who the author of this book was until I begun reading it. This is a must read for anyone who has an interest in shipwreck hunting. Since this book was published the AE1 has been discovered so I hope that the Endurance will also be.

[Jeimy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! I enjoyed the vicarious thrill of finding these wrecks so much that I don't even care that the author makes his career seem easy by picking the highlights.

[Arnis · Rating 4 out of 5]

https://poseidons99.wordpress.com/202...

[Stefanie Robinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

David Mearns is a marine scientist, oceanographer, and author. He specializes in search and recovery and shipwrecks. He hold five Guinness World Records for his work in the oceans, which I found really interesting. I enjoyed learning about the process of deep sea recovery, which he went into with extreme detail. Other reviews have mentioned this fact and said they got bored, but I did not personally have that issue. I was not bored at all. He has found several notable wrecks, which are detailed in this book.

I especially liked learning about the Lucona, which was sunk in 1977. The author was enlisted to find the shipwreck and video the wreckage for use in a criminal trial. As it turned out, the ship was damaged from a bomb planted in the cargo as part of an insurance scam. Unfortunately, six people on this ship lost their lives. This whole criminal case was really interesting, and I had never heard of it before I read this book. I also really liked the World War II era ships that were mentioned in the book, which appealed to my WWII History Specialization heart, haha.

I have always wanted to dive and snorkel shipwrecks, and I think that shipwrecks are beautiful. I have a couple of books about shipwrecks (Lusitania, Indianapolis, and the U869). I also have a whole board on Pinterest dedicated to various shipwrecks. I hope that I have the opportunity one day to dive or snorkel a wreck. This book was amazing, and I would suggest it for anyone who is a fan of shipwrecks and oceanography.

[Casey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fascinating book! Not only did the author discuss how he found several high-profile shipwrecks, but he also provided the history of each ship and a detailed account of what he believed happened in the final moments of each ship. I liked the personal touch he placed on each chapter, discussing people or organizations who helped him get funding and who had personal interests in finding the ships as either survivors of the sinking, or descendants of the victims. Finally, I loved the legal aspects of the Lucona and Derbyshire wrecks, especially how his research, scans, and ROV dives were used as evidence in the trials/inquiries.

[Candice Landau · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Shipwreck Hunter definitely puts rest to the notion that wreck hunters lead a glamorous life. Spending years searching archives for information only to have a funding source back out or not want to take the risk must require a personality of steel.

Overall I enjoyed this book. It was at times dry but that is probably the case with the subject matter for the most part. I wish I'd heard more about the stories of the sinking, however, that is not the author's objective in this book.

My favorite section was the one pertaining to finding the Australian wrecks.

Would recommend to anyone interested in the process of commercial shipwreck hunting.

[Todd Stockslager · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review title: Adventures in the deep seas

David L. Mearns has made a career finding shipwrecks and this book tells the story of his most interesting discoveries. While it is written by Mearns in the first person, it focuses on the technology and tasks of shipwreck hunting, with a minimum of autobiography. In the 18 pages of background, we learn that Mearns was born in New Jersey and got his academic grounding, a masters degree in marine geology, at the University of South Florida, where the shipboard coursework cruises gave him his first exposure to the underwater sonar technology that was revolutionizing the industry.

Then it is on to the fun stuff: finding shipwrecks by spending..... months and sometimes years researching where to look in archives and libraries and working with governments, academic, and non-profit organizations to raise funds and get permits. Just like many glamorous professions (and being a shipwreck hunter certainly qualifies) the reality is the majority of the day-to-day work is research, planning, and project management. As Mearns says many times,

1. knowing where to start looking is the most important factor in a successful shipwreck hunt,

2. getting the funding is crucial to having the right technology and enough time on the ocean to cover the search area, and

3. managing collaboration between teams with different skills ensures the hunt will achieve maximum productive use of the time and technology and the best chance for meeting the objectives and satisfying the providers of the funding.

OK, the real fun stuff: Mearns' first find in the book, the MV Lucona, is a real detective story: the owner of the cargo ship was accused of blowing it up to claim the insurance, which was worth many time more than the falsified cargo manifests, so the findings of Mearns' employers would become court evidence in the trial. Mearns was even sworn in as an expert witness, charged with documenting the location of the wreck and its condition which might show forensic evidence of the (literally) inside job. Complicating the hunt was the depth of the shipwreck and the decades of political and legal delays since it happened.

Success bred success, and Mearns and the companies he worked for ended up specializing in finding World War II ships, so all the rest of the deep water discoveries in the book document these, the most famous being the German Bismarck and more importantly HMS Hood. The Hood was the British ship credited with sinking the German ship, then going down as well with only 3 survivors out of 1,418 on board. While the Bismarck had been found before, the British ship was the real target but could only be found based on establishing the exact location of the Bismarck and tieing that location to archival evidence from the few British and German survivors to establish the size, shape, and location of the search box.

Each chapter heading lists the number of survivors and dead for the ships found, which is important to Mearns, to the families of the dead, and to the funding agencies. Unlike the stereotype of shipwreck hunters as plundering treasure hunters, Mearns and his companies don't recover artifacts, leaving the sites exactly as found as memorials to those who lost their lives. The exceptions are memorial plaques if they are prepared by a survivors' organization, a ship's bell from the Australian Sydney (which required government authorization to recover), and the last shipwreck Mearns' documents in the book. This last shipwreck also broke out of the specialization on 20th century deepwater wrecks: it was a 16th century Portuguese ship lost in shallow water just off the coast of Oman from a fleet led by famed explorer Vasco da Gama. There, the team led by Mearns recovered over 1,000 artifacts with the aid of professional underwater archeologists, to protect them from potential amateur treasure hunters staying at the new beach resort under construction onshore.

Mearns proves to be a good narrator for his adventures, building and empathy by telling the story of the circumstances surrounding the shipwreck, and the desire of the survivors and the families of the lost men and women to understand where, how, and why their lost ones were buried. He doesn't oversell the drama of the hunt, documenting the work that goes on behind the scenes in research, funding, and planning, and letting the real unforeseen circumstances that crop up on such complicated technical and logistical events provide the drama.

Mearns provides a bibliography for each shipwreck for further research, and a glossy insert of photographs of wrecks and sonar search charts to put the reader on the ship with him. He doesn't include maps for the shipwrecks, which would have been nice to have, but may be an intentional choice to protect the sites from disturbance by unqualified amateurs. In any case, this is a worthy adventure for would be deep sea explorers who never leave their armchair.

[Joe Kraus · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have a feeling that a lot of people have gone up to David Mearns and said, “You should write a book.” Ordinarily, that would make me nervous about the final product. In this case, well done.

Mearns’s life and career are so striking that this really feels like a book that just rolled out of him. I didn’t know his name before I picked this up, so I suppose he’s not quite as famous as Robert Ballard (whom he cites as one reason his own career picked up as it did) but he sure seems like one of the most famous people in his field.

Mearns finds shipwrecks. He’s kind of a hardboiled detective of the ocean floor except that he isn’t hardboiled, and he isn’t quite solving whodunits. Instead, he is a carefully trained marine geologist, someone who was in on the ground floor (sea floor?) of the technological developments that are coming to their full fruition now.

I don’t mean to imply that there’s no art to this. Mearns is strikingly good at explaining technical concepts in ways that amplify the tension of the stories he tells. He’ll get things moving in a story, and then – without straining a reader’s patience – he’ll give necessary background information. It could be about the nature of making a turn in a boat that’s trailing a mile-long cable, or it could be about the mathematics of plotting a search box. He never overdoes it, and he writes with a clarity and concision that really works.

And when he does tell of the moment(s) he first saw some of these wrecks, it’s exhilarating. I’m too claustrophobic – and now I fear prone to seasickness – to be part of such work, but it’s a thrill to experience it through his stories.

This book turns out to be roughly four or five of his leading cases, and he eventually settles into a pattern in recounting them. He’ll give the historical circumstances of the event that lead to the shipwreck. Then he’ll describe the archival work of fishing through documentation and speculating about ocean currents and drift. Then he’ll narrate the experience of actually searching for the site.

I confess that, by the end, I felt the rhythm getting a bit too familiar. I hadn’t quite had enough, but I didn’t quite feel the jolt of enthusiasm at the end that I felt at the beginning.

Also, as well as Mearns structures and narrates his stories, he sometimes gets a bit flat in describing the emotional experience. There are a few too many “my life would change forever” phrases here for my taste.

All that said, though, this delivers on exactly what it promises. It’s the book that I imagine all those people asked him to write. And, more than just a book, it’s an awfully good one.

[Shawn Loomis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not your typical book on shipwrecks. Mearns takes you into the world of shipwreck location and tells a great story for how each were found through true historical research. The in-depth description of exactly what it takes to locate a wreck based on historical data and personal accounts is captivating. The process described throughout the book for each wreck tells the story of exactly how committed people have to be in order to locate a wreck that may lie on the ocean floor at a depth of over 4000 meters. Some of the wrecks found by Mearns and his team, have never been gazed upon by the eyes of man for well over 100 years or more. I would say this has been one of my favorite books so far on shipwrecks so far.

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

A somewhat interesting book about modern shipwreck hunting. Each story contains how a ship was lost originally, the people that care about finding it, and how it was found.

[Cia Mcalarney · Rating 2 out of 5]

How can you possibly make this subject dull? But it is...way too full of himself. Move on.

[Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I went to school with David in Weehawken (not Union City), so I was interested to read what he's been up to all these years. When I saw him interviewed on TV during the tragic loss of the Titan, I was intrigued. He writes exciting seafaring tales of recovering shipwrecks, and I felt at times as though I was aboard the vessels with his crew, trying to survive against the sea and the clock and the limitations of equipment and resources. The book can get highly technical in parts, which I think may be for the benefit of his colleagues, but he builds suspense well and creates captivating story lines. Pretty fascinating read outside my normal field of interest. I actually didn't intend to finish, but so compelling was his narrative that I found myself unable to put it down. Bravo, David.

[Susan Paxton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Exceptionally interesting story as David Mearns shares how he became one of the premier wreck hunters of our time. His finds are an astonishing list that easily compares with Bob Ballard's - the Derbyshire, HMS Hood, HMAS Sydney and her opponent the Kormoran, and more. One of the most fascinating, though, is probably his least-known, at least outside of Europe - his discovery of the wreck of the small freighter Lucona which he was able to prove was sunk in a particularly murderous act of insurance fraud.

A particular feature of the book is Mearns' careful descriptions of his research process. Mearns does not find wrecks by accident - months can be spent before the ship leaves the dock to begin the physical search. His investigation into the criminal sinking of the Australian hospital ship Centaur is a model of careful and dogged study that led him to the previously unknown wreck site.

I was personally amused to note that Mearns is convinced that Hood suffered an explosion in her forward magazines, not just the huge explosion of her rear magazines that sank her. I remember clearly commenting to that effect just after the discovery on the message board that Channel 4 set up as part of their Hood expedition promo and one of the principles in the expedition - not Mearns, I believe Bill Jurens - disagreeing.

The speed of underwater recovery continues apace, and it's ironic that two of Mearn's "most wanted" to find wrecks were discovered between him finishing and publishing the book - the heavy cruiser USS Indianapolis and the first Australian submarine, HMAS AE1. But his ultimate prize is Sir Ernest Shackleton's Endurance,, crushed and sunk in the Weddell Sea, and I certainly hope to see him succeed.

I would have liked to have seen Mearns comment on the protection of wrecks, particularly war graves, from the locusts of the Pacific, scrappers. A number of very famous ships lost in the Pacific have been completely destroyed in recent years, with the bones of their crews dumped overboard or thrown into the melting pots with the steel. Depth no longer provides much safety from these creatures, but he doesn't bring up the subject.

Overall a good read for those interested in maritime archaeology. Mearns writes clearly and well. I would have liked to see some diagrams of the wreck sites, but otherwise the book is well illustrated with grey scale images in line with the text and with a section of color plates.

[Samantha Knox · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really struggled with this book. I would be completely enthralled by the story, then suddenly jolted out by the authors overly inflated ego interrupting. It was a difficult read, but I did thoroughly appreciate the detailed historical accounts the author provided of the shipwrecks. All in all I’m glad I read it, but mostly I’m glad that the next book I read won’t be filled with one man droning on for pages about how exceptional he is.

[Mica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Did not know what I was getting into by reading this book, but super fascinating! History, hunting, science! Read. :)

[Navneet · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adventures in the Deep - A Life Worth Living
Ever since I got to know about the Titanic, my life changed as I fell in love with the idea of underwater shipwrecks. Man’s history with the sea is a long one. The pull of distant lands has always seduced mankind into pushing their limits and conquering the vastness of the unknown seas. From primitive rafts to quick canoes to maneuverable caravels to gigantic ocean liners to ruthless battlecruisers to the stealthy underwater submarines, the vessel changed shape and size but never the primary purpose: to carry us across the salty sea. But the ocean has always been cunning and ruthless. She has swallowed countless such vessels to quench her incessant thirst. Many people don’t think twice about a ship that went down the waves. To them, it’s just another hunk of metal that couldn’t stay afloat. But to David Mearns, that ship is a time capsule. A shipwreck is a still photograph that perfectly captures and preserves the essence of a particular era. It is often a story of human tragedy and the heroism and cowardice that comes associated with it.
The Shipwreck Hunter is a book that retells some of these stories. As a guy who wants to make a career in ocean sciences, David L Mearns is a name that will stick with me for a long time. Literally living out my dream life, this man finds long lost ships that went down to the Davy Jones’ Locker, presumably never to be seen again. His occupation may sound exotic (which by all means it is) but at the same time it is an amalgamation of years of hard work, patience and the ultimate level of persistence. David clears a big misconception regarding his work in this book. Shipwreck hunting is definitely not an easy job and neither is it as straightforward as it may sound. In order to just get a vague idea about the whereabouts of a shipwreck, he has to sit through many hours of in depth exhaustive research in the archives. Shipwreck hunting is analogous to studying a crime scene. It is the archives where he reads up on the historical records about the ship in question like its last known location, survivor’s testimonies, weather conditions at the time of sinking and the geopolitical situation at that time. Connecting these little dots using his detective skills, he has to analyze the crime scene. Moreover he talks about the business aspects of the job. Finding a ship lost in the depths of as much as 3000 meters is an expensive project, to say the least. It requires a huge amount of funding, often from national governments. Thus, pitching the idea to the potential agencies is essentially the backbone of the project which also consumes a major chunk of a shipwreck hunter’s time.

The book talks about eleven ships spread across eight chapters. Each chapter is a detailed account of
1. The circumstances under which the ship sank.
2. The human aspect - The struggle of survivors and the perpetual agony of the family members of the unfortunate deceased.
3. How David himself got involved with the search program, his research on the topic, the problems that come along the way and finally, how the underwater search was conducted.

This book is a collection of tragedies and battles that took place in the ocean and how these forgotten grave sites were finally found. This book is about how the families of so many sailors got a sense of closure after decades of waiting with no real answers to their agony. But most of all, this book is about the thrill of finding something that is hidden deep in the bowels of Earth and experiencing the feeling of exultation that comes with it. As a shipwreck enthusiast, I recommend this book to every reader out there having similar interests and give it a five star rating.

[Premal Vora · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author became one of the foremost shipwreck hunters in the world, quite by accident. He grew up in the 1960s in Weehauken, NJ, which is a stone's throw from Manhattan. After enrolling in college he happened to take a course in marine biology, got interested in it, visited his college's "lab" in the Caribbean and while diving there he was hooked on marine geology. To become a good shipwreck hunter, you must understand marine geology well and some of the instruments that are used to map geology under the ocean.

Most chapters in this book discuss one particular shipwreck. It usually begins with a backstory to the wreck, then the actual location and subsequent events related to that wreck. Many of the shipwrecks are ships sunk during WWII. As you might imagine the friends and relatives lost in those shipwrecks are very interested in locating them just so they can bring closure to that chapter of their lives. This is where the author's humanity and deep empathy with the friends and relatives of the perished truly emerges.

This book has motivated be to not only dig further into the fascinating history of shipwrecks, but brought home the desire to complete my scuba diving certificate. There is so much undiscovered and fascinating about the oceans -- as the author states -- more is known about the surface of the moon and of Mars than the bottom of the ocean.

I heartily recommend this book to anyone interested in WWII history, in the oceans, in naval history, or in adventure in general. I loved every minute of this one!

[Krista · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'd give this a 4.5 if I could, but GR wants me to round up, so heck with it.

"The Shipwreck Hunter" is a survey of David Mearns' history in finding modern shipwrecks. For each wreck, he details why it is of significant importance (both for history and for the families of those left behind), how it was found, and the impact of locating the wrecks (for history, for survivors, etc.) Mearns' book is probably the most engaging work I've ever read on shipwreck hunting and that's why I'm giving it such a high rating (the others in this category can be pretty dull, and I say that as someone who gobbles down anything I can read in this category); while he doesn't shy to give himself credit where necessary, for the most part, his own role recedes in the text compared to the importance of survivors, descendants, and the voices/documents of primary source research. Overall, his work is an excellent combination of history, trouble-shooting, adventure, and above all, humanity. He stresses the human experience in these wrecks and makes each ship's story speak to its part in a larger story of war and discovery. The only critique I'd have for this book is to ensure the ebook includes color photos, as several of the images have captions referring to items by color and those can't be seen in the ebook proof versions. This review is in exchange for a proof from Edelweiss but please note the review itself is unbiased.

[Brendan (History Nerds United) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was very skeptical of this book when I purchased it. I heard great things, but also worried I was about to read about some blowhard explaining how smart he was and how he found these ships. Turns out I was only half right.

Mearns has two things going for him in his book. First, he is a smarty pants but isn’t a jerk about it. He explains his methods and why they work, gives credit to his team, and never oversells or undersells his abilities. It is a vital part of this book because if he came off as arrogant it would have turned me off quickly. Conversely, you can’t try and tell me you are just lucky when you are finding ships on the ocean floor. It is a tough tone to keep throughout a book, but Mearns does it.

The second thing he has going for him is that he can tell a story. He recounts how all the ships were lost in vivid detail without overburdening the reader with extraneous narrative. You understand the importance of these ships without falling asleep. Also, and I am not sure how, he makes the science interesting. Again, I think this is Mearns knowing when enough information is enough and to move on to the next part of the story.

[Heather Venard · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've always been fascinated by shipwrecks and the search to find them, so admittedly this book was right up my alley. While tending toward the detailed at various moments throughout his retelling of his career, Mearns does an amazing job of pulling the reader in by walking you through his own emotional experience of finding a wreck. There are many times when you are on the edge of your seat wondering what will happen next, but midway through the book realize that either he is an incredibly adept shipwreck hunter or is just picking the stories of his successes and that pretty much everything will have a happy ending. I would have appreciated to learn more about those wrecks he didn't find it, rather than just through a PostScript at the end of the book, however this was an incredibly enjoyable read and fascinating retelling.

[Steph · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. I enjoyed reading about the process of planning and executing searches for wrecks, and the historical details of each vessel. I also enjoyed what technical details there were around the equipment, but I personally would have liked even more depth on that. In terms of ship hunts, I particularly enjoyed the chapters on Sydney and Centaur.

Though the topic was interesting, the narration style often got bogged down by spending too much time name dropping. I also felt that the author was condescending towards previous researchers at times, and his harsh words about several people made me feel like he didn't take criticism or feedback well. These moments where ego shone through pulled me out of the story, but ultimately I still enjoyed his passion about maritime history and empathy towards the families of lost vessels.

[Carolyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fascinating premise, but unfortunately, writing doesn't quite live up to it. The author spends far too much time detailing scientific methods and ideas that would be interesting, if he explained them in terms that a non-expert could understand, but this is rarely done. Additionally, the author repeatedly describes internecine wrangling within the various salvage/exploration companies he has worked for, which really takes the focus away from the shipwrecks themselves. He also spends more time talking about his personal life than actually detailing how the shipwrecks were found, which is very disappointing. The best parts of the book are when he describes the shipwrecks themselves - the ships' stories, how each ship sank, and how he and his crew found them.

[Jodi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Aufgrund meiner Faszination für alles, was mit der See zu tun hat, freute ich mich sehr auf die Lektüre dieses Buches. Leider blieb es hinter meinen Erwartungen zurück.

Dies liegt nicht an den Abenteuern, die Mearns hier schildert. Seine Arbeit ist unglaublich spannend, einzigartig und vor allem die historischen Exkursionen zu den zu findenden Schiffen haben mir sehr zugesagt.

Leider verfügt nicht jeder Mensch über einen inneren Autoren, nicht jedem liegt das Schreiben. Mearns Talente gehen eindeutig in eine andere Richtung (oder jene seines Ghostwriters - who knows). Denn leider ist das Buch äusserst langweilig geschrieben und deshalb trotz des spannenden Themas enorm zäh. Bald schon verlor ich die Geduld mit dem Text.

Das ist wirklich schade, denn man hätte aus diesem einzigartigen Thema so viel machen können. Dennoch keine verschwendete Lesezeit, auch wenn ich während des Lesens das Ende des Buches von Herzen herbeisehnte. Aber ich habe vieles gelernt, auch, wie man verborgene Schiffwracks findet, ganz zu schweigen von den historischen Begebenheiten, sodass ich trotz all der Mühen immer noch profitieren konnte.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

A journey through some of the most remarkable shipwreck discoveries of modern times, blending technical detail with gripping narratives of the people and stories behind the wrecks. His passion for the subject and his meticulous approach to underwater archaeology are evident throughout, making the book both informative and exciting.
In my opinion, the book feels somewhat incomplete, the author largely overlooks the pressing realities of the present—namely, the human impact on the oceans and the ongoing environmental crises beneath the waves.

[Aliyah Brody · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful read for naval enthusiasts & historians, The Shipwreck Hunter includes accounts of Vasco da Gama's Esmeralda from the 2nd armada to India at the start of 1500 to the loss of the HMS Hood & KTB Bismarck during World War II.

The amazingly clear & detailed photographs from thousands of meters below sea level brought the tales of loss & disaster to life.

An informative & delightful read, filled with technical details & anecdotes alike, I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

[AshleyKantorski · Rating 5 out of 5]

I listened to this as an audio book at work since we started our 4 10 hour shifts. It took me a few days to get through only because I had to stop to answer phones and take care of patients and such. That point aside I loved this book. Im a huge fan of Clive Cusslers Sea Hunters series and this reminded me of them. There was definitely alot of information that could have been omitted at times but otherwise it was very informative

[Miranda · Rating 3 out of 5]

This would have been four stars if the author had come across as such a pompous self absorbed narcissist in his own memoir, which seems like something of an impressive feat.

If you can bear with the extensive tolling of his own virtues and asides about how everything he does is the best and any critics are biased and unfair, there’s a lot of very interesting content. In particular the first section on the Lurconia is absolutely riveting and the story is almost untold In the English language.