Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} The Shipwreck Hunter A Lifetime of Extraordinary Discoveries on the Ocean Floor by David L. Mearns The Shipwreck Hunter: A Lifetime of Extraordinary Discoveries on the Ocean Floor by David L. Mearns. Completing the CAPTCHA proves you are a human and gives you temporary access to the web property. What can I do to prevent this in the future? If you are on a personal connection, like at home, you can run an anti-virus scan on your device to make sure it is not infected with malware. If you are at an office or shared network, you can ask the network administrator to run a scan across the network looking for misconfigured or infected devices. Cloudflare Ray ID: 660b2c8c7c0f97d2 • Your IP : 116.202.236.252 • Performance & security by Cloudflare. Love tales of the sea? Check out these new finds at A.K. Smiley Public Library. Filled with adventure and mystery, sea stories have long captured our imaginations. Classics like “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” (1798), “Moby-Dick” (1851) and “The Sea-Wolf” (1904) continue to beckon us into their watery worlds. This genre is just as popular with today’s authors. Whether you’re interested in fiction or nonfiction, A.K. Smiley Public Library has some great choices in nautical reads. On your next visit, check out some of our newest books of the sea. Related Articles. Summer Reading Program begins Tuesday at Redlands library 4 new cookbooks to savor at Redlands library 14 Memorial Day-themed books at Redlands library honor those who sacrificed Works by local artists available for checkout at Redlands library. Marine scientist and deep-sea shipwreck hunter David Mearns has located, recovered and filmed some of the most famous ocean wrecks in the world. His book “The Shipwreck Hunter: A Lifetime of Extraordinary Discoveries on the Ocean Floor” describes these elusive discoveries and the methods he used while exploring the ocean’s depths. In his 25 years of work, he and his team have unearthed more than 20 major wrecks. Extensive research went into each mission, utilizing archival libraries and tracking down and reading eyewitness accounts. Mearns not only tells of the recovery missions, but includes the incredible stories behind each ship, allowing a glimpse into the past of the battles, tragedies, and lives that were lost. His book examines some of his most fascinating finds, each chapter dedicated to a different ship. Discoveries have included Vasco de Gama’s 16th century wooden fleet, Esmerelda, sunk in a deadly storm while on her second voyage to India. He recounts how the AHS Centaur, an Australian hospital ship, was attacked in May 1943 by a Japanese submarine, killing 268 nurses, doctors and civilians. Each ship has a unique history and Mearns takes you on its adventure in this engrossing book. William Frame’s book “James Cook: The Voyages” tells the story of how a famous 18th century British navigator sailed uncharted seas, creating the very first accurate maps of the Pacific. Showcasing wonderful illustrations and drawings by scientists and artists who were commissioned aboard the ship, as well as maps, journals and diaries, the story and history of Captain Cook comes to life. Frame follows Cook’s three expeditions chronologically describing interactions with the locals and includes the animals and plant life encountered. Many extraordinary experiences awaited Cook and his crew during their travels, like their first sighting of a kangaroo, described as an animal “as large as a greyhound, of a mouse colour and very swift.” This eye-catching coffee table book has a fascinating tale to tell. The Shipwreck Hunter. In his memoir The Shipwreck Hunter , David Mearns invites readers to travel along on seven of the most exciting and meaningful investigations of his 21 (and counting) career major shipwreck finds. In chapters bearing their names, Mearns’s thoughtful and detailed account chronologically traces each shipwreck, sharing vivid stories of every vessel from design to demise. The rich historical details and singular characters offer at least one chapter for everyone: from the murderous plot aboard MV Lucona to the World War II battles of HMAS Sydney ; from the haunting rescue efforts that followed the sinking of TSS Athenia to the piratical actions aboard Esmeralda . Amid these tales, Mearns conveys equal zeal for the competitive bidding process that pushes deep-sea recovery technologies forward and the suspenseful technological glitches that can affect the ability to gather video footage of the wrecks. Mearns makes the acoustic and robotic technologies used to detect and explore deep-sea wrecks accessible by describing the systems in use. Newcomers and experienced sonar operators alike will feel the frustration of willing the SM-30 sonar to work and the excitement of seeing the outer edge of a debris field, where items—once a part of a vessel and voyage—are today, harbingers of a shipwreck location. His sonar and remotely operated vehicle (ROV) demonstrations are interspersed with raw recollections of shipwreck survivors, introspective moments, and personal anecdotes. A repeated theme in the text is the meticulous work necessary to refine high-probability search areas. Whether decoding secret notations in a German-English dictionary, determining how an oil slick would spread from a sinking vessel, or interviewing scores of witnesses to an offshore submarine attack, the confined bibliography of the memoir belies the depth and breadth of archival, navigational, weather, and witness-testimony research and data revealed in the narrative. The book links each discovery to the broader importance that investigating shipwrecks has today: prosecuting murderers with MV Lucona ; improving safety for seamen with MV Derbyshire ; creating memorials for grieving survivors and families of HMS Hood , KTB Bismarck , HMAS Sydney , HSK Kormoran , and AHS Centaur ; and the documentation of maritime history with Portuguese nau Esmeralda . A diver investigates the remains of a World War II battleship in Palau, Micronesia. Mearns closes with the prediction that history will remember the current era as “The Golden Age of Shipwreck Hunting,” a time when technology has risen to meet ambition and curiosity. Indeed, of the two key wrecks in Mearns’s wish list, included in the book’s final chapter, USS Indianapolis was relocated in August 2017, within months of The Shipwreck Hunter ’s release in the United Kingdom and Australia, and, beginning in January 2019, the Weddell Sea Expedition will depart for Antarctica to seek Shackleton’s Endurance . Excepting the first few pages of the introduction and afterword, which are playfully framed as advice for job seekers, the remainder of the book is equal parts a suspenseful story, a lesson in hard work, and a compelling argument for the modern importance of discovering and documenting shipwrecks. About the author. The reviewer is at the Department of Marine Affairs, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI 02881, USA. Die größten Hörerlebnisse nur bei Audible. Erlebe Audible auf dem Smartphone, Tablet, am Computer oder deinem Amazon Echo. Auch offline. Die größten Hörerlebnisse. Entdecke genau das, was du hören willst: Wähle aus 200.000 Titeln und inspirierenden Audible Original Podcasts. Natürlich werbefrei. Genieße dein Hörerlebnis ohne Unterbrechung. Einfach ausprobieren. Teste Audible 30 Tage kostenlos. Du kannst jederzeit kündigen. Hör die Welt mit anderen Augen. Mit Audible Originals und exklusiven Geschichten. Wir können dich kaum erwarten! Entdecke Audible einen Monat lang völlig kostenlos. Genieße jeden Monat ein Hörerlebnis deiner Wahl - und so viele exklusive Audible Original Podcasts, wie du willst. Keine Bindung, keine Frist – du kannst dein Abo jederzeit pausieren oder kündigen. Shipwreck Hunter David Mearns. Divers excavate the wreck of Esmeralda, a 16th-century Portuguese East Indiaman linked to explorer Vasco da Gama that maritime researcher David Mearns pinpointed off the coast of Oman. David L. Mearns/Blue Water Recoveries Ltd. American-born, U.K.-based Mearns has had an extraordinary quarter-century career in maritime research. (Illustration by Randy Glass Studios) American-born, U.K.-based marine scientist, oceanographer, author and historical researcher David Mearns is also one of the world’s most experienced and successful hunters of deep-ocean shipwrecks. In his new book, The Shipwreck Hunter: A Lifetime of Extraordinary Discoveries on the Ocean Floor (2018), he charts the course of the quarter-century career that has led to the discovery of more than 20 major shipwrecks, including the British battlecruiser Hood and Australian light cruiser Sydney (both sunk during World War II) and the early 16th century Portuguese East Indiaman Esmeralda . His company Blue Water Recoveries has chalked up three Guinness World Records, and he was a key member of a team led by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen that located and filmed the World War II Japanese battleship Musashi in 2015. Why is it important to locate and examine historic wrecks? Shipwrecks are an important part of our history and cultural heritage. They are reminders of what life was like in the past, and they generally describe extraordinary and tragic events. The stories told by shipwrecks educate new generations and help in commemorating the lives of people lost. How do you research ships you intend to find? I rely heavily on public and private archives and libraries like the U.S. National Archives. Newspapers and books are helpful, but I primarily focus on the primary source accounts created by eyewitnesses to a sinking event. They almost always contain the most credible and accurate pieces of information. What is the most interesting part of the process for you? The historical research is the most interesting part, as this is when you learn about the history of a ship, the people on board and what caused the loss. It is also interesting when you can locate survivors or descendants, because then you hear people’s personal stories and anecdotes. In order for people to care about a shipwreck, they need to connect with the human dimension that comes from these stories. What is the biggest challenge? Finding and filming a shipwreck in thousands of meters of water is extremely challenging, but raising the money to pay for such expensive expeditions is arguably more challenging. It is impossible to make a financial case to find every shipwreck, so you need to choose the ones with the most compelling stories—balanced against the funds required and the confidence you have that the wreck can be found. How do you fund your searches for military shipwrecks, given the lack of treasure? It requires a lot of creativity. In the past television companies, foreign governments and philanthropists have funded me. Solving mysteries or commemorating anniversaries are often used as reasons for finding wrecks. What technologies are most important in your searches? Many technologies are used, but the most essential are those that actually detect shipwrecks. I generally use side-scanning sonars, but wrecks can be found using magnetometers, multibeam echosounders, human divers and drones, and even satellites have been used in special cases to pinpoint wrecks in coastal waters. My job is to choose the right approach for each shipwreck. Which emerging technologies are you excited about? Autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) technology has fundamentally changed the way we work, as the sonars we use to find wrecks are no longer connected to the surface ship by a long tow cable. We can now envision a time when these AUVs will either swim out from the coast under their own power or be delivered to a work site far offshore by an autonomous surface vehicle (ASV). The combined use of AUVs and ASVs will at some point eliminate the need for sending ships and people to sea. For those who love to work at sea this might seem a sad thing, but it is unstoppable progress that will benefit all of us. Which is more useful—a manned submersible or a remotely operated vehicle? Each has its advantages and disadvantages. ROVs are more commonly used because they are less costly, are greater in number and can be operated from different types of vessels. You can also run an ROV 24 hours a day for days on end, with many people viewing the video in real time, whereas a manned submersible is limited in the small number of people it can carry, and the bottom time is limited by the endurance of the batteries and the people. Are there ethical differences between exploring a warship and a commercial vessel? If people have died in the ships, there really shouldn’t be any ethical difference between how you treat the wrecks of a warship and a merchant vessel. Both need to be treated with a high degree of sensitivity, and great care is taken to avoid the disturbance of human remains. There are fundamental legal differences, however. Warships have sovereign immunity, which in theory should provide a greater degree of protection, although there have been recent cases in Indonesia, for example, where entire warship wrecks have been salvaged for scrap metal value. How do you celebrate the discovery of a ship and still memorialize its lost crew? I treat these as two separate things. Finding a wreck lost for decades or centuries is an achievement deserving celebration. Also, sometimes the precise moment of discovery is so sudden you can’t help but become ecstatic. Afterward, however, is the time to honor those lost by holding memorial services. I care a great deal about the people lost at sea and don’t feel I disrespect them at all because of the happiness I feel when their resting place is found. Have any particular discoveries struck a chord with you? HMS Hood , a wreck I found in 2001, is closest to my heart. That’s because I had such a close personal relationship with Ted Briggs, the last living survivor from Hood ’s crew of 1,418 men. Two of the proudest moments in my life are when I was able to bring Ted on board our search vessel when we found Hood, and in 2015 when we recovered Hood ’s bell, which Ted asked me to do before he passed away in 2008. Is there an undiscovered shipwreck atop your list? At the top of my list is Sir Ernest Shackleton’s Endurance . In fact, it has been top of my list since 2003, when I met Shackleton’s granddaughter Alexandra and received her family’s blessing to find and film the wreck, which is 3,000 meters below the ice-covered Weddell Sea in Antarctica. I was first attracted to Endurance because it is the ultimate challenge in terms of looking for a small wooden shipwreck in one of the most remote and hard to access places in the world. Since then I’ve become a student of Shackleton and a lover of the Antarctic landscape and icescape. Would you prioritize efforts to map in detail the ocean floors? Absolutely. We like to think we know everything about our planet, but the fact is that 71 percent of the earth is covered by water and only a tiny fraction of the seabed has been mapped in any great detail. So we literally know more about the surface of the Moon and Mars than we do about the surface of our own planet. That is a staggering level of ignorance about the seabed and oceans on which we rely entirely for life. As [marine biologist and explorer] Sylvia Earle likes to say “No water, no life. No blue, no green.” MH.