SHIPWRECKED!

A survey of the tools, techniques, and select triumphs of underwater archeology.

There are, Sandler writes, about three million shipwrecks on the ocean floor, making it “nothing less than the world’s greatest museum.” Though getting down there can be hard and dangerous, the rewards can be immense. Along with dramatic descriptions of seven major finds—from the Antikythera Mechanism (“the most extraordinary ancient artifact ever discovered”) and the 20,664 porcelain objects (and 28 tons of period coins) recovered from a centuries-old wreck off the South Korean coast to the slave ship São José Paquete de Africa, which sank in 1794 along with 212 enslaved people—the author profiles leading figures in the field such as George Bass (“the father of underwater archeology”) and author/explorer Clive Cussler. He also adds expansive context with side notes on, for instance, an organization called Diving With a Purpose that specializes in slave-trade archeology and the female Korean free divers called haenyeo. Historical images of ships at sea join photos of artifacts in place or in various stages of preservation to add both drama and visual detail, and along with quick, tantalizing looks at several other significant wrecks, young explorers will find helpful notes and references at the end. Many of the people involved with Diving With a Purpose are Black, the haenyeo are Korean, and Bass, Cussler, and other figures discussed are white.

Immersive reading.