Diving for Treasure

Discovering history in the depths

Vic Verlinden, Stefan Panis

• Publisher: Whittles Publishing
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN:
  9781849953252
• eBook ISBN:
  9781849954006
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Military & Maritime History
• Index: History

This book recounts the efforts over many years to dive wrecks that contained treasure in one form or another. The often prolonged and sometimes dangerous expeditions tell of dives to many ships that were wrecked while carrying tons of gold or other valuables. Many of the wrecks came to lie at great depths which demanded considerable diving expertise using rebreathers which allowed longer dives to be performed.The authors are both diving experts and in addition to the accounts and historical pictures they have added their own photography to convey to the reader the challenges of the dives undertaken. The technical demands were considerable, from adjusting the camera housing to accommodate the depth to diving at particular times of the year because many of the wrecks were situated in areas of high seas and extreme currents. Many of these wrecks have been the subject of concerted efforts from salvage teams but success could never be assumed.It took several years to visit and photograph the wrecks mentioned in the book which provides a fascinating account of the vessels and their treasure, and the challenges of diving in what can be a dangerous environment. Each entry provides details and a brief history of the vessel and the means of its demise, enhanced by a modern diving account with photographs. As such the book will be of great interest to all divers whether active or armchair, and to anyone with an interest in maritime/military history

Table of contents

• Contents
• 1 SS Tubantia - The Hunt for the Gold of Tubantia
• 2 SS Elbe - porcelain from the deep
• 3 SS Justicia - The Dutch Titanic
• 4 The gold seekers of the Renate Leonhardt
• 5 SS Drummond Castle - on the way to her doom
• 6 SS Leopoldville - the Congo boat torpedoed
• 7 SS Albertville - a luxury mail ship sinks
• 8 The frigate Lutine - the golden treasure of the Tormentor
• 9 The MS Christiaan Huygens - art treasures from a shipwreck
• 10 SS Natal - collision in the night
• 11 Roompot - sunk eight miles from her home port
• 12 Baloeran - the floating palace
• 13 SS Egypt - the gold of the SS Egypt
• 14 SS Kursk - the crystals of the Tsar
• 15 SS Leerdam - emigrants and pedigree cattle
• 16 SS Warrior - the lost battle of the HMS Warrior
• 17 The SS Luarentic - the record salvage of 43 tons of gold