Description: The Viking warship of King Cnut the Great. Henry VIII's the Mary Rose. Captain John Franklin's doomed HMS Terror. The SS Gairsoppa, destroyed by a Nazi U-boat in the Atlantic during World War II.
Since we first set sail on the open sea, ships and their wrecks have been an inevitable part of human history. Archaeologists have made spectacular discoveries excavating these sunken ships, their protective underwater cocoon keeping evidence of past civilizations preserved. World renowned maritime archeologist David Gibbins ties together the stories of some of the most significant shipwrecks in time to form a single overarching narrative of world history. A History of the World in Twelve Shipwrecks is not just the story of those ships, the people who sailed on them, and the cargo and treasure they carried, but also the story of the spread of people, religion, and ideas around the world; it is a story of colonialism, migration, and the indominable human spirit that continues today. Drawing on decades of experience, Gibbins reveals the riches beneath the waves and shows us how the treasures found there can be a porthole to the past that tell a new story about the world and its underwater secrets.Brief description: David Gibbins is the bestselling author of A History of the World in Twelve Shipwrecks as well as thirteen archaeological and historical novels. His books have sold more than three million copies and are published in thirty languages. After taking a PhD from Cambridge University, he taught archaeology in Britain and abroad, and is a leading authority on shipwrecks and maritime archaeology. He has led numerous expeditions to investigate underwater sites around the world. David divides his time between his fieldwork and his homes in England and Canada.