The Great Museum of the Sea

James P. Delgado is Senior Vice President of SEARCH, Inc., the leading cultural resources firm in the United States. Before that, he was Director of Maritime Heritage for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and President and CEO of the Institute of Nautical Archaeology (INA). He was also host of the National Geographic international television series "The Sea Hunters" featuring best-selling author Clive Cussler. Author of more than 20 books, including War at Sea and The Curse of the Somers, more than a hundred scholarly and popular magazine articles, and a regular guest in documentary films, he is senior consultant and regularly appears in National Geographic's international television series "Drain the Oceans." For decades he has led diving and excavation teams, most recently at the site of the wreck of the Clotilda, the last ship known to have brought slaves to the United States.

[A]n encyclopedic but engaging history of all things related to ships, sailors and their sometimes disastrous ends... Like a museum curator who walks you through an art collection and shows you more than the brush strokes on a canvas, Mr. Delgado explains that shipwrecks are not simply remnants of ancient vessels.

• PrefaceChapter One: Ship WrecksChapter Two: Shipwrecks as MusesChapter Three: Shipwrecks as Historical Sites, Graves, and MemorialsChapter Four: Refugia, Romance, and AestheticsChapter Five: Economic Values of ShipwrecksChapter Six: Shipwreck ArchaeologyChapter Seven: Conflicting Values/Conflicting NeedsChapter Eight: Shipwreck IssuesConclusion: Shipwrecks in the 21st Century