Ashton East's passion for the underwater world began long before he could join his parents' diving adventures at age twelve. Over the decades, he has become an accomplished underwater photographer and technical diver, exploring shipwrecks globally. His desire to truly understand these submerged time capsules led him to study nautical archaeology courses, review literature and visit museums, approaching the subject with the keen, analytical eye developed during his extensive legal career. What started as a Covid lockdown project documenting these explorations is now published as a must-have guide for enthusiasts of all sunken vessels.

'The more you know about ship features, the better equipped you are to use components to navigate or "decode" a wreck... Strongly recommended.'- SCUBA Magazine'I would recommend it to any casual recreational wreck-diver, to budding archaeological divers and, I reckon, it could fill many a gap even in experienced wreck-divers' knowledge. You won't spend a better GBP20 for a dive-related book.'- Divernet.com'A wonderfully useful book, and I cannot recommend it too highly.'- David Gibbins, Maritime Archaeologist, New York Times and London Sunday Times Bestselling Author.'I'm amazed how much information Ashton has managed to cram into several hundred pages - I've certainly learned a lot!'- Dominic Robinson, Deep Wreck Diver.'I wish this book had been available 30 years ago when I learnt to dive. I have loved diving on and investigating shipwrecks since those very first open water dives in Portland Harbour, but for years never really knew what it was I was looking at. Now all new divers can. There are few books that are specifically targeted at helping divers get a better understanding of what lies on the seabed in such a clear way so this should become a mainstay in every diver's library.'- Mark Beattie-Edwards, CEO, Nautical Archaeology Society.'This is a fantastic book.'- Giles Richardson, COO, Maritime Archaeology Sea Trust.'Thanks to this little gem of a book, that confusing pile of scrap on the sea bed will just make a lot more sense - you’ll know where to look for stuff, how to interpret what you see and maybe even find that illusive ship’s bell! For me, that makes The Shipwreck Decoder an essential and invaluable resource for any diver.'-- Jason Brown, Bardo Photographic.

• Introduction; 1. ORIENTATION AND CORE STRUCTURES; 2. HULL; 3. BOW AREA; 4. STERN: PROPULSION/STEERING; 5. BRIDGE AREAS; 6. FITTINGS AND EQUIPMENT; 7. ROWED VESSELS; 8. WIND-POWERED VESSELS; 9. STEAM-POWERED VESSELS; 10. COMBUSTION-POWERED VESSELS; 11. ELECTRIC-POWERED VESSELS; 12. CARGO STORAGE AND HANDLING; 13. CANNON-AGE ARMAMENT; 14. MODERN ARMAMENT; 15. SUBMARINES; Select Bibliography; About the author; Acknowledgements; Index.

Ashton East's passion for the underwater world began long before he could join his parents' diving adventures at age twelve. Over the decades, he has become an accomplished underwater photographer and technical diver, exploring shipwrecks globally. His desire to truly understand these submerged time capsules led him to study nautical archaeology courses, review literature and visit museums, approaching the subject with the keen, analytical eye developed during his extensive legal career. What started as a Covid lockdown project documenting these explorations is now published as a must-have guide for enthusiasts of all sunken vessels.

'The more you know about ship features, the better equipped you are to use components to navigate or "decode" a wreck... Strongly recommended.'- SCUBA Magazine'I would recommend it to any casual recreational wreck-diver, to budding archaeological divers and, I reckon, it could fill many a gap even in experienced wreck-divers' knowledge. You won't spend a better GBP20 for a dive-related book.'- Divernet.com'A wonderfully useful book, and I cannot recommend it too highly.'- David Gibbins, Maritime Archaeologist, New York Times and London Sunday Times Bestselling Author.'I'm amazed how much information Ashton has managed to cram into several hundred pages - I've certainly learned a lot!'- Dominic Robinson, Deep Wreck Diver.'I wish this book had been available 30 years ago when I learnt to dive. I have loved diving on and investigating shipwrecks since those very first open water dives in Portland Harbour, but for years never really knew what it was I was looking at. Now all new divers can. There are few books that are specifically targeted at helping divers get a better understanding of what lies on the seabed in such a clear way so this should become a mainstay in every diver's library.'- Mark Beattie-Edwards, CEO, Nautical Archaeology Society.'This is a fantastic book.'- Giles Richardson, COO, Maritime Archaeology Sea Trust.'Thanks to this little gem of a book, that confusing pile of scrap on the sea bed will just make a lot more sense - you’ll know where to look for stuff, how to interpret what you see and maybe even find that illusive ship’s bell! For me, that makes The Shipwreck Decoder an essential and invaluable resource for any diver.'-- Jason Brown, Bardo Photographic.

• Introduction; 1. ORIENTATION AND CORE STRUCTURES; 2. HULL; 3. BOW AREA; 4. STERN: PROPULSION/STEERING; 5. BRIDGE AREAS; 6. FITTINGS AND EQUIPMENT; 7. ROWED VESSELS; 8. WIND-POWERED VESSELS; 9. STEAM-POWERED VESSELS; 10. COMBUSTION-POWERED VESSELS; 11. ELECTRIC-POWERED VESSELS; 12. CARGO STORAGE AND HANDLING; 13. CANNON-AGE ARMAMENT; 14. MODERN ARMAMENT; 15. SUBMARINES; Select Bibliography; About the author; Acknowledgements; Index.

Ashton East's passion for the underwater world began long before he could join his parents' diving adventures at age twelve. Over the decades, he has become an accomplished underwater photographer and technical diver, exploring shipwrecks globally. His desire to truly understand these submerged time capsules led him to study nautical archaeology courses, review literature and visit museums, approaching the subject with the keen, analytical eye developed during his extensive legal career. What started as a Covid lockdown project documenting these explorations is now published as a must-have guide for enthusiasts of all sunken vessels.

'The more you know about ship features, the better equipped you are to use components to navigate or "decode" a wreck... Strongly recommended.'- SCUBA Magazine'I would recommend it to any casual recreational wreck-diver, to budding archaeological divers and, I reckon, it could fill many a gap even in experienced wreck-divers' knowledge. You won't spend a better GBP20 for a dive-related book.'- Divernet.com'A wonderfully useful book, and I cannot recommend it too highly.'- David Gibbins, Maritime Archaeologist, New York Times and London Sunday Times Bestselling Author.'I'm amazed how much information Ashton has managed to cram into several hundred pages - I've certainly learned a lot!'- Dominic Robinson, Deep Wreck Diver.'I wish this book had been available 30 years ago when I learnt to dive. I have loved diving on and investigating shipwrecks since those very first open water dives in Portland Harbour, but for years never really knew what it was I was looking at. Now all new divers can. There are few books that are specifically targeted at helping divers get a better understanding of what lies on the seabed in such a clear way so this should become a mainstay in every diver's library.'- Mark Beattie-Edwards, CEO, Nautical Archaeology Society.'This is a fantastic book.'- Giles Richardson, COO, Maritime Archaeology Sea Trust.'Thanks to this little gem of a book, that confusing pile of scrap on the sea bed will just make a lot more sense - you’ll know where to look for stuff, how to interpret what you see and maybe even find that illusive ship’s bell! For me, that makes The Shipwreck Decoder an essential and invaluable resource for any diver.'-- Jason Brown, Bardo Photographic.

• Introduction; 1. ORIENTATION AND CORE STRUCTURES; 2. HULL; 3. BOW AREA; 4. STERN: PROPULSION/STEERING; 5. BRIDGE AREAS; 6. FITTINGS AND EQUIPMENT; 7. ROWED VESSELS; 8. WIND-POWERED VESSELS; 9. STEAM-POWERED VESSELS; 10. COMBUSTION-POWERED VESSELS; 11. ELECTRIC-POWERED VESSELS; 12. CARGO STORAGE AND HANDLING; 13. CANNON-AGE ARMAMENT; 14. MODERN ARMAMENT; 15. SUBMARINES; Select Bibliography; About the author; Acknowledgements; Index.