At the outbreak of World War Two, the Bank of England was shipping gold to America to purchase arms and munitions. In June 1940, RMS Niagara was secretly carrying 8 tons of British gold when it hit a German mine and sank off New Zealand. The Royal Navy declared salvage was impossible because the water was too deep, so the desperate Bank of England offered the job to a retired sea captain, John Williams. Within weeks, Williams hired a deep-sea diver, built an exper...

Triumphs and disasters in the deep seaThis is a journey through time and water, to the bottom of the ocean and the future of our planet.We do not see the ocean when we look at the water that blankets more than two thirds of our planet. We only see the entrance to it. Beyond that entrance is a world hostile to humans, yet critical to our survival. The first divers to enter that world held their breath and splashed beneath the surface, often clutching rocks t...

SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2016 UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN QUEENSLAND HISTORY BOOK AWARDThe previously untold story of an extraordinary man and a great war photographer.Cameras were banned at the Western Front when the Anzacs arrived in 1916, prompting correspondent Charles Bean to argue continually for Australia to have a dedicated photographer. He was eventually assigned an enigmatic polar explorer — George Hubert Wilkins.Within weeks of arr...

Triumphs and disasters in the deep seaThis is a journey through time and water, to the bottom of the ocean and the future of our planet.We do not see the ocean when we look at the water that blankets more than two thirds of our planet. We only see the entrance to it. Beyond that entrance is a world hostile to humans, yet critical to our survival. The first divers to enter that world held their breath and splashed beneath the surface, often clutching rocks t...

By the 1930s, no one had yet crossed Antarctica, and its vast interior remained a mystery frozen in time. Hoping to write his name in the history books, wealthy American Lincoln Ellsworth announced he would fly across the unexplored continent, and to honor his hero, Wyatt Earp, he would carry his gun belt on the flight. The obstacles to Ellsworth’s ambition were numerous: he didn’t like the cold, he avoided physical work, and he couldn’t navigate. Consequently, he hired the experienced Aus...

An unprecedented and masterfully told biography of Jacques Cousteau that reveals for the first time the fascinating and compelling individual behind this famous television personality.Inventor of the aqualung and fearless scuba diver, Jacques Cousteau opened up the ocean to a mass audience for the first time. Here, with the cooperation of many of the subjects closest confidants and family, Brad Matsen makes clear the full picture of his remarkable life, showing the father, military...

Tim Maltin, Britain's foremost authority on RMS Titanic, can finally reveal precisely why Titanic struck the iceberg. Through vivid images, first person testimonies and forensic investigation Maltin also reveals why the nearby ship, the Californian, failed to come to her rescue, resulting in the death of 1500 passengers. Titanic: A Very Deceiving Night finally draws to a close the world's biggest maritime mystery.

Forgotten Footsteps won Creative Non-Fiction Wales Book of the Year 2013.Following Wales' Book of the Year Award 2011 winning Cloud Road, comes Forgotten Footprints, a history of the Antarctic Peninsula, South Shetland Islands and the Weddell Sea, the most visited places in Antarctica. In 12 years John has visited over 40 times and guides and lectures on adventure cruise ships. He delivers a selection of highly readable accounts of the merchantmen, navy m...

From Cnut to D-Day: the history and science of the unceasing tide explored for the first time.Half of the world's population lives in coastal regions lapped by tidal waters. Yet how little most of us know about the tide.Our ability to predict and understand the tide depends on centuries of science, from the observations of Aristotle and the theories of Newton to today's supercomputer calculations. This story is punctuated here by notable tidal episodes in h...

With 2014 marking the tercentenary of the Longitude Act, this eloquent celebration of the sextant tells the story of this elegant instrument and explores its vital role in man’s attempts to map the world.This is the story of an instrument that changed the world. In prose as crisp as the book’s subject, David Barrie tells how and why the sextant was invented; how offshore navigators depended on it for their lives in wild and dangerous seas until the advent of GPS – and the sextant’s...

Starting with a simple question - 'Which way am I looking?' - Tristan Gooleyblends natural science, myth, folklore and the history of travel to introduce you to the rare and ancient art of finding your way using nature's own sign-posts, from the feel of a rock to the look of the moon.With Tristan's help, you'll learn why some trees grow the way they do and how they can help you find your way in the countryside. You'll discover how it's possible to find North simply by looking at a ...

The Power of the Sea describes our struggle to understand the physics of the sea, so we can use that knowledge to predict when the sea will unleash its fury against us. In a wide-sweeping narrative spanning much of human history, Bruce Parker, former chief scientist of the National Ocean Service, interweaves thrilling and often moving stories of unpredicted natural disaster with an accessible account of scientific discovery. The result is a compelling scientific journey, from ancient man's...