Three Miles Down: A Firsthand Account of Deep Sea Exploration and A Hunt for Sunken World War II Treasure [Paperback]

James Hamilton-Paterson (Author)

Book Description

Series: Harvest Book | Publication Date: May 22, 2000

Somewhere in the deep Atlantic off the west coast of Africa lie two casualties of the second World War: a Japanese submarine and a British liner. Both were reportedly carrying tons of gold. In Three Miles Down, James Hamilton-Paterson recounts the thrilling search, code-named Project Orca, for these vessels and their awesome payload. In the winter of 1995, an international crew of researchers, investors, and salvage experts set sail on the Russian research ship Akademik Keldysh, determined to find and then recover the sunken treasure. It was an enormous financial and physical risk, for even if the vessels were located, they rested in more than 5,000 meters of water. No salvage had ever been attempted at such depths before-roughly 1,200 meters deeper than the Titanic's watery grave. In his daily chronicle, Hamilton-Paterson, the ship's literary stowaway, not only captures the peculiar personalities and the tensions on board, but shares the fascinating history of the sunken vessels and the extreme danger and technological complications of deep-water recovery. A brilliant account of a treasure-hunting expedition and once-in-a-lifetime voyage to the bottom of the sea, Three Miles Down is also a rousing tale of deception, greed, courage, and great beauty.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Hamilton-Paterson bewitches us with history, mystery and science. . . . The treasure junkie's summer read [with a] subversive sense of humor that makes Hamilton-Paterson so much fun.-The Washington Post Book World
"Hamilton-Paterson proves to be a chronicler of the intrigue among a crew of strangers, a font of lore about wrecks and deep-sea exploration, and a marvelous witness to the lightless wonders of profound depths."-Outside
"In Three Miles Down, [Hamilton-Paterson] moves beyond the typical adventure formula and gives us a story that lingers on people and place and on small, genuine curiosities."-the New York Times Book Review
"Exciting, perceptive, imaginative, articulate, suspenseful, brilliant . . . the best thing about this book is that every word of it is true."-Richard Ellis, author of imagining Atlantis

About the Author

James Hamilton-Paterson is the author of sixteen books of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. His novel Ghosts of Manila was short-listed for the Whitbread Prize in 1994, which he previously won for Gerontius in 1991, and two of his books have been New York Times Notables. A fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, Hamilton-Paterson divides his time between Italy and the Philippines.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Mariner Books (May 22, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0156012715
• ISBN-13: 978-0156012713
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,536,242 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A tease that doesn't deliver., November 9, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Three Miles Down: A Firsthand Account of Deep Sea Exploration and A Hunt for Sunken World War II Treasure (Paperback)

If Mr. Hamilton-Paterson wanted to market a character study of salvors, I would have no complaint. However as a "firsthand account of deep sea exploration and a hunt for sunken World War II treasure." he promises more than he even begins to deliver. He begins with a serious handicap of having to use psuedonyms for the vessels which comprise the objects of the search (legal reasons we have to suppose...). But perhaps this book needed to wait to be written properly. Consequently he is able to share little first hand information on how the ships came to the bottom of the sea (often the best part of the read) and even less (other than the interpersonal relationships)of the search itself. I kept turning pages hoping that he would deliver on his promise, but the conclusion proves as unfulfilling as the opening and middle sections of the book. Not that literature is a competitive sport, but in terms of a compelling account of deep sea exploration there are infinitely better books available.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Completely Disappointing, February 22, 2005

By 

R. Johnston (new orleans, la United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Three Miles Down: A Firsthand Account of Deep Sea Exploration and A Hunt for Sunken World War II Treasure (Paperback)

This is not the book I thought I was buying. It contains almost nothing about the actual search for sunken treasure. Instead, as noted by another reviewer, this book is primarily a character study of the people involved in this expedition. It also reads much like a diary of the feelings of the author about the expedition itself. Which is really not what you want to hear about when you expect the book to tell you about the exploits of the salvors digging gold out of wrecks tens of thousands of feet below the surface.

I'm just glad I didn't buy this in hardback.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Two thumbs up for Three Miles Down, September 22, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Three Miles Down: A Firsthand Account of Deep Sea Exploration and A Hunt for Sunken World War II Treasure (Paperback)

This book is a must read for anybody who has ever wanted to go on a modern expedition searching for sunken treasure. The characters are real people, accurately described, who react in unexpected ways when confronted with difficult challenges. I know many of the people in this book, and I have been to sea with them. This book brought back many memories. It's also an excellent choice if you are interested in expeditions to the Titanic, since so few books have ever been written about modern expeditions to the Titanic. Again, it's the same players on a different expedition. You will get to know exactly what it's like to be at sea, with plots and subplots going on around the ship, and where everybody has a different agenda. This is the next best thing to being there.

Good hunting!