Customer Reviews

Treasures of the Spanish Main: Shipwrecked Galleons in the New World

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I live in Nevada, which if it were a country would be the third largest producer of gold in the world. Each year Nevada produces a bit more than 7,000,000 ounces of gold. Mr. Fine has looked at the Spanish records and in the years between 1493 and 1780 103,246,510 ounces of gold were produced and sent back to Spain in approximately 17,000 voyages. Some estimates are that 10% of those voyages never made it back to Spain. That's ten million ounces of gold at the bottom of the ocean somewhere. There are also emeralds, silver and other treasures.

Unfortunately, finding and then recovering anything of value is no simple matter. This book goes into detail about seven treasure ships that sunk and were then subsequently found and from which treasure has been removed. The sunken ships, the men who found them, and the results brought to the surface are discussed.

This is a beautifully printed, well illustrated, and written with a great understanding of the challenges faced by the salvagers.

I found the writing to be awkward, fragmentary, and amateurish, begging the question as to whether this was a translation from some other language. While I don't expect treasure hunters to emulate Hemingway in their story telling, I do expect their editors to do better policing of the work. The writing is so unpalatable that I have not found the patience to read through the entire book yet. I also found that I was looking for more depth with respect to the historical context and the contemporary work on the projects. A better personal narrative may aid in the contemporary discussion.

That being siad, I did find that there were some interesting factoids scattered throughout the book and plenty of excellent pictures. The material does have merit but needs substantial re-write for it to earn high marks from me.

Treasures of the Spanish Main: Shipwrecked Galleons in the New World tells of gold, treasure, and fleets which promised riches to divers who would unearth them. It's a history of the ships who sailed the 'Golden Highway' laden with gold - and it uses both historical record and the diving explorations of modern treasure hunters to spice its story of pirates, wrecks, and history. An excellent adventure evolves.

Diane C. Donovan

California Bookwatch

My nephew in law goes diving in galleons along the Yucatan gulf so I was pretty sure it would interest him. I mean the book screamed out - READ ME DIVERS!!

Another excellent book by John Fine.