Customer Reviews

Unsolved Mysteries of the Sea

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Billed as 'An Eye-Opening Exploration of Lost Lands, Phantom Ships, and Dangerous Denizens of the Deep,' this little book sets out to explore exactly whats in the title. Everything that is in the title, in fact. I was lucky enough to stumble across it in the bargain section of my local book store, and being an intrepid student of any and all things unusual, especially when they relate to the sea, I quickly snatched it up. Admitted, for such a relatively small book, and at such a good price, I wasn't expecting to be blown away, but I nonetheless found the book quite enjoyable... if perhaps a bit chaotic for the casual reader to navigate (a naval pun I couldn't help but include).

In sixteen chapters, the book covers all manner of maritime mysteries, oddities and curious facts. Some are well known (Atlantis, the Mary Celeste and the Bermuda Triangle, for example) while others perhaps less so (like the Piri Reis map, the disappearance of lighthouse keepers from the Flannan Isles, or the mysteries of the Hawai'ian islands). Sea monsters of all sort are covered, of course, from Nessie and the serpent seen by the HMS Daedalus to the kraken and Cornwall's Morgawr. There is also a chapter on the Flying Dutchmen and other, more obscure phantom ships, and another on infamous pirates like Black Beard, Ann Bonnie and Black Bart Roberts. Mixed in with this are sections on stange and/or dangerous creatures like sharks, saltwater crocodiles, jellyfish, flying fish and stranger species. Myths and legends get covered too, like mermaids obviously, but also legends of Sinbad and Odysseus, and the Oannes whom the Babylonians credited with teaching man the art of civilization.

In fact, that may be the biggest problem with the book. The authors clearly have a passion for what they write about, and they are familiar with all kinds of obscure facts (thats the fun of the book, in fact). But sadly theres only so much space, and they don't really bother going too in depth (another nautical reference) into any of the subjects. It winds up being more a collection of oceanic miscellanea more than anything else. And many of their readers (ie, those of us whose taste runs towards the bizarre) will no doubt already be familiar with things like the Philadelphia Experiment, Ogopogo, Black Beard's buried treasure, etc. Now, with that said, the real value of this book comes from the more obscure facts and tidbits that have been buried within the book, some of which even I confess to not knowing. These days, with the internet, its so easy to do even a quick google search and turn up mountains of information on a single phrase, keyword or incident with just a few clicks of the mouse.

So with all that in mind, would I still recommend the book? Absolutely. Despite some failings, it is still a nice solid read. It's just that I would recommend jumping around and reading whatever interests you at that particular moment. Any book that can go from legends of mermaids and sea gods to a history of navigation to an underwater zoology guide is going to be... diverse. Again, interest in paranormal phenomena, pseudo-science and general weirdness is a plus when reading this. But the book is a pretty fun read for anyone, and certainly would make a great gift for someone interested in such things. There are plenty of other books that go into much more detail on such things that can be read later, like Heuvelman's 'In the Wake of Sea Serpents,' Fate Magazine's similar 'Mysteries of the Deep,' and Richard Ellis' 'Monsters of the Sea,' amongst many others.

Faults:

The Fanthorpes tend to drift off subject a lot and then back again rather confusingly, making reading their books difficult.

They write about things that really are not part of the subject matter of the book. For example, in this book about sea mysteries, they include a chapter on the mysteries of Hawaii which are not mysteries of the sea but of the Hawaiian Islands.

They include too much of themselves in their writings.

The photographs are sometimes too dark, too small; too often one or both of the authors is in a photo.

When authors who are more or less skeptical, looking at the world around them with critical eyes, decide to write a book about supernatural/paranormal phenomena, the end result is usually one the following: either the book becomes a critical investigation of phenomena where one or more possible solutions are presented; or the book turns out to be focusing on both famous ant not-so famous cases where no investigation or inspection takes place and the text instead more of a description than an investigation.

And the Fanthorpes' book Unsolved Mysteries of the Sea definitely belongs to the latter of the above categories. The sea is a strange place, throughout the ages it's been the home of countless myths, legends, and mysterious happenings. Sea monsters have been spotted in waters from Asia to Norway and Scotland, The Flying Dutchman has put fear in numerous seamen, the lost continents Atlantis and Lemuria have been debated ever since the old Greeks, various gods and goddesses have been rumoured to hide in the depths, and old pirate treasures are still said to be hidden here and there.

The list goes on forever, the mysteries never seem to end, and in their book Lionel and Patricia presents some of the most famous of these mysteries, along with a few they've investigated themselves and are still unknown to most people.

It's a nice and cosy little book, the authors apparently love to meet new people, talk about mysteries, and simply be amazed over all things mysterious connected to the oceans. They never claim to be a team of professional researchers, and thus they don't bother presenting extremely complex and advanced theories. The book is, however, not entirely without them theorizing; they do mention some theories about mermaids, Atlantis, Mary Celeste, and more, but overall the book is descriptive rather than investigative.

Yet, that doesn't lower the overall impression, simply since they never claim to have possession of any definite answers. But unfortunately, what do lower the overall impression is the illustrations and photographs throughout the book. Some of them are redundant, many of them are much too small, and some motifs could indeed have been portrayed differently. For example, instead of using a real photograph they choose a rather sloppy portrait of the founder of Theosophy, Helena Blavatsky. This sounds, perhaps, somewhat trifle, but the fact remains that more or less every single illustration is of poor quality which makes the whole thing annoying in the long run. This is highly unfortunate, because Unsolved Mysteries of the Sea is in every other sense a pleasant little book, perfect for the beginner or people with more of a general interest in mysteries.

When authors who are more or less skeptical, looking at the world around them with critical eyes, decide to write a book about supernatural/paranormal phenomena, the end result is usually one the following: either the book becomes a critical investigation of phenomena where one or more possible solutions are presented; or the book turns out to be focusing on both famous ant not-so famous cases where no investigation or inspection takes place and the text instead more of a description than an investigation.

And the Fanthorpes' book Unsolved Mysteries of the Sea definitely belongs to the latter of the above categories. The sea is a strange place, throughout the ages it's been the home of countless myths, legends, and mysterious happenings. Sea monsters have been spotted in waters from Asia to Norway and Scotland, The Flying Dutchman has put fear in numerous seamen, the lost continents Atlantis and Lemuria have been debated ever since the old Greeks, various gods and goddesses have been rumoured to hide in the depths, and old pirate treasures are still said to be hidden here and there.

The list goes on forever, the mysteries never seem to end, and in their book Lionel and Patricia presents some of the most famous of these mysteries, along with a few they've investigated themselves and are still unknown to most people.

It's a nice and cosy little book, the authors obviously love to meet new people, talk about mysteries, and simply be amazed over all things mysterious connected to the oceans. They never claim to be a team of professional researchers, and thus they don't bother presenting extremely complex and advanced theories. The book is, however, not entirely without them theorizing; they do mention some theories about mermaids, Atlantis, Mary Celeste, and more, but overall the book is descriptive rather than investigative.

Yet, that doesn't lower the overall impression, simply since they never claim to have possession of any definite answers. But unfortunately, what do lower the overall impression is the illustrations and photographs throughout the book. Some of them are redundant, many of them are much too small, and some motifs could indeed have been portrayed differently. For example, instead of using a real photograph they choose a rather sloppy portrait of the founder of Theosophy, Helena Blavatsky. This sounds, perhaps, somewhat trifle, but the fact remains that more or less every single illustration is of poor quality which makes the whole thing annoying in the long run. This is highly unfortunate, because Unsolved Mysteries of the Sea is in every other sense a pleasant little book, perfect for the beginner or people with more of a general interest in mysteries.