Shipwreck Heresies

This volume is a collection of short subjects that are controversial in nature. Leading the contentions is a history of the Abandoned Shipwreck Act. In this chapter is the story of how the Act was passed by only two senators, who sneaked into the closed chamber in order to pass unfavorable legislation that could not have been passed by honest means. Following this is an in-depth study of the U.S. destroyer Murphy: how the wreck was identified; how the Naval Criminal Investigative Service threatened to prosecute those who identified it; and how one diver's bid for sole access to the site led to the unlawful introduction and secret passage of a bill that appropriated all sunken U.S. Navy craft anywhere in the world. The book ends with a 70-page retrospection of Shadow Divers Exposed: what juvenile and irrational critiques were made against it, and by whom; how the truthfulness of the book has been vindicated; and how new evidence has established that the U-869 had been discovered and dived three years prior to events that were related in Shadow Divers: the greatest literary hoax in publishing history. In between these extraordinary disquisitions are chapters on other shipwrecks that have created nationwide controversies: the Civil War ironclad Monitor, the Hamilton and Scourge (U.S. Navy warships from the War of 1812, and which are now controlled by the Canadian government), the treasure wrecks Brother Jonathan and El Cazador, and the World War One ocean liner Lusitania. Also included is "The Stellwagen Bank Robbery," a scathing review of NOAA's illegal activities in the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary: its refusal to release public information, its ambition to prevent public access to wreck sites, and its program to expand sanctuary boundaries (in particular, Thunder Bay, Stellwagen, and the Monitor - the latter to eventually encompass the entire Outer Banks, and all the U-boats and merchant vessels from all wars and all marine casualties). This is a book that will rile your blood.