Out of the Depths: A History of Shipwrecks – Alan G. Jamieson
Out of the Depths: A History of Shipwrecks. By Alan G. Jamieson. (London, Reaktion Books Ltd, 2022. pp. 342. Cloth $42.00.)
When I first picked this book off the shelf I was skeptical. In my mind I was expecting a historical analysis of the meaning and importance of shipwrecks. What I saw looked like just a list of shipwrecks for 300 pages. And in a way that was what this book was, but it is written so briskly that it really pulls you into the story. There is also a lot of tension between who gets to own and capitalize on shipwrecks. Is it the nations the boats originally came from? Is it the archaeologists who want to study and historicize the wrecks? Is it the treasure hunters who use modern technology to discover and plunder wrecks that have left behind millions of dollars worth of precious metals and artifacts? Who shares the ownership and also, though a bit less explored, who shares the blame?
I ended up really enjoying this book. It is a neat history of shipwrecks in the West. It would have benefitted more from additional examinations of shipwreck cultures from places other than the West. Though there is a section on China and some written about Japan, almost all of those doing the discovering, salvaging, and sinking, are westerners. Is there a way to write a more global history of shipwrecks, or is this really just a preserve of the West? Somehow I don’t believe that. An examination of other cultures and their relationships to shipwrecks would bring more “depth” to this pleasantly breezy read.
