Shipwrecked! Diving for Hidden Time Capsules on the Ocean Floor by Martin W. Sandler

Shipwrecked! Diving for Hidden Time Capsules on the Ocean Floor

Martin W. Sandler

Astra Young Readers. An Imprint of Astra Books for Young Readers

2023

Do you have students who are fascinated with the ancient world? Curious about what secrets still lie on the ocean floor? If so, then hand them, Shipwrecked! 

In, Shipwrecked!, Sandler explores seven of the world’s most incredible shipwrecks: Antikythera, Cape Gelidonya, Shinan, The Mary Rose, São José de Africa, The Hunley, The Erbus and The Terror? The writing is concise and gives lots of detail on how the initial discovery was made, and the effort needed to recover and record the artifacts found on the ocean floor. Each discovery, the first one, Antikythera, in 1900, would, interestingly, further the field of marine archeology.  Each exploration would find scientists inventing better tools to make the extraction of the artifacts more efficient, and safer.

There are color photos throughout that show some of the artifacts discovered, and text blocks set off in a wash of light blue that offers more indepth explanations on topics or individuals mentioned within the text. As an example, Scuba Diving mentions Jacques Cousteau and Emile Gagnan, the developers of the Aqualung. 

The final chapter, “For Further Exploration”, lists a few more ancient shipwrecks that have been recovered. 

Included are source notes, selected bibliography, and index. 

Since the focus of this book is on how the shipwrecks were discovered and the skills needed to recover them, round out your display with books on Jacques Cousteau, Pliny, Homer and his tale, in any edition, The Odyssey, the rush to find the Northwest Passage, an atlas of the ancient world, and other titles that can help fill in on the ancient world.