.	I DIVE FOR TREASURE. Lieutenant Harry E. Rieseberg. Robert M. McBride & Company, New York First edition 1942. Reviewed edition: As described below. [ps] The cover, top left, is the original 1942 edition. The one on the right is a Dell Publication, a cheap paperback of medium format (like the Fawcett series). The second printing was in 1953.  Cover (red) left: Publisher: New York: Frederick Fell, Inc,1970, (Claimed as First Edition) Hardcover, dustjacket, 236 pages. ISBN: 0811901963 Note: It appears that there have been several editions from various other publishers: Natioal Travel Club, 1942. (Hardcover) Popular Library 1954. (Softcover) Dodd, Mead & Co. 1960. (Hardcover).
.	MY COMPASS POINTS TO TREASURE. Lieutenant Harry E. Rieseberg. Wm. Collins Sons and Co. Ltd, London and Glasgow. First printed in this edition 1957. No indication as to when first published, but US Library of Congress indicated 1955. Also reprinted in 1961, uit no indication that it is a reprint, only 'This edition printed 1961.' The only differenc between the 1957 and 1961 editions is the back of the dustjacket; on the 1957 edition has photo of author, on 1961 edition has list of other publisher's books.  [ps] Reviewed edition: As described.  From the fly of the Collins SDeagull Library edition: '"There is not a man or boy alive who has not longed, at sometime or other, to take the bold, defiant step that -. Harry Rieseberg took—slam shut the text books or the ledgers and answer the call of adventure. For Rieseberg it was treasure salving—diving to the cobalt depths of the waters of the Carri-bean where lay whole sunken wrecks of treasure—laden Spanish galleons—parts of the fleets of ships which had, centuries before, carried the gold of the New World back to the Old. Ships lying on the sca-bcd encrusted in coral, heavy with their caskets of treasure—ships which had fallen victim of savage sea lighters, foundered in storms or impaled themselves on unseen coral pinnacles. For the wealth to be raised from the depths of the sea, Rieseberg probed the mysteries of the ocean bed, faced the terrifying monsters of the deep—the giant spider crab, the octopus, the tiger shark. His successes and failures, his hopes, his fears, his moments of triumph and moments of despair are here for us to share in a thrilling story of true adventure.
	ADVENTURES IN UNDERWATER TREASURE HUNTING. Lieutenant Harry E. Rieseberg. Frederick Fell, Inc. New York. First printed 1965. [ps] Reviewed edition: As described.
	TREASURE HUNTER Dramatic Adventures in Undersea Salvage by the author of "I Dive for Treasure" First printed 1945, Robert M. McBride & Co, New York. Hardcover, dustjacket, 260 pagesmono plates (some underwater).  This is based on the story of 'the master treasure hunter of then all', Sir William Phips, a seafarer of the 17th century in America who rose to become captain and managed to salvage millions of dollars from the doomed Spanish Plate Fleet in the Caribbean. It covers also more modern salvage and some of the experiences of the author. A most interesting bok, and now quite rare. [ps]
.	FELL'S GUIDE TO SUNKEN TREASURE SHIPS OF THE WORLD by Lieut. Harry E. Rieseberg and A.A. Mikalow.  Published by Frederick Fell  First Edition, 1965. Hardback, 221 pages, illustrations. Over 1,000 locations continent by continent. Full details on scuba gear, Conventional Suits, and Large-scale salvage methods. Profusely illustrated to show equipment in actual use - A wealth of authoratative information covering all phases of underwater treasure hunting",  This book was reprinted in 1969 as a softcover, which still turns up from time to time, but the original complete hardback edition like this one is scarce. Paperback, on immediate left.  [ps-soft&hard]
	FELL'S COMPLETE GUIDE TO  BURIED TREASURE LAND AND SEA by Harry E. Rieseberg. First edition published simultaneously by Frederick Fell, Inc, New York and George J.McLeod Ltd, Toronto, in 1970.  According to Crooks: approx two thirds of the bookj is a geographic listing of sunken treasure ships with brief details of each.
	THE SEA OF TREASURE Lieut. Harry E. Rieseberg. Published 1966, Frederick Fell, Inc., New York, NY. Hardcover, dustjacket. This book "relates many of the author's personal experiences through the waters of the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and the West Coast of  South America, from the Bahamas across the fabulous Spanish Main and down to Ecuador, in search of the early remains of long-sunken Spanish galleons and frigates foundered while transporting the incalculable treasures of gold, silver, jewels, and other still unperishable wealth. Chapter topics include: My  Business Was Treasure Salvage, The Argosies of Treasure, Into the Bahamas Sea, we Unearthed the San Pedro's Treasure, The Fortess of Infamy, Tragedy in Trinidad's Jungle, The Search for the Golden Jacket's Treasure, Cephalopods and Octopuses, Margarita Island's Treasure Waters, The Salvage of the San Pedro de Alcantara, We Fished for Tigers of the Sea, I Met a Descendant of Atahualpa, Scorched Flesh and Evil Spirits, Cartagena-The  Storehouse of the Spanish Plata-flotas, and The Cursed Treasure of an Ancient Galleon."  ---- "with the author you will explore the vast sea with danger and death all around you, and experience the mystic splender of the underwater world..." [ps-n001]
	600 MILIARDS SOUS LES MERS. Harry Reiseberg. Printed in 1957. Hardcover, 320 pages. The French edition of one of Rieseberg's books - but which one.
	TREASURE ! by Harry E. Rieseberg. Published Henry Holt & Co, New York, 1957. Crooks lists as adolescent book - "of fact and fable".
	TREASURE OF THE BUCCANEER SEA Harry E. Rieseberg. First edition published by Naylor Co, of San Antonio, Texas, 1962. Second printing the same year. From Crooks: Recounts the athor's search for sunken treasure in the Caribbean, but as with all Rieseberg's books, the author mixes fact with fiction. It also includes the story of William Phips' salvage of the Concepcion off the coast of Hispaniola. In the back of the boo the author lists the supposed locations of sunken trasure ships in the Atlantic, Pacific, Caribbean and Great Lakes.
At right: Rieseberg (top), and assistant inspecting diving helmets.	DIVING FOR SUNKEN TREASURE The True Adventures of Harry E.Rieseberg. A Trumpet Book, for ages 9-14. Published by Saml. Gabriel Sons & Co, 1955. Softcover presumably, about 64 pages.  Chapters include: A Boyhood Dream, We Battle a Monster of the Deep, A Tap on the Shoulder - and Danger!, An Underseas battle for Sunken Gold, The Pirate City Beneath the Sea, The Diving Robot Finds Treasure and Terror, The Sunken Fleet at Silver Shoals, The Diving Tractor-Tank of the Future, Rich Treasures I'd Like to Salvage, A Treasure Map for You.  That should entice any red-blooded young fellow to read the book.  Thanks to Karl Gillies, Invercargill, NZ for the images.

Rieseberg's first book appears to be Treasure of the Buccaneer Sea.  Other titles include Treasure Hunter,  Treasure!, and (co-author with A.A. Mikalow) Fell's Guide to Sunken Treasure Ships of the World.

REVIEW by Peter Stone

When  literally shacked-up with Bob Marx on Beacon Island in 1977, he made mention of one Lieutenant Harry Rieseberg. I can't recall his exact words, but the summary would be, "he's full of ..it".  We were in the Abrolhos Islands, diving the historic Dutch East Indiaman Batavia at the time. "He used to see a skeleton lashed to the wheel of every shipwreck", Bob commented. Bob wouldn't fib would he? But I was anxious to get hold of a copy of one of Hero Harry's books, and finally, after many years, managed to find My Compass Points to Treasure. Wow, he certainly looks like a villain on the dust jacket rear where it is stated he is "recognised as the world's foremost authority on the romantic subject of sunken treasure". 

My copy of Rieseberg's book is the ‘First printed in this edition 1957' which suggests that it was released earlier. It appears to be his fourth book. There are no dates mentioned in the book, so it is difficult to determine when it was that Harry descended into the Caribbean Sea in standard dress, his ‘boys' pumping away on the deck of his schooner Cholita. It tells of the time he once had an office job and "found myself in a nightmare rushing headlong down a concrete canyon, watching over my shoulder as a long-legged desk leaps after me in hot pursuit". So he became a deep-sea diver. You might like to give up at this point, but don't - it gets better. 

My Compass Points to Treasure tells of his departure from the concrete canyons of Washington and down to Jamaica where he finds Port Royal, a ‘Pirate's Babylon'. Then its back on land to search for pirates plunder, before finding the wreck of the San Pedro - we are to assume she is Spanish, with bullion on board. He finds her on the first dive, but gives Lady Luck her due credit. Twenty thousand dollars richer, he is off to find another wreck, the San Pedro de Alcantara - no relative to the first San Pedro. He doesn't find the mother lode of five million, but settles for a haul of Spanish pieces of eight worth $30,000.  But its not all plain sailing. There are the sharks and the giant spiders and the squid and the giant crabs - and the horrible octopus to overcome. "Watching every move, I was revolted and fascinated. I had met this loathsome creature before and paid dearly for the unsought acquaintance. Presently the thing released itself, drew together its reaching coils, and darted to a more distant rock, where it settled down to watch me from its hooded yellow eyes." 
Loathsome? Surely not our mascot. Unfortunately for our undersea adventurer, his beloved schooner Cholita makes it to the last chapter but is then lost in a storm. Harry survives a miracle, but his crew are all lost. Very convenient, for who can now collaborate his story ? 

Is this a boys-own yarn, or is Lieutenant Harry Rieseberg fair-dinkum? There is nothing to show on the book that it is meant to be anything other than a factual story, although the advert on the back inside fly for ‘Jennings Goes to School' and other British boy's books is a bit of a giveaway. If Harry didn't take himself so seriously, this would be fine fiction. I will certainly give it to young son Sam in a few years to read. "His successes and failures, his hopes, his fears, his moments of triumph and moments of despair are here for us to share in a thrilling story of true adventure". Maybe I shouldn't be so cynical. Maybe I am doing Harry an injustice. Maybe I shouldn't be influenced by the less than complimentary remarks by the self-acclaimed maritime archaeologist (and treasure hunter) Bob Marx. Let's just say, it is a great yarn, Harry.
 

What are these guys doing, fighting, dancing, or making love? The top image is a drawing, but the other two are supposed to be photographs; Harry is fighting off a huge octopus next to the observation bell, whilst in the lower photograph, Ollie seems to be coming in for a landing like an interstellar space craft. However..... all can be revealed. Bill B. from the USA writes that "Several of the pictures in Harry’s 1942 book I Dive for Treasure are stills from the movie Below the Sea made in 1933. The movie starred Ralph Bellamy and Fay Wray who was well known for her role in “King Kong”. All the pictures in the book of an octopus attacking a diving bell and a diver battling the octopus with a torch are from this movie which is quite amazing because the movie is never mentioned and the captions lead you to believe this is a real event that Harry faced."

Bill very kindly provided the adjacent photo, with the comment: "One of the octopus pictures you have on your site from the Harry’s book is surely the creation of J.E Williamson who was famous for using a photosphere to film the 1916 version of '20,000 Leagues Under the Sea'. Williamson created an octopus for one of the scenes in his movie. The Williams octopus may have also been used in the 1933 movie I mentioned earlier." A  February1939 Modern Mechanix issue ran an article about Harry’s encounter with this deadly octopus and again he boldly uses pictures from the movie “Below the Sea”. Here is a link to see copy of that article. http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2006/01/30/ octopus-terror-of-the-deep/

----

Not long after I found a copy of My Compass Points to Treasure, I managed to locate a first edition of  I Dive For Treasure, by Rieseberg, published in 1942. This appears to be his second book (after Treasure of the Buccaneer Sea), and is certainly written as an adult adventure (read factual) book. It even has a dozen or so mono plates - mainly of a giant octopus that the fought and slew. A brief glance through the book establishes the fact that Rieseberg is a genuine ‘deep sea diver' and ‘treasure hunter'. He is shown squeezing into a steel sphere about four feet in diameter, which he calls a ‘robot', and descending to a quarter of a mile - 880 feet. The robot was tethered to a mother ship and lowered straight down - it appears to have no mobility other than vertical and slight horizontal determined by the ship's boom from which it hung, and controlled by the mother ship on instructions from the operator. Two steel claws on arms extend for some six feet, manipulated by the diver inside. This is a pretty good effort for the time, and took courage to enter and descend. ‘From the bottom of the sea the diver could talk with his colleagues on deck - and hear their shouts as they opened the treasure chests he tied to the end off their line. The fingers of the long, powerful arms of the robot are so delicate that Lieut. Rieseberg can pick up a single coin from the deck of a sunken galleon, or shear off the tentacles of an octopus, which is attacking the observation ball in which ids the author's companion". And he does indeed raise a treasure chest full of coins - there is a photograph of it in at least two of his books.
Rieseberg's Robot.
There are several photographs of a giant octopus which the robot successfully defends. "Slain by the robot's steel claws..... these tentacles are as thick as a man's body". They certainly do look huge - but are they real? Is this a fake. Certainly one photograph is poorly touched up - the others are quite acceptable considering they were ‘made' over half a century ago. 

But back to the book, I Dive For Treasure. This is another ‘adventure story' written in the first person, and in part with dialogue. "My wrecks have to have one quality. Did she have any treasure aboard, Doctor?" There is a hint that the action takes place in 1929, and that Rieseberg was born in 1891 or 1892. His interest in adventure came with Stevenson's Treasure Island.  He befriended Teddy Roosevelt Jnr in school and met the President at the White House. The autobiography, initially as a naturalist, doesn't last long but sets the personal background to the book, until he meets Greek George who changed his life.. The early chapters tell in part a potted history of the Spanish fleet, and of observations from diving bells, describing William Beebe's efforts, and lamenting the fact that standard dress is limited - the record depth at the time was 306 feet. Encouraged by his research that showed some 3 billion dollars left on the ocean floor, Harry sets off and by chapter five, he encounters his first battle with a giant octopus, and speaks of his double-action Fairbanks-Morse air pump with 250 of armoured hose that supplied oxygen from above. Oxygen? I this a lapse into fairyland, author's license, or a publisher's intrusion? Unfortunately, Rieseberg doe not take the opportunity of ensuring his books remain on the classic list because he fails to describe the early diving equipment he is using. What sort of helmet does he use? "A new brass helmet - with a light on top".  Thanks a lot, Harry. The octopus battles seem to take precedence - a huge monster, one hundred and twenty feet down, with "eager tentacles, their suction cups curved for action". 

Harry has mixed success in his ventures. He recovers $60,000 in pieces-of-eight from the Santa Paula, and $40,000 from the Santa Cruz, but never seems to find the mother-lode. And after descending a quarter mile down in the robot, slips and breaks his leg on deck, hospitalising him for many weeks. This is not what good fiction is made of. If this were a boys own yarn, Harry would have found the treasure in the octopus' lair and wouldn't have been laid on his back because he fell down his own ship's companionway. I'm beginning to like the guy. He may have an excess of imagination, but he certainly was an adventurer.

Chapter twenty-four gives an another indication of the time frame. War has just broken out in Europe - 1938. As an interesting adjunct to the book, Rieseberg includes six pages listing 463 treasure ships that he has researched and identified. He closes with a dream. "The Santissima Conception, the Santa Paula, Vigo Bay, the Merida, the plate flota of Silver Shoals! They are all lying on the bottom, heavy with treasure, their chests bulging with the gold and silver and gems of the century".  At least Rieseberg makes no pretensions of being an archaeologist - he is in it for the gold. 

Adventures in Underwater Treasure Hunting is, it appears, Harry Rieseberg's last book. Published in 1965,  it is "more than an exciting adventure story - it is the author's true account of just a few of the highlights of his search for undersea treasure in the Neptunian nightmare of death which waits so impatiently in the sea's bottom. This book is your ticket to terror and mystery in a foreboding Disneyland of the deep. Here are the fantastic adventures of deep-sea daredevil, Lieutenant Harry E. Rieseberg." Not even Harry could write this drivel. Enter the editors of publisher Frederick Fell, Inc, New York. By now Harry is at least seventy-two years of age and probably not too concerned about money or the future of treasure hunting. Only the publisher sees treasure, in a rehash of the same old stories - the pirate city beneath the sea, the Santa Cruz,  the battle with octopi. He does find the Santissima Conception after the war, and mentions the new scuba diving equipment, although he does not appear to have used it, for this is a book of regurgitated memories, more for the cause of the publisher the author. It does have a few more photographs showing Harry at work topside and down below, and at the end closes with an "authentic historical treasure map, prepared by Lt. Harry E. Rieseberg, the world's foremost authority on sunken treasure".

I have no idea when Harry died, but he would have been satisfied with his life away from concrete canyons and phantom desks. If his books stretched the imagination a little, so be it. Was he a fraud? No, I don't think so. He never laid claim to finding millions of dollars, never laid claim that a ship was solely his for the plundering. He never showed angry frustration at not finding the mother lode, and always gave credit to his many friends and colleagues and rogues who accompanied him through his adventures. And true adventures they certainly were. Had Harry lived longer, he would probably be doing the rounds of the underwater congresses - but would we have believed him? One thing is for certain - he brought pleasure to many boys and men who enjoy a good story - and he led a fulfilled life. 

Readability.
Very easy style in the genre of a good adventure yarn.
Classic rating.
His books should rate two out of ten - just for fun. Had Rieseberg described his diving equipment in more detail, they would have rated higher. 
Availability.
Good copies with dust jackets are scarce.
Final comment. 
There were no skeletons lashed to the wheel; indeed, no skeletons at all. Strange that, for if these were works of fiction, a good author would certainly have brought in a few bones for intrigue. If the author's objective was to write a good adventure story with some artistic license to please the publisher and reader, then he has done a pretty good job. His books would have sold well in their day.
 

Note.
The US Library of Congress lists the following ten books by Harry Earl Rieseberg:
I Dive For Treasure, 1942.
Treasure Hunter, 1945.
Treasure Hunter's Map of the Wesy Indies and the Spanish Main, 1951.
My Compass Points to Treasure, 1955.
Treasure!, 1957 (illustrated by Albert Orbaan)
Treasure of the Buccaneer Sea, 1962. (illustrated by Donald M. Yena)
Adventures in Underwater Hunting, 1965.
Fell's Guide to Sunken Treasure Ships of the World, with AA Mikalow, 1965.
Sea of Treasure, 1966. 
Fell's Complete Guide to Buried Treasure, 1970

CITY BENEATH THE SEA.

The motion picture City Beneath the Sea  was made in 1953 by Universal Pictures. 
it starred Robert Ryan, Anthon Quinn, Mala Powers, Susan Ball, George Mathews, Karel Stepanek, Lalo Rios, Woody Strode, Bernie Gozier, Leon Lontoc, John Warburton and Barbara Morrison. 
The following is part of the film's promo:

Lieut. Harry E. Rieseberg, whose magazine story aboat the lost city of Port Royal off Kingston, Jamaica, inspired Universal-International's Technicolor "City Beneath the Sea", and who was technical advisor on the film, fought a giant octopus and almost lost his life on his first deep sea diving venture. The incident occurred near Barahona, off the Guadaloupe Coast during Rieseberg's attempt to raise many thousands of dollar's worth of treasure contained in the hulk of a Spanish galleon sunk hundreds of years before. The young lieutenant had never been face to face with an octopus before, and his reactions at seeing the monstrous tentacles sweeping around him, and the peering eyes of the most dreaded beast of the deep taxed his articulateness when he attempted to describe them later. Rieseberg was wearing the old style rubber diving suit and metal
helmet, and he carried only a sharp knife, when he had this first encounter with the slimy monster which is the dread of all divers, Only the prompt action of the deck crew of the salvage ship above, responding to Rieseberg's frantic tugging at the signal line, tore the adventurer from the clutches of the great beast.

From the Detroit Free Fress, 10 February 1953.

Photos and press clipping courtesy of Marilyn Morgan.

As reviously mentioned, Harry had three wives.
His first wife was Caroline Lowe, and had a son Bob.
Second wife was Marilyn ....
Third wife was Shirley Ellen Maki. 

Bob Rieseberg emailed the following:
I was of the first marriage. My mother Caroline Lowe married Harry and they split when I was just a baby. Never knew him and my mothers brothers and sisters -my aunts and uncles never referred to him. In my case I was married to Elizabeth Ann Foote in 1947 who died in in1978. We had three sons. Eric is married to Carol A Salerno and they have one daughter Jennifer, a sophmore at UMASS. They live in Rockport Me. Eric is semi-retired but has his own hospital consulting business. He has his masters from Univ of Penn. My midle son Hunter is marries to Barbara Ellen Horn. He is the city manager of Hartford, Vt. Barbara is the program director for Plastic Surgery at Dartmouth Hitchock Hospital, Hanover, N.H. Hunter has a BS from Denever University and an MPA from the University of New Hampshire. My youngest son is Chrisitian. He is married to Robin Howard. The have one son Graham. Christian has his BA from the University of New Hampshire and a masters in sports management from Springfield College in Mass. He is currently the Executive Director of a large YMCA in Fort Wayne, Ind. Now as to me. I grew up in Washington DC,  graduated from American University and with an MBA from Harvard. I spent tenty-two years in the U.S. Navy and retired as a Captain. I then wen to work for W.R. Grace &Co. as VP of
steamship operations. I moved to N.H. in 1979 and ran the 2nd largest sheep ranch in the state. In 1995 I left the ranch and built a house on Lake Sunnapee N.H.. I guess you might say I am now retired but am involved in so many things that I have little time to retire. This is a start for you. 
Best Bob R.

ARTICLE

Seasports and the Shipping World, March 1969.
An extensive article by Charles S. Stevens on Rieseberg.

Harry E. Rieseberg was an adventurer. That he achieved much in his life is not to be denied, and if his books are embellished with fantasy, then so be it. Nobody instructed Harry to be a maritime archaeologist or literary genius. He had fun, and he wrote about his adventures, some perhaps that resided soley in his mind, but above all, his stories were a great read. Of the number of youngsters that were, as a result of his many books and magazine articles,  encourgaed to learn about the sea or indeed to take up diving, salavage and/or treasure hunting for pleasure or profit, we will never know. But whatever the statistics may be, Harry Rieseberg gave a great deal of pleasure to many people, young and old.