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| CLASSIC DIVE BOOKS - Novels, fiction, and other underwater stories. | ||
| Please note: The books are listed for interest only, and not offered for sale. |
| INCLUDES ADOLESCENT and
CHILDREN'S TITLES.
It is not always that easy to determine if a book is a work of fiction or not. It should b made clear through the cover blurb if there is any doubt, and certainly books by Harry Reiseberg have a measure of fantasy to them, but ostemsibly they are non-fiction works. Of course, works by Jules Verne and Herman Melville are fiction - there is no mistaking this fact. But others ? Well, use your judgement. |
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ALL ABOUT UNDERSEA EXPLORATION
An Allabout book by Ruth Brindze. From eBay: Published in 1960, 145 pages and filled with vintage early 1960s photos. Fascinating underwater account for kids. Contents are: The World Beneath the Sea, Fathoming the Ocean's Secrets , Scientists at Sea Helmet, and Scuba Diving Descent by Bathysphere and Bathyscaphe, Exploration by Submarine, Treasure Hunters on the Bottom, Underwater Photography, The Search For Oil Beneath the Sea Wiring the Oceans Earth's Last Frontier. |
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COME AWAY, PEARLER
Colin Simpson. Angus and Roberston, Sydney & London, 1952. Hardcover, dustjacket, 248 pages. From the fly: Here is a novel from the author of that best-seller in another field, Adam in Ochre. Its action and romance find an uusual and exciting setting in the pearling life of tropical Australia in the great days of the nineties. The scene moves from Thursday Island across the Arafura Sea to the .. tide-rips and hurricanes that beset the luggermen of Broome and King Sound. It is the story of Ty Calvert, the young pearl-buyer from Paris who becomes a diver. He contends with the violence of men and of nature, and trespasses not only in the fantastic world beneath the Coral Sea but, in the lives of two beautiful women - Leda Haslingden, daughter of a Brisbane surgeon, and Clover, the half- caste Balinese. Colin Simpson knows the pearling ports at first hand, and vividly portrays their strange and highly-coloured mixture of humanity. Equally real is the life at sea and under the sea, with its perils and fascinations; and the hurricane that overtakes Ty's lugger will blow the reader's breath away. -- I am sure th book is beter written thn the fly blurb. [ps] |
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DIAMOND HEAD DIVER
Steve Lomas. published by Ives Washburn, Inc. 1963. Hardcover in durable pictorial cover, 161pp. Probably best for ages 12-15 depending on reading ability. A scuba diving adventure story set in Hawaii. |
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IN AUSTRALIA TREASURE IS NOT FOR THE FINDER Allan
Robinson.
Self published, in 1980. ISBN 0-9594957-0-3 Hardcover, oblong format. No dustjacket. Mono drawings, several colour photographs and drawings, newspaper article reprints. 140 pages, two column text. It's not structly a children's book, but it is a lod of fiction even though that was not the author's intention. In fact I would not recommend any child, nor indeed an adult, to read it. Robinson claimed to have found the Dutch East Indiaman Vergulde Draeck when actually it was first discovered in 1963 by a sixteen-year-old lad, Graeme Henderson, later Director of the Maritime Archaeology Department of the Western Australian Museum. Robinson lay claim to the thousands of dollars worth of coins found on the wreck, resulting in a long and bitter battle with the WA Government though the courts. The discovery also made the author a self-acclaimed mritime historian who claims that the Egyptians were the first to colonise Australia, having rowed across the Indian Ocean in triremes. He was accused of conterfieting coins, and assault, and ended up in prison where he hung himself. The book covers the authors bitter struggles with the government at a time when the Historic Shipwreck Act was being introduced. It really is a sad story all round, but this book is really an absolute load of crap, and will no doubt become a classic just for this reason. [ps] |
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LOG OF THE FLYING FISH
Harry Collingwood. Printed by Blackie & Son, London, early 20th century. From eBay: "Great picture of a diver on the front cover.A ripping yarn." No idea what this is about, nor if it contains any relevance to diving. |
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SEA GOLD
The Story Of A Boy Who Masters Deep Sea Diving. Hugh McAlister. Hardcover, 251 pages. Published in 1931 by Saalfield Publishing Co. Inc |
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SECRET SEA
"Close-hauled adventure in a search for sunken gold." by Robb White Copyright: 1951, Printed: 1955, Published by: Pocketbook Jr. Paperback. No idea what this is all about. Probably fiction. 24 July 2007. Following information kindly posted by Scott Mayeda, USA (thankyou Scott): Secret Sea is a good baby boomer teen book about a wounded WW II Navy officer who is forced out of the Navy having to go treasure hunting to support his kid brothers hospital bills. He sets out with a young warf rat as his partner, has a sinister German (thinly veiled former Nazi) following him to try and steal the treasure, battle with an octopus in the wreck, and comes home with the treasure so his brother can get the medical treatment he needs. |
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SKINDIVING. Start Here if You Want
to Go Skin-Diving.
Peter Little and David English. Penguin Books, Middlesex England, 1981. Paperback, 36 pages. ISBN (Australian edition) 0 14 031509 8. A delightful book for children in the Puffin Adventure Series, profusely illustrated with colour drawings throughout. When Penguin decided to release the book in Australia, they most sensibly contacted the Scuba Divers Federation of Australia to have it ratified for Australian consitions. Relevant sections of the book were re-written by Peter Stone, then Administration Manager of the SDFA. This is credited on the Australian edition. [ps] |
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TEN FATHOMS DEEP
Arthur Calderall. Ebay description: A lad of seventeen joins his father, a tug master, at Singapore, having first worked in England to be able to help him in his job. He finds himself almost at once involved in a mysterious plot directed against a man who had escaped from a sinking ship, and so become a vital witness against the gang who sunk her. Young Jack takes his father's powerful tug to sea... and this is the story of his thrilling and dangerous adventure against the gang, a battle of wits and courage and ingenuity in the Far Eastern waters. |
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THE LOG FROM THE SEA OF CORTEZ
John Steinbeck. 'The narrative portion of the book Sea of Cortez with a profile about Ed Ricketts'. First published in Great Britain in 1958 by William Heinemann Ltd, London. Copyright indication give the impression tht it was previously published in 1941 and 1951, no doubt in the USA. Hardcover, dust jacket, 282 pages. Havn't read it - no idea what its all about, but if its Steinbeck, its got to be good. If you have read it, perhaps you would like top contact me with a synopsis. |
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THE IRON DOCTOR
Agnes Danforth Hewes Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston,1940 Hard cover. 234 pages. This story of deep water diving, with illustrations, of a young diver and his adventures while working on the foundations of the great San Francisco Bridge. Not sure if this is a fictional ‘story' or a factual account of diving whilst the bridge was being constructed. 24 July 2007 - this information kindly posted by Scott Mayeda in the USA (thankyou Scott): Just FYI, The Iron Doctor by Hewes is based on true events of Master Diver Bill Reed building the San Francisco bay bridge. There is some information on line under his name, but the best I found is: www.newbaybridge.org/history/from_high_steel.html |
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THE PEARLING MASTER
Tom Ronan. Cassell, London, 1958. Hardcover, dustjacket, 318 pages. A tale of pearling set in north-west Australia. |
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THE SPONGE PIRATES AND OTHER FLORIDA
KEY STORIES
Jack Stark. A Hopkins Publication, 1956 Appears ot be softcover, 86 pp., size 6 x 9.5 inches. From eBay blurb: In 1948, Arthur Mc Kee, Jr., a professional deep sea diver, located the scant remains of a sunken ship off the Florida reefs. In searching through the rubble, among the ancient cannons and ballast, Mc Kee found a number of silver coins each dated 1732. He found the cannons and cannon balls were marked with the Spanish insignia.This rare edition was published in 1956 and probably has less than 500 copies published. This edition has two pages titled "Treasure Diver", and a full page photo of Art Mc Kee [rigged in full hard~hat diving gear and effortlessly clutching a 75lb. bar of silver which he recovered from the wreck of an ancient Spanish Galleon sunk on a reef ‘East of Key Largo'. A book that is possibly based on historial fiction and is adolescent for the most part but illustrates backgroud history and artifacts of the 1733 Fleet wrecks. "..a legend...a book...and a man that brought treasure to the surface when Mel Fisher was still feeding chickens!". A very rare book that is seldon offered for the serious collector. |
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THE UNDERWATER MAN
Douglas V. Duff. Blackie & Son Ltd., London and Glasgow. No date but 1950s I'd suggest. Hardcover, dustjacket, 240 pages. A boys-own adventure yarn. From the blurb: Bob Fowler is tile senior cadet of the 12,ooo-ton cargo-liner, Forsby Manor, and by sheer chance discovers an attempt to sabotage his ship while she is loading 'cargo in London Docks. He foils the frogman who is trying to fix "limpet" charges to the bilge-keels and, afterwards, is used by Scotland Yard and M.I.S to act as bait in their trap, which they have set to catch the members of the sinister organization spected of many such attempts. Bob passes through many dangers, both in Dorset and on Dartmoor, but his greatest test comes after Forsby Manor sails, when it quickly becomes evident that the head of the organization, already smashed by Bob's earlier efforts, is aboard and eager for revenge. The story ends with a thrilling episode in the Eastern Mediterranean .p.nd Forsby Manor sails on with her precious cargo, delivered from the evil which had overshadowed her. |
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TREASURE AND TREASURE HUNTERS.
Ed. Richard Armstrong. Hamish Hamilton Ltd, London. 1969. Hardcover, dustjacket. 206 pages, no illustrations. A collection of ewssays and short stories on "treasure", with respecte authors such as Allan Poe, H.H.Wells, Arthur C.Clarke, Jack London, Victor Hugo, Robert Louis Stevenson, Christopher Lloyd, Sir Robert H.Davis, Robert Charroux, Richard Armtrong, W.H.Prescott, Edmund Burke. A delightful read. [ps] |
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TREASURES IN THE DEPTHS
Robert Uhl. Prentice-Hall Inc. New York, 1955. Library of Congress 55-7322. Indicates first published 1957 by Olbourne Book Co, London. (Not so, should read fist published in Great Britain 1957). (Image) Hardcover, dustjacket, 216 pages, mono photographs. The fact that this book has actual photographs of divers in standard dress, and locations where treasure is sought, lends some credibility to the 'non-fiction' status of the book. The book tells of treasure located and recovered by a young diver from the Dona Isabella, written in the style of a novel, but probably based on fact. The photographs are factual and include several of the famous diver (and author) E.R.Cros, late of the Sparling School of Deep-Sea Diving. The book is published in the World Adventure Library series, so perhaps the author was directed to use a third-party novel approach. The author is a non-fiction writer - see The Treasures in the Depths. [ps] |
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UNDERWATER ADVENTURE
Willard Price Published by The Children's book Club, London. No date; probably late 1940s, pre Pacific War. Hardcover, dustjacket, 204 pages. This is definatley fiction, but how much is based on fact. The search is on for a Spanish galleon lying for hundreds of years on the seabed among the Japanese islands of the Pacific. (That puts it in the Micronesia area). "Their expedition is well equipped,a nd the boys have the opportunity of testing the various types ofg apparatus perfected by such pioneers as William Beebe and Captain Cousteau, including the aqualung and the underwater sled." The author by the way is well known for his non-fiction books on Japan and the Pacific. |
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UNDERWATER EXPLORATION
A Ladybird Book, Series: 601, hardback. First published in 1967. Text by Richard Bowood with illustrations by B. Knight. Published by Wills & Hepworth Ltd., Loughborough. The illustrations are in colour. Forty pages of drawings of divers and equipment, tracing the history of underwater exploration. Written for children. |
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UP FROM THE SEA. The Story
of Salvage Operations.
Nora Stirling and illustrated by Herman Vestal. Adolescent book. Copyright of 1963. Hardcover, dust jacket. "A lost ship is raised slowly through the water which, for days or many years, buried her. Though she may have sunk in a few minutes' time, teams of divers and technicians have worked months to welcome her up from the sea. One hundred and fifty years ago, when the diving helmet was invented, men were enabled for the first time to repair damaged ship hulls and retrieve lost treasure from the deep. Since the early days of diving, men have gradually learned more about underwater salvage work and have devised many ingenious methods of saving vessels, cargoes, and lives. Up From the Sea tells the story of 400 years of salvage operations, and illustrates the tremendous progress men have made in this field. Factual accounts of salvaging the Maine, the Mary Rose, a sailing ship in the fleet of Henry VIII of England, the submarine Squalus trapped under 243 feet of stormy water, the destruction at Pearl Harbor and the capsized liner Normandie are but a few of the chapters of this deep-sea adventure in which no two projects are alike--and all are exciting." (Ebay description) |
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YOUNG EXPLORERS OF THE
SEA AND BEYOND.
Theo . Brown. World Life Books, Newport Beach, NSW, Australia. 1984. ISBN 0 949312 00 2. Hardcover, dustjacket, 226 pages, colour prints. Documents the true adventures in exotic lands and the exploration of the oceans, as the Author and his youthful assistants research along Australia's Great Barrier Reef, in Northern Scotland, and in Morocco and Egypt. Also examins the author's investigations with young people and psychic phenomenon through thge aid of hyynosis and how for the first time in history it has been possible to move a person forward though time to witness future events under controlled research conditions. That came from the blurb on th back of the book. I am not sure about this Theo Brown, hence the book is listed here in the section for adolescents - and fiction. |
