Treasures of the Confederate Coast: The 'Real Rhett Butler' & Other Revelations

Rating:
Summary: A superb unveiling of the real Rhett & his hidden treasures.
Review: An absolutely must have book for armchair adventurers, shipwreck divers, treasure hunters, and Gone With The Wind fans. The obvious amount of research that has gone into this work is staggering. This is definitely the definitive book on Civil War wrecks of the Confederate Coast. But more than that, it is extremely well written and highly interesting. Perhaps the most fascinating part of this book is the first chapter, which details the authors research and discovery of the true identity of the real Rhett Butler. His evidence is overwhelming. There is no question he has proved the identity of the true Rhett, and in doing so he has revealed a wealth of never before told details, including why Margaret Mitchell lied and claimed Rhett was pure fiction. According to Spence, Rhett was actually based on Charlestonian George Trenholm, who was tall, brave, and handsome. Trenholm made todays equivalent of over one billion dollars in just four years of blockade running. Like his fictional counterpart, Trenholm was accused of making off with the gold of the Confederate Treasury, and he really did have a beautiful, fast, young widow visit him in jail. Most of the missing treasure remains hidden to this day. I actually felt like I was diving with him when I read the exciting story of his discovery of Trenholm's wrecked blockade runner Georgiana. As if that was not enough the book includes information on another 500 Civil War shipwrecks off the coast of North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. Although brief, each shipwreck account is complete in itself. You will also be surprised to learn the facts behind his exciting discovery of the tiny Hunley and his efforts to see that it is raised and preserved. The Hunley was the first submarine in the entire history of the world to sink an enemy ship. This unique 527 page book has over 100 photographs, drawings and maps. It is well indexed and perhaps the most thoroughly researched book I have ever seen and is thoroughly documented by well over 2,500 individually cited reference notes