Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea

Rating:
Summary: Phenomenal!
Review: This is a truly wonderful adventure, a great read, and extremely well written. What may seem like a simple treasure hunt is really a magnificent journey of invention, dedication, and inspiration. Gives the reader a glimpse into the minds of those thinking outside the box including the inherent professional and personal risks. What a story, rich history, modern invention, rivalry, court shenanigans, secrecy, drive, and a lot of gold. Highly recommended to all, but especially lovers of true adventure.

Rating:
Summary: Solid Gold
Review: Undersea adventure, good old American 'know how' and undaunted spirit are three things that come to mind when trying to explain what this book is about. I have read quite a few books on undersea treasure hunting and often found the stories to be filled with excentric swashbuckling modern day pirates in search of gold based upon shear luck and happenstance. Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea, much to it's credit is a well constructed re-telling of the 1857 tragic sinking of a passenger sidewheeler and the modern day efforts of a dedicated team of scientists, engineers and researchers to categorically succeed in deep water exploration and retrieval on a wreck 8000 feet below sea level. The author is to be especially commended for his solid and compassionate portrayal of the entire cast of characters from the original captain, crew and passengers through the modern day entrepreneurs who worked through numerous adversities to achieve success where few if any experts thought such efforts could succeed. Not only does the exploration succeed handsomely but so too does this book in bringing the reader into a suspensefully well told tale. I recommend this book to readers who enjoyed The Perfect Storm. We need to see a lot more of Gary Kinder's work if this is what he's capable of doing.