1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910821343203321

Autore

Delgado James P

Titolo

Misadventures of a Civil War submarine : iron, guns, and pearls / / James P. Delgado

Pubbl/distr/stampa

College Station, Tex. : , : Texas A&M University Press, , 2012

ISBN

1-280-77240-9

9786613683175

1-60344-381-9

Edizione

[First edition.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (314 pages) : illustrations, maps

Collana

Ed Rachal Foundation nautical archaeology series

Disciplina

623.82/05

Soggetti

Engineers - United States

German Americans

Submersibles - History

Shipwrecks - Panama - Pearl Islands - History - 19th century

Pearl industry and trade - United States - History - 19th century

Pearl industry and trade - Panama - Pearl Islands - History - 19th century

United States History Civil War, 1861-1865 Naval operations Submarine

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Kleindeutschland -- Americans discover the world below -- Rivals beneath the river -- A submarine engineer at war -- The Pacific Pearl Company -- Panama -- Requiem -- Archaeological examination of Sub Marine Explorer -- Sub Marine Explorer's context, condition, and options -- Appendix 1: Anatomy of Sub Marine Explorer -- Appendix 2: W.W.W. Wood's report on Sub Marine Explorer -- Appendix 3: Inventory of the personal effects of Julius Kroehl, 1867.

Sommario/riassunto

In 2001, while vacationing on Panama's Pacific coast, maritime archaeologist James P. Delgado came upon the hulk of a mysterious iron vessel, revealed by the ebbing tides in a small cove at Isla San Telmo. Local inquiries proved inconclusive: the wreck was described as everything from a sunken Japanese ""suicide"" submarine from World War II to a poison-laden ""craft of death"" that was responsible for the ruin of the pearl beds, decades before. His professional interest fully



aroused, Delgado would go on to learn that the wreck was the remains of one of the first successful deep-diving submersibles, built in 1864 by Julius H. Kroehl, an innovator and entrepreneur who initially sought to develop his invention for military use during the Civil War. The craft's completion coming too late for that conflict, Kroehl subsequently convinced investors that it could be used to harvest pearls from the Pacific beds off Panama, in waters too deep for native pearl divers to reach. In Misadventures of a Civil War Submarine, Delgado chronicles the confluence of technological advancement, entrepreneurial aspiration, American capitalist ambition, and ignorance of the physiological effects of deep diving. As he details the layers of knowledge uncovered by his work both in archival sources and in the field excavation of Kroehl's ill-fated vessel, Delgado weaves the tangled threads of history into a compelling narrative. This finely crafted saga will fascinate and inform professional archaeologists and researchers, naval historians, students and aficionados of maritime exploration, and interested general readers.