Shorter Pieces

Sea History 40 (1986): 10–11.

Operation Sail. Go out of the fraternity of the sea and speak these words and you will, more often than not, get a flicker of recognition, a remembrance of something heard about or better, of something experienced, a day lived in the full expectation and in the presence of something that was more than memorable . . . a gathering of the “greatest sailing ships on earth marching out of the mists to the south,” as one captain noted in his log while preparing to weigh anchor and take up position in the parade of ships on July 4, 1976.More

Sea History 39 (1986): 8–10.

For as long as ships have been sinking, people have been going after them. In the Mediterranean, where there is an extensive sponge fishing industry, sponge divers have for centuries salvaged bits of wrecks for their own purposes, and occasionally on behalf of an owner. Even early on, when valuable cargo was known to be aboard a wreck, attempts were made to raise it for profit. But until the advent of sophisticated technology and buyers’ markets, the mercenary exploitation of antiquities was minimal.More