Viewed products
The story of what is regarded as the greatest...
1000000003260
New product
The story of what is regarded as the greatest achievement in the history of marine salvage.
By Gerald Bowman.
Hardback.
(Was £14.99, now £10)
Availability date:
The Man Who Bought a Navy: The Story of the World's Greatest Salvage Achievement at Scapa Flow
The story of what is regarded as the greatest achievement in the history of marine salvage.
By Gerald Bowman.
Hardback.
(Was £14.99, now £10)
Recipient :
* Required fields
or Cancel
Pieced together after much research and told for the first time in this biography is the astounding story of what is regarded as the greatest achievement in the history of marine salvage - the raising of the German fleet at Scapa Flow.
When the Germans sank their surrendered navy at Scapa Flow after the First World War, top salvage experts were agreed that the work of recovering the ships was a near-impossibility.
Engineer Ernest Cox was the one man who defied their prediction. In 1924 he decided to buy the scuttled fleet from the Admiralty, gambling his entire personal fortune on the colossal task of raising the German ships. Cox was a natural-born engineering genius, and though he had never before salvaged even a rowing boat, the fanatical energy and tireless concentration with which he worked during the next eight years achieved staggering results.
His methods were unorthodox. He lifted ships that were lying upside down, turned them the right way up, and pumped them dry. When this was impossible, he had patched clamped over every opening in the capsized hull and pumped compressed air in them until they rose to the surface.
Inevitably, there were disasters. Oil-vapor explosions occurred in which men were working over 60 feet below the surface; chains and heavy gear broke; re-floated ships sank suddenly when corroded bulkheads collapsed. Yet Cox not only weathered these hazards but also succeeded in raising six vessels in fourteen days, a record, and recovered the battleship Hindenberg, the biggest ship ever raised in history.
The story of the "Grand Scuttle" of the German High Seas Fleet in 1919. By...
The story of this remarkable place, weaving together history, eyewitness...
Landscapes of Scapa Flow War - Peace - Nature By Tom Muir and Scapa Flow...
The story of the ships of Scapa Flow, their sinking and their salvage, using...
Completely rewritten, updated and expanded edition of this classic dive...
The expanded 3rd Edition of the best selling guide to Scapa Flow. 100th...
Volume II: The War Years: To The Eve of Jutland 1914-1916. The acclaimed...
Volume IV: 1917: Year of Crisis. The acclaimed history of the Royal navy in...
This book follows the events of 21st June 1919 when the scuttling of more...
The story of the HMS Caroline at war from 1914-1917. By John Allison. Paperback.
The story in words and pictures of the wrecks dotted in and around Scapa...
'Orkney and Shetland in danger'. The adventure of Saint-Faust, who...
A Modern Photographic Quest to the Shipwrecks of an Imperial Naval Saga. In...
Volume III: Jutland And After: May To December 1916. The acclaimed history of...
The Daring Exploit of U-Boat U-47. In The Phantom of Scapa Flow, Alexandre...
Our Enduring Legacy 1919-2019. A5 paper booklet. By the Orkney Natural...
Commemorating the Battle of Jutland, the sinking of HMS Hampshire. the...
This book tells the dramatic story of how the Royal Navy transformed ordinary...