A History of the World in Twelve Shipwrecks

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From renowned underwater archaeologist David Gibbins comes an exciting and rich narrative of human history told through the archaeological discoveries of twelve shipwrecks across time.

The Viking warship of King Cnut the Great. Henry VIII’s the Mary Rose. Captain John Franklin’s doomed HMS Terror. The SS Gairsoppa, destroyed by a Nazi U-boat in the Atlantic during World War II.

Since we first set sail on the open sea, ships and their wrecks have been an inevitable part of human history. Archaeologists have made spectacular discoveries excavating these sunken ships, their protective underwater cocoon keeping evidence of past civilizations preserved. Now, for the first time, world renowned maritime archeologist David Gibbins ties together the stories of some of the most significant shipwrecks in time to form a single overarching narrative of world history.

A History of the World in Twelve Shipwrecks is not just the story of those ships, the people who sailed on them, and the cargo and treasure they carried, but also the story of the spread of people, religion, and ideas around the world; it is a story of colonialism, migration, and the indominable human spirit that continues today. From the glittering Bronze Age, to the world of Caesar’s Rome, through the era of the Vikings, to the exploration of the Arctic, Gibbins uses shipwrecks to tell all.

Drawing on decades of experience excavating shipwrecks around the world, Gibbins reveals the riches beneath the waves and shows us how the treasures found there can be a porthole to the past that tell a new story about the world and its underwater secrets.

Our Top Reviews

Reviewer: Francis O Walker
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Relics of the Deep
Review: This book describes 12 shipwrecks of vessels engaged in different combinations of trade, war, adventure and discovery spanning 4,000 years. And, rather than an lengthy account of one place over time, the author, David Gibbins, looks at time as a series of cross sections, showing how each wreck ties together different peoples, places and civilizations of one period, many in different stages of advancement. He is adept at combing historical records, including paintings, tapestries, lore and written documents, for detail that, together with the results of scientific tests, explains the design, origin and use of the ships that wrecked and the physical objects they carried. And for those who like a more personal approach, he also imaginatively reconstructs evidence-based scenarios of the lives of individuals involved before, after and during these disastrous voyages. Each chapter is engrossing and provides the reader unexpected insights into the past. This book is outstanding and highly recommended for history lovers, those contemplating a career in archeology, and any reader curious about our past and how we have come to understand it.

Reviewer: Andreas Stolcke
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: History resurfaced
Review: I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in history. David Gibbins takes the reader on a tour through the centuries, starting in the bronze age and ending up in World War 2. The concept of the book (and it’s a neat one) is that ship wrecks from various periods of history are used as jumping off points to lay out the political, cultural, and especially economical networks shaping a given period. This makes a lot of sense since ships are the technology that humanity has used to engage in migration, colonization, warfare, and, most of all, trade, establishing material and cultural links among distinct populations around the globe. This expansive, globalist outlook on history makes for a much more interesting and satisfying presentation of historical events, compared to one in which authors focus on particular events in particular places (like a single person, war or revolution). In that respect Gibbins’ rendition of world history is similar to, and equally engaging to read as, “A Splendid Exchange” by William Bernstein.Gibbins is an accomplished archeological diver, scholar and academic on the subject, and can draw the reader in with first-person accounts of visits to most of the shipwrecks and sites he describes. From there, he effortlessly draws back his lens to the historical context and events surrounding each wreck. He also establishes the temporal context of each period, pointing out the developments, sometimes spanning centuries leading up to, and resulting from, each moment in history. The presentation is vivid and engaging, often using the fates of individuals, as reflected in artifacts and documents, to bring an entire historical period to life. No doubt Gibbins’ experience as both an academic and a fiction writer serves him well here.The above was my review of the book on Netgalley, based on an advance electronic copy of the book.The reason I’m giving the book 4 and not 5 stars here is the following shortcomings, which I had pointed out in the Netgalley review, but which were not addressed in the final published version.The log entry from the German U-boat captain quoted in chapter 12 has several misspellings. It should read “dass nach Detonation viele Taschenlampen, insbesondere auf Bootsdeck und Seitendeck” (and there seems to be a verb missing, to the effect of “could be seen”). Almost every word in this passage is misspelled in a way that is not common or typical for German, so the errors must have been introduced in transcribing the passage, which speaks to a certain sloppiness in dealing with the historical material (failure to have it double-check by a native speaker).A far more significant shortcoming is the lack of any kind of maps, or photos of the ships, artifacts and portraits referenced in the book. The only illustrations provided are photographs documenting the author’s dives on the wrecks. That’s all well and good, but a narrative around maritime travel and trade would have been so much easier to appreciate with some low-resolution map sketches outlining the geography of the places involved (as well as the location of the wrecks). Likewise, much of the narrative talks about historical depictions of the ships and people involved — it’s a real pity that no reproductions of these were included in the photo plate section of the book.

Reviewer: Amazon destroyed the spine
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Amazon destroyed the spine!!
Review: The book itself is wonderful and full of really interesting information and photos, but Amazon delivered it to me completely damaged!! They won’t let me exchange the item without jumping through hoops so I unfortunately will be keeping this damaged book. I would advise to order this book elsewhere! (Again to clarify: I have no qualms with the book itself or the author, hence the 5 star review. My problem is with Amazon and how little care they showed in the delivery of this much anticipated book.)

Reviewer: David A. Gellatly
Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Why no maps and pictures of the ships
Review: This is a highly readable, well written book designed to whet the reader’s interest in underwater archeology, ships of all eras and the eras they inhabited. It has stimulated my interest in antiquity and desire to know more about the Bronze Age. However, it is almost fatally marred by the total absence of maps showing locations and trade routes and pictures/drawings of the various ships (two small pictures don’t count). We are left to our often blank imaginations in trying to picture the Mary Rose, the Uluburun wreck and even the SS Gariposa for which there must be numerous readily available pictures. The “crime” is compounded by the lack of any biliography which can serve as a guide for further research.

Reviewer: DBC
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: very Interesting
Review: A well written book detailing history that few Americans know anything about. Gibbens is a bit too detailed for my taste, but the book was well worth reading. Would love to hear him speak with slides / video

Reviewer: Vik & Deb Petzal
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Twelve shipwrecks opened the world
Review: David Gibbins delighted my curiosity about history in the context of various seafaring nations and contents within wrecked vessels thereof. Well documented and thoroughly investigated, each chapter provides a cross-section of life, events, plagues/disasters unfolding at the time. Tired of bobbing around the Tyrrhenian Sea off ancient Rome or the Aegean Sea between Greece and Turkey? Then skip ahead to the Viking discoveries throughout Scandinavia or the events of King Henry VIII’s doomed Mary Rose. Each chapter is complete unto itself and indeed leads us from days of Homer’s Odyssey to the sinking of SS Gairsoppa (1941) cargo ship during WW II. The book allows the reader to take history at one’s own pace and provides much to think about. What wonderous things will be discovered about our times in centuries from now?Deborah P.

Reviewer: goodorlucky
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: How details can be made interesting
Review: I am not usually a fan of page after page of details, but in this case the story of what was happening when each of these ships went down is compelling. Some of the assumptions about trade and travel in the months and years leading up to each wreck are just that, assumptions, but still an interesting read.

Reviewer: Rodger Kemp
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: An eye opener
Review: The ancient world was more sophisticated than I had imaginedThe were shipping products that had been ordered to specific sizes and shapes all over there known world

Reviewer: Amazon Customer
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Fantastic book – detailed, imaginatively put together, filled with rich history and excellent discursive writing. So many of these books are pushed by publishers in this recent trend but the contents are let down by poor writing that’s just dry, messy exposition. Not here! Author really knows how to spin a story, and seeing that he’s an established fiction writer, it really figures. Take note other non-fiction authors. A real pleasure to read, each chapter is independent so you can read as you please (shipwreck pot luck)! I really don’t think there’s a book like this around for maritime history, so pleased it came on my suggested list. Hoping the author does more non-fiction in the future.

Reviewer: Joanna Dyer
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Excellent read, well researched and short enough to not be a chore

Reviewer: Czarnykot
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: A thoroughly interesting book about diving on wrecks and their associated history. But the final two chapters concerning wrecks within the last 150 years are, for me, the most fascinating and almost unbelievable. For the most part a well written book. A good read I recommend.

Reviewer: Robert Evans
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Great overview using a novel way to link objects and trade through time. Well worth the effort and time.Fantastic

Reviewer: sue amit
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: This book is so good.This scuba-diver, ship wreck fan, heart in Atlantis, history lover adored it. Recommend to all.

Price effective as of Apr 06, 2025 05:30:59 UTC

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