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REVIEW BY LISA BRIGGS
It has been 15 years since A History of the World in 100 Objects by Neil MacGregor was first published and introduced readers to a novel method of breaking down world history into bite-sized, easily digestible pieces. Since then, many others have used this template: world history has been examined through the lens of 100 plants, 50 failures, 47 borders, and six plagues, to name a few. In A History of the World in Twelve Shipwrecks, David Gibbins breathes life back into what has now become a literary trope. At once a superbly written world history, adventure/travelogue, and, in many ways, a personal memoir of his vast experience as a world-leading maritime archaeologist, this book is fascinating and informative in equal measure. If you are going to read one book about underwater archaeology or maritime history, make it this one.
It is the effortless shift from fine-grained detail to the bigger picture that sets this volume apart. The chapter ‘Royal Cargoes at the Time of Tutankhamun’ describes the Late Bronze Age Uluburun shipwreck in Turkey, but also cleverly uses this excavation to explain how maritime archaeology developed more generally. The early 3rd-century AD wreck at Plemmirio, Sicily, with its cargo of amphorae sets the scene for a journey through the history of the Roman Empire, from the conquests of Caesar to the importance of trade with North Africa, to the grain dole in the city of Rome. The Mary Rose excavation opens a window onto Henry VIII’s break with the Catholic Church, as well as offering insight into the importance of live music on board ships as a means of raising morale during long voyages.
Moving through time, more recent wrecks allow for ever greater detail, given the ample archival material from which Gibbins was able to draw. The names of crew members from historical shipwrecks are known from extant muster roles, and for Second World War shipwrecks Gibbins has included black-and-white photographs of ships and crew, bringing the ghostly images from their underwater remains into sharp focus.
Gibbins’ success in creating a volume that is both readable and riveting is down to some key factors. First, his knowledge of the subject matter is extensive, with him having personally excavated, visited, or thoroughly researched every shipwreck detailed here. Second, it is rare to find such a fluid writing style among senior academics. The fact that Gibbins can buck this trend may be due to his secondary career as a novelist and author of the fictional Jack Howard series. I must admit that, before reading A History of the World in Twelve Shipwrecks and seeing a list of his novels on the overleaf, I was unaware he had written fiction and only knew him as a leading maritime archaeologist. His talent for setting the scene, creating suspense, and weaving together the many strands of a story is in full effect in this non-fiction work. And what better yarn is there to spin than the true story of a shipwreck?
A History of the World in Twelve Shipwrecks
David Gibbins
Weidenfeld & Nicolson, £10.99
ISBN 978-1399603508
