The fascination of shipwrecks is in the tales they produce of treasure and tragedy. They also give us a unique window into our past, the rare opportunity to understand the mariners of days gone by and the ships in which they sailed. Inside you can: discover why shipwrecks are important resources, and why they have fascinated people for centuries; learn how shipwrecks happen, and see what wrecks look like on the ocean floor; learn what happens in the final minutes before a ship goes down; chart the changes in ships from the earliest vessels to the Medieval period; trace the development of the ship from Medieval trading vessels to the ships of exploration that crossed the Atlantic and Indian Oceans; trace the development of ships through the twentieth century, and discover how we can learn surprising facts from relatively modern shipwrecks. There are also timelines and maps, as well as inserts on famous divers such as Jacques Cousteau, Mel Fisher, and Bob Ballard, along with color photos, color maps, and much more.