Pirate Hunters by Robert Kurson Published by Random House Publishing Group on March 1st 2016
Genres: History, Caribbean & West Indies, General, Expeditions & Discoveries, Sports & Recreation, Scuba & Snorkeling
Pages: 304
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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY CHICAGO TRIBUNE * A thrilling adventure of danger and deep-sea diving, historic mystery and suspense, by the author of Shadow Divers
Finding and identifying a pirate ship is the hardest thing to do under the sea. But two men--John Chatterton and John Mattera--are willing to risk everything to find the Golden Fleece, the ship of the infamous pirate Joseph Bannister. At large during the Golden Age of Piracy in the seventeenth century, Bannister should have been immortalized in the lore of the sea--his exploits more notorious than Blackbeard's, more daring than Kidd's. But his story, and his ship, have been lost to time. If Chatterton and Mattera succeed, they will make history--it will be just the second time ever that a pirate ship has been discovered and positively identified. Soon, however, they realize that cutting-edge technology and a willingness to lose everything aren't enough to track down Bannister's ship. They must travel the globe in search of historic documents and accounts of the great pirate's exploits, face down dangerous rivals, battle the tides of nations and governments and experts. But it's only when they learn to think and act like pirates--like Bannister--that they become able to go where no pirate hunters have gone before.
Fast-paced and filled with suspense, fascinating characters, history, and adventure, Pirate Hunters is an unputdownable story that goes deep to discover truths and souls long believed lost.
Praise for Pirate Hunters "You won't want to put [it] down."--Los Angeles Times
"An exceptional adventure . . . Highly recommended to readers who delight in adventure, suspense, and the thrill of discovering history at their fingertips."--Library Journal (starred review)
"A terrific read . . . The book gallops along at a blistering pace, shifting us deftly between the seventeenth century and the present day."--Diver
"Nonfiction with the trademarks of a novel: the plots and subplots, the tension and suspense . . . [Kurson has] found gold."--The Dallas Morning News
"Rollicking . . . a fascinating [story] about the world of pirates, piracy, and priceless treasures."--The Boston Globe
"[Kurson's] narration is just as engrossing as the subject."--The Christian Science Monitor
"A wild ride [and an] extraordinary adventure . . . Kurson's own enthusiasm, combined with his copious research and an eye for detail, makes for one of the most mind-blowing pirate stories of recent memory, one that even the staunchest landlubber will have a hard time putting down."--Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"The two contemporary pirate-ship seekers of Mr. Kurson's narrative are as daring, intrepid, tough and talented as Blood and Sparrow--and Bannister. . . . As depicted by the author, they are real-life Hemingway heroes."--The Wall Street Journal
"[Kurson] takes his knowledge of the underwater world and applies it to the 'Golden Age of Piracy' . . . thrillingly detailing the highs and lows of chasing not just gold and silver but also history."--Booklist
"A great thriller full of tough guys and long odds . . . and: It's all true."--Lee Child
From the Hardcover edition.
I had such high hopes for this book. After stumbling across it on Audible, I was uber eager to dig into it. But almost from the very beginning, it was dense, hard to read and slow. By reading a bit at a time over the course of a few weeks, I did manage to hit the 30% mark on my Kindle before finally deciding that it wasn’t worth the torture to continue forcing myself to work through this book.
I bought it because I was under the impression that it was going to be an exciting book about pirate adventures and treasure and booty. It is really a blow-by-blow account about a search for a very lucrative, lost pirate ship. If that still sounds exciting to you, let me elaborate. Searching for a pirate ship is a very tedious job. How do I know this? Because I read the first fourth of this book which talks about the equipment, how much the machines cost, how they work, what they are used for, and how you read the results of those processes.
I definitely wasn’t planning on learning how to find sunken ships or treasure when I bought this. It is probable that maybe I was duped by the synopsis. But I reread that too just to prove to myself that I wasn’t crazy for expecting something else from this book. But the description definitely sells this not-so-novel as some sort of Pirates of the Caribbean story.
Again, this is not at all what I was hoping for and I will continue my search for a pirate story that is equally as informative as it is entertaining.
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