Deep-Sea Detectives

Book excerpt: An aging American coal carrier goes down in a winter storm off the Virginia coast. Only three of the crew of 34 survive; the rest perish in the ice-cold water. Was the dead captain at fault? Did the mate neglect safety precautions? Or did a penny-pinching management skimp on necessary maintenance? The giant car-and-passenger ferry Estonia sinks in a gale in the Baltic Sea, carrying over 800 passengers to their deaths and causing national scandals in three countries. Was she sunk by a terrorist bomb? By the CIA or the Russian secret police? Was the Russian mob involved? Was she carrying military secrets, or smuggled narcotics? A massive government cover-up is suspected. What was the truth? Answers to these and other fascinating cases can be found in Deep-Sea Detectives: Maritime Mysteries and Forensic Science. Author Peter R. Limburg explores the advances that make it possible to bring back evidence from as deep as 20,000 feet below the sea. "It's Sherlock Holmes with bubbles! Actually, Holmes had it easy; his mysteries weren't submerged beneath miles of water. These fascinating tales of scoundrels and submersibles make for terrific adventures in the little-known world of undersea forensics." -Dennis Meredith, Director of Research Communications, Duke University