BOOKREVIEWS
Recommended Reads
Revisiting the Mona ’ s Queen III By Dr Michelle Haywood
PUBLISHED BY : Syson House Publishing ISBN 173843150-9 PRICE : £ 15 ( soft cover )
The Isle of Man Steam Packet Company is the world ’ s oldest passenger shipping organisation , founded in 1832 . Company ships were pressed into service for the Second World War , with 10 requisitioned and adapted . Three Manx vessels were lost in the space of 24 hours during the Dunkirk evacuation in May 1940 , and the Island never forgot the loss of life .
This book , authored by erstwhile SCUBA columnist Michelle Heywood , is an exercise in exhaustive historical enquiry , allied with 21st Century diving . It was prompted by the recovery and restoration of the starboard anchor from Mona ’ s Queen , one of the Steam Packet ships that sank during the chaos of the evacuation .
By focussing on one particular ship , the format allows for painstaking detail , such as reproducing parts of the specification book ; we are literally getting to see the ship ’ s nuts and bolts . There ’ s loads of archival material , photographs of the boiler and engine rooms , the plush private cabins and stills from its appearance in the 1935 George Formby film , No Limit . She was a handsome ship , beautifully appointed with elegant bows and a high forecastle .
Mona ’ s Queen was sunk during Operation Dynamo on 29 May 1940 , having already transferred 1,420 troops ( possibly a great many more ) under fire from the German shore battery . Ordered back to Dunkirk with water supplies for the troops , a sea mine detonated midships , instantly destroying the engine room . The ship sank in less than two minutes .
As befits an Isle of Man publication , there ’ s a section for every serving crewman on board the Mona Queen , illustrated with photographs from the Steam Packet and locals .
Chapter 10 brings the story to a conclusion on the 80th anniversary of the sinking ( 2018 ), when a team of 10 divers led by Dr Ben Houghton visited the wreck to lay a memorial plaque and document the site . The photographs were taken in poor visibility , but they serve as testament to the
determination of the Manx divers in paying tribute to the crew , 24 of whom were lost .
Michelle brings a traumatising historical event to life , at the same time paying tribute to the ship and her crew . It ’ s essential reading for those with an interest in the Dunkirk evacuations , and also for anyone with connections to the Isle of Man . Simon Rogerson
It ’ s a strange irony that maritime archaeology can be a rather dry subject . Every wreck has a story , and every story has a wider context , yet most of us have dived on a jumble of rusting steel without giving those two factors much thought . Furthermore , history and archaeology can sometimes be uneasy bedfellows , with each claiming that they underpin the other . But it doesn ’ t have to be that way . David Gibbins is doubly qualified to sort this all out . As a Cambridge-trained underwater archaeologist , his experience and knowledge of the wrecks in question is unparalleled . But having sold over 2 million copies of his historical novels , he is also a master storyteller . You might wonder , as I did , which 12 wrecks could possibly encompass
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A History of The World in Twelve Shipwrecks By David Gibbins
ISBN : 978-1399603485 PRICE : £ 19.80 ( hardcover ) over 5,000 years of history ? But as Dr Gibbins points out , this is ‘ A ’ history , not ‘ The ’ history . He has a connection with each of the wrecks chosen , having dived many of them and the other names associated with them are astonishing . There is jewellery directly linked to Tutankhamun . Aristotle , Pericles , Cleopatra and Septimius Severus all have a part to play in this sweeping tale of world events . From the flat-pack churches of Justinian to the treasure-laden wrecks of Tang dynasty China , the stories of the wrecks are perfect illustrations of history they represent .
From the Norse ship of King Cnut to the largely forgotten Santo Cristo di Castello in Cornwall , which was carrying paintings by Rembrandt , the stories tell of empires rising and falling , trade and war . Ships of discovery feature too as the Victorian drive to leave nowhere unexplored spelled tragedy for the crew of HMS Terror .
The book begins in prehistory with the Dover boat and concludes in the Second World War with the SS Gairsoppa , a wreck with a particularly personal connection for the author .
To make history and archaeology read like a thriller while being factually accurate is a rare skill indeed , and I have never seen it done better . If you have an interest in history or shipwrecks , this book belongs on your shelf . Nick Lyon