A double narrative of adventure at sea, told by the world's great explorer of the ocean's mysteries. Jacque-Yves Cousteau (1910-1997) describes his own expedition to the famous Silver Bank, a coral reef in the Caribbean, where the crew of the Calypso searched a centuries-old shipwreck for the secrets of its past and the fortune in silver and gold it might still contain. Persistence, and the latest techniques in marine archaeology enabled them to unearth the ship's remnants, almost completely concealed by the myriad life forms of tropical waters. Into the account of these discoveries, Cousteau weaves the tales of men whose traces he is following: the pirates, privateers and royal admirals who sailed the Spanish Main, depending on greed, bravado, courage and charisma to bring them success. Here is all the fascination of these dual quests, captured in the absorbing text and magnificent photographs of a book rich in the excitement of discovery and the lore of a uniquely colorful chapter in the history of seamanship. Philippe Victor Diolé (1908 - 1977) was a French author and undersea explorer. With Jacques-Yves Cousteau he co-authored 7 of the 8-volume series The Undersea Discoveries of Jacques-Yves Cousteau (1970-1975) and co-authored The Whale (1987), which was released posthumously. - from Amzon