The Man Who Bought A Navy: The Story Of The World's Greatest Salvage Achievement At Scapa Flow
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Edition: 2nd pr.,
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Wear and tear with damage
Pages: Yellowed
Condition remarks: price clipped dj. Binding remains tight. Clean copy.
At the close of the First World War, the sunken hulks of the German Imperial Fleet lay scattered across the murky depths of Scapa Flow — and one audacious man dared to claim them for himself. The Man Who Bought a Navy chronicles the remarkable true story of Ernest Cox, the scrap metal merchant who purchased the scuttled German fleet and embarked on what became the most ambitious and extraordinary salvage operation in maritime history. Gerald Bowman reconstructs this larger-than-life saga with meticulous detail, capturing the engineering ingenuity, financial recklessness, and sheer human determination required to raise dozens of massive warships from the seabed of an Orkney anchorage. Bowman's narrative is far more than an account of industrial endeavour — it is a study of obsession, post-war opportunism, and the unyielding spirit of a self-made man who refused to accept the impossible. Written with a vivid, journalistic authority, the book sits at the intersection of military history and human drama, illuminating a forgotten chapter of Britain's post-war story. For anyone captivated by tales of the sea, the ingenuity of mankind, or the peculiar afterlife of the Great War, this volume poses a tantalising question: what does it truly take to buy, and then conquer, a navy?
Author: Gerald Bowman
Format: Hardback
Published: 1965, George G. Harrap & Co. Ltd
Genre: Maritime history
Edition: 2nd pr.,
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Wear and tear with damage
Pages: Yellowed
Condition remarks: price clipped dj. Binding remains tight. Clean copy.
At the close of the First World War, the sunken hulks of the German Imperial Fleet lay scattered across the murky depths of Scapa Flow — and one audacious man dared to claim them for himself. The Man Who Bought a Navy chronicles the remarkable true story of Ernest Cox, the scrap metal merchant who purchased the scuttled German fleet and embarked on what became the most ambitious and extraordinary salvage operation in maritime history. Gerald Bowman reconstructs this larger-than-life saga with meticulous detail, capturing the engineering ingenuity, financial recklessness, and sheer human determination required to raise dozens of massive warships from the seabed of an Orkney anchorage. Bowman's narrative is far more than an account of industrial endeavour — it is a study of obsession, post-war opportunism, and the unyielding spirit of a self-made man who refused to accept the impossible. Written with a vivid, journalistic authority, the book sits at the intersection of military history and human drama, illuminating a forgotten chapter of Britain's post-war story. For anyone captivated by tales of the sea, the ingenuity of mankind, or the peculiar afterlife of the Great War, this volume poses a tantalising question: what does it truly take to buy, and then conquer, a navy?