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Pre-order. Available 26 Feb 2026
£135.00 RRP £150.00 Website price saving £15.00 (10%)

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Description

“Dramatic and emotive images” The Sunday Times

“To see the pictures reproduced so beautifully took me by surprise” – BBC Radio

An exceptional photographic collection of the shipwrecks of Britain's South Coast: one of the most lethal places in the world during the age of sail.

In the days of sailing ships, the waters off Britain's south-western coast were among the most treacherous in the world with tidal currents, submerged rocks, storms and murky depths. Thousands of ships were lost there over the centuries.

From Cornwall and the remote Isles of Scilly, four generations of the Gibson family documented these shipwrecks in photographs, creating a unique archive of an era when seafaring meant risking one's life.

This magnificent book is the largest ever created on the outstanding collection of pictures of the Gibson Family, with almost 100 exceptional images presented as never before alongside text by Carl Douglas Björn Hagberg. The result is a work that conveys mankind's struggle against the elements - and the extraordinary efforts to save lives.

This book is published in co-operation with the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, that holds the unique Gibson collection.

Product details

Published 26 Feb 2026
Format Hardback
Edition 1st
Extent 184
ISBN 9789171265685
Imprint Adlard Ocean
Dimensions 390 x 545 mm
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

Author

Carl Douglas

Carl Douglas is one of the most experienced marine…

Author

Bjorn Hagberg

Björn Hagberg is a marine archaeologist, researche…

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