Dragon Sea: A Historical Mystery. Buried Treasure. An Adventure Beneath the Waves [Paperback]

I just LOVED this book! Better people than I have reviewed it already on the USA Amazon site so I've compiled the USA reviews here. Congratulations to Mr Pope for a book of depth and integrity.

REVIEWS FROM AMAZON.COM:

Rated: **** (4/5 stars) - Dragon Sea - Review by P. Suwanwatana "Pris" (New York) - July 23, 2007 - It is a rare writer that can document without dryness, dramatize without histrionics. Frank Pope has managed to span the gap. Dragon Sea provides both an intellectual discussion of marine archeology and artifact without getting bogged down in academic quicksand. He also provides enough on-scene sweat and nerves to keep the reader wondering what's around the next corner from beginning to end. It is a thoroughly enjoyable book and a wealth of information for diving and archeological punters like myself. I had always wondered about the DB29 disaster. Mr. Pope opened a window on it for me without veering off topic.

Rated: ***** (5/5 stars) - A book like this should have been written earlier - Review by PA1120 - April 23, 2007 - I thank Frank Pope for writing such a powerful book on the tragic fate of the Hoi An Hoard. Judging from the dearth of book on this important archaeological discovery and the fascinating aspects of Vietnamese ceramics, the book is indeed very timely and does some justice those treasures. I picked up this book by accident and was riveted for the whole afternoon, until the very last sentence. Pope had a unique perspective on the whole project, and the book has a great balance between more action-based narrative and probing thoughts on the dilemma of money vs. knowledge, as the reader is drawn into the tumultuous months in the sea during the excavations. I just hope that everyone reading this will appreciate such discovery, and also the importance of preserving the treasures of humankind varied past.

Rated: ***** (5/5 stars) - A top pick for a wide range of collections - Review by Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - April 12, 2007 - DRAGON SEA: A TRUE TALE OF TREASURE, ARCHAEOLOGY, AND GREED OFF THE COAST OF VIETNAM comes from an archaeologist dubbed the 'Indiana Jones of the Deep' by popular TV, who teamed up with a financier to salvage sunken treasure in Vietnam's Dragon Sea. No small venture, this required a fleet of ships and a crew of 160: their efforts would not only result in success but would change thinking about Vietnamese arts. Readers needn't be archaeology students to appreciate this: epic action and adventure reads with the drama of fiction but includes all facts - including insights on Vietnamese culture and arts - making it a top pick for a wide range of collections.

Rated ***** (5/5 stars) - A Real Page Turner - Review by SeldomSeenSmith - March 8, 2007 - Some years ago, I happened on several Ebay auctions of blue and white covered jars and bowls which were part of the Hoi An Hoard. The description said they were 500 years old and had been recovered from the bottom of the South China Sea. I did some quick Internet reading on the Hoi An Hoard and my interest was sparked. I bought several lots of the beautiful pottery which had rested on the sea floor since before Columbus came to the New World. (From reading Dragon Sea I now know that they are pieces of lesser interest and beauty!) I recently read that a book had been written about the salvage operation. I quickly ordered Dragon Sea. I read it just as quickly. The story of the Hoi An Hoard is a well written, fascinating tale full of bad guys, good guys and really over worked guys. It is the tale of fortunes won and fortunes lost by gambling on the sea and its hidden treasures. Author Frank Pope, who was actually involved in the Hoi An operation, weaves a quick moving story with wonderful characters. The best part is that those characters are real people -- each with an agenda of his own. The book is filled with wonderful detail -- from the spraying of the beer girls to the skin conditions of the saturation divers who worked for more than a month at incredible depths. But Pope's very best descriptions are of being caught at sea when the Dragon Strikes and the crew and barge are caught in the teeth of a major typhoon. You feel as if you are really there -- and are glad you're not. Pope teaches about sunken treasure, saturation diving,archeology and the politics of academia with ease. I no more than put the book down than my husband snatched it up. He read deep into last night and awoke this morning with his glasses still perched on the end of his nose. Two thumbs up from our household! P.S. I treasure my 500 year old jars from the bottom of the South China Sea even more now that I know the amazing story of suffering, intrigue and greed which brought them to me

Rated; ***** (5/5 stars) - A Diving Adventure and It's All True - Review by John Matlock "Gunny" (Winnemucca, NV - Feb 21, 2007 - As best I can tell, this is Frank Pope's first book. And as best I can tell, he is likely to become known as Clive Cussler's heir. He works (in real life) for MARE (Maritime Archeological Research and Excavation) organization. Cussler's characters, of course, work for the mythical NUMA. On one of Pope's projects he worked on recovering Chiness porcelain in an excavation off the coast of Vietnam. This book reads like a Cussler/Dirk Pitt adventure. But it has a real advantage, it's all true. This book describes a real project. This was a huge project, saturation diving, a crew of 160 and a small fleet of ships. It was a project requiring the training of the divers to work to architectural rules of recording findings and being extremely careful with the delicate porcelain. And in the latter third of the book, the old argument of science vs. money comes up. Mr. Pope holds off describing the result, just like in a spy story where the bad guys are coming on fast.

Rated: ***** (5/5 stars) - Dragon Sea - Review by magnus Dennis "magnus Dennis" (london, uk) - Feb 16, 2007 - a great read i could not put it down, by the end i almost felt as though i had been there. highly recommended

Rated: **** (4/5 stars) - When Human Nature and Mother Nature Conspire - Review by Carl Lundblad (Southwest, USA) - Feb 15, 2007 - Dragon Sea was recommended and sent to me by a dear college friend who happens to know the author and the main character of the book, Mensun Bound the marine archaelogist. It is a fascinating glimpse into the world of marine archaelogy and the quest for historical and cultural knowledge that the sea only begrudgingly relinquishes. The manpower, resources, commitment, courage and expertise required to undertake an archaelogical excavation and recovery effort seems akin to the Apollo moon missions. The regrettable reality is that as so often happens, man's lust for money and notoriety often conflicts with his admirable quest for knowledge. A great read and a compelling lesson.

Rated: ***** (5/5 stars) - Treasure versus History - Review by R. Hardy "Rob Hardy" (Columbus, Mississippi USA - Feb 13, 2007 - Vietnam has spent almost all its past under control of China, or under threat of such control. There was a brief "golden age" of eighty years in the fifteenth century when it ruled itself, and its art, including making and glazing ceramics, broke free from the traditions of its big northern neighbor. The years of independence descended into chaos when a civil war began, and the art of the period was largely lost, even the ceramics that were dispersed in trade and then were lost. The artistic production of the age of independence was gone, not enough of it remaining to be systematically collected or understood. One trove of ceramics, however, had lain undisturbed on board the wreck of the _Hoi An_ which had gone down off the coast of Vietnam five hundred years ago. The rediscovery of the hoard, and how it was released to the markets of the world, is the story in _Dragon Sea: A True Tale of Treasure, Archeology, and Greed Off the Coast of Vietnam_ (Harcourt) by Frank Pope. Pope was an immediate observer of much of what is described here; he was the archeological manager for the expedition, the most expensive underwater archeological excavation ever, involving scores of divers, archeologists, seamen, draftsmen, and support personnel like cooks. There is the suspense of working within dangerous depths here, but most of the book's well-narrated drama comes from the conflicting dual motives of the expedition.
The two main characters of the book neatly illustrate the dual motives. Ong Soo Hin is a Malaysian businessman. He might be described as a "smash and grab" salvager, with success in bringing up artistic treasures. He was no archeologist, but realized that there was some worth in keeping an academic arm to his researches; archeologists documenting his finds could well increase the value of them because of giving them credible context and history. He teamed up with Mensun Bound, an academic who was the director of the Maritime Archeology unit at Oxford University (the author is one of his protégés). This was a risk for Bound, since it was unseemly for a professor to break ranks with academia and join in a commercial venture. The difficulties in Bound's position are clear. He would provide an only chance that the contents of the wreck could yield historical information rather than just profit, and if he did not do so, then the wreck would be sacrificed to mere profiteers. The _Hoi An_ was already a target for unsystematic dredging by fishermen who were not only pulling up finds but damaging many by the way they were doing so. There was no way such a difficult excavation could be funded just by, say, Oxford University, and Bound felt he was making the best of what could have been an archeological disaster otherwise. Read more ›

this is a great read for anyone who is interested in the history of voyages from long ago and in particular the south china seas where there were very rough seas to overcome in order that the ships could get to their final destination

An outstanding true story about commercial marine archaeology
An excellent, exciting and very realistic book giving a first hand account on the difficulties trying to blend science and commerce. The two main protagonists, unable to look over the rim of their plates, are jeopardizing a wonderful project, which almost by miracle is brought to an end without harming OPS team and crew. Finally a very high price must be paid as neither the entrepreneur, nor the archaeologist will meet their goals.
A MUST for any shipwreck aficionado!
N. Sandizell

N. Sandizell