Rod Macdonald completes new book

Great British Shipwrecks is the forthcoming tome from acclaimed Scottish diver Rod Macdonald. 

There can be few divers unfamiliar with at least one of the author’s previous works, which include Dive Scapa Flow and The Darkness Below.

Likewise few will be surprised to learn that the subject matter once again is sunken lumps of metal, albeit those found off the shores of Britain. A topic Rod knows only too well.

knowledge gleaned from a lifetime’s diving

In Great British Shipwrecks, Rod uses his encyclopaedic knowledge and an intimate understanding of shipwrecks gleaned from a lifetime’s diving, to provide a snapshot in time of some of the best known and most revered around the UK.

For each of the 37 shipwrecks covered Rod provides his usual dramatic account of its time afloat and eventual sinking, with each wreck brought to life with illustrations by renowned marine artist Rob Ward.

Classic wreck dives at Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands include German WWI battleships, Markgraf, König and Kronprinz Wilhelm, and the legendary WWI British cruiser HMS Hampshire, on which Lord Kitchener perished on a voyage to Russia in 1916.

Rod then travels to the English Channel to cover such favourites as the P&O liners Moldavia and Salsette, lost during WWI, along with the SS Kyarra and the British submarine HMS/M M2 – the first submarine to carry a seaplane for reconnaissance.

The reader is then taken to the North Channel of the Irish Sea where Rod descends to technical depths to visit White Star liner Justicia, HMS Audacious, the first British battleship lost during WWI, and the SS Empire Heritage, which was lost with its deck cargo of Sherman tanks on a voyage from New York during WWII.

With 37 different wrecks covered, these and more will still be on many people’s ‘to do’ lists. Dived or not, the book looks set to captivate those interested in maritime/military history and wreck exploration.

Great British Shipwrecks by Rod Macdonald is priced £18.99, and will be published in softback by Whittles Publishing this December. For more information call +44(0)1593 731333 or visit www.whittlespublishing.com ISBN 978-184995-077-0