Categories

Site Information

 Loading... Please wait...
  • Image 1

On The Bottom

$34.95 $29.95
(You save $5.00)
SKU:
036-053
Weight:
1.00 LBS
Shipping:
Calculated at checkout
Quantity:

Product Description

              On The Bottom       On The Bottom By Commander Edward Ellsberg 256 pages, 6x9 inches, Hardcover, Black & White Photos, CD and DVD Included   Introduction by Edward L. Beach, Captain, U.S. Navy (Ret.) Author of Run Silent, Run Deep Includes CD recording of the 1925 ballad The Sinking of the S-51, a 1979 oral interview with Rear Admiral Ellsberg and a DVD of period newsreel footage.   On the evening of September 25, 1925 the U.S. Navy submarine S-51 was rammed by the steamship City of Rome in open seas off Block Island, RI. She sank in 132 feet of water with the loss of 33 sailors. This disaster evoked such a storm of popular indignation that it was felt that at all costs a determined attempt must be made to raise the S-51. No vessel had ever been raised from such a depth, a feat the experts pronouced impossible. The task of salvaging the sub fell to Lieutenant Commander Edward Ellsberg and a group of divers scavenged from all over the fleet. The impossible was accomplished painstakingly over a nine month period conquering obstacle after obstacle. Working in hade hats and lead boots, in minimal light, while dragging air lines behind them, each diver had about an hour of exhausting and terrifying work before begginning a lenghy decompression process. Originally published in 1929, this magnificent account of the stuggle on the ocean floor to salvage the S-51 has become a modern classic of the sea. This Special Edition includes updated information on the accident and the aftermath and additional historical photographs.   Table of Contents View the Complete Table of Contents >>> Reviews "A marvelous tale, filled with moments of horrified expectancy, of glad thrills, of impossible deeds and endurances, of achievements that smack of magic."—The New York Times "A record of extraordinary fascination. For sheer vividness this battle with the treacherous waters has no equal in recent fiction or nonfiction. Literally at times the reader will hold his breath."—William McFee, New York Herald Tribune "A narrative more thrilling than an imaginative tale of adventure in the dark depths of the sea. The reader is caught in the struggle so closely that he sweats and grumbles and cheers like any member of the crew."—San Francisco Chronicle This edition was ranked #25 of the 100 Best Books of the 20th Century by the Explorers Club About the Author Edward Ellsberg was born the son of Jewish immigrants in 1891 in New Haven, Connecticut, but his family moved to Colorado when he was a boy. He entered the U.S. Naval Academy in 1910 and graduated first in his class of 1914. After varied service on the USS Texas, he was ordered to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for postgraduate work in Naval Architecture and graduated in 1920. In 1925 he led the salvage efforts to raise the sunken submarine USS S-51, for which he became the first sailor to earn the Navy's Distingushed Service Medal in peacetime and was promoted to c Commander by a special act of Congress. Shortly after the raising fo the S-51, Ellsberg entered civilian service but remained in the Naval Reserve. He returned to active duty briefly in December 1927, to assist with the rescue of men from the sunken submarine USS S-4. In the late 1920s Ellsberg began his long and prolific career as a writer of naval history and fiction. On The Bottom, first published in 1929, is his account of raising S-51. During this time Ellsberg wrote a novel about World War I submarines called Pigboats, which was later made into the movie Hell Below, and the important Hell on Ice, about the ill-fated U.S. Navy Jeanneatte Expedition to the North Pole. Ellsberg reentered the active Navy on December 8, 1941, and his World War II accomplishments in Ethiopia, North Africa, and the Invasion of Normandy are considered his most valuable work. He chronicled his war years in the books Under the Red Sea Sun; No Banners, No Bugles; and The Far Shore. Edward Ellsberg retired from the Navy in 1951 with the rank of Rear Admiral. He returned to private life as a consulting engineer and continued to write and lecture. He and his wife Lucy of sixty years divided their final years between Maine and Florida. He died in 1983 at 91 and was buried in Willimantic, Connecticut.    

Product Reviews

Write Review

This product hasn't received any reviews yet. Be the first to review this product!

Find Similar Products by Category

Click the button below to add the On The Bottom to your wish list.