Shipwrecks: a porthole to the past

Welcome to the History Extra podcast, fascinating historical conversations from the makers of BBC History magazine. From a sunken Tudor flagship brought back to life by osteoarchaeology, to the tales of bravery and endurance that come from the naval clashes of World War II. Shipwrecks can tell us far more about human history than you might initially expect. Drawing on his experience as both a diver and a maritime archaeologist, David Gibbons reveals how the riches that lie beneath the waves can act as a porthold to the past.

He spoke to Emily Briffitt. So we're going to be talking about your new book, A History of the World in Twelve Shipwrecks. Now, I think the idea of discovering a shipwreck, researching, diving down and visiting one is quite a romantic idea, at least I imagine for some of our listeners. Now, you yourself have actually had the opportunity to go and do that, and I'm sure we're going to be touching on that experience shortly. But firstly,

I'm curious, how do you go about discovering a shipwreck? How do you find one? What's that experience like? Well, most of the shipwrecks that I've discovered have been just using my eyeballs. You don't have to use high technology to find many of the sites that are close to the coast, which you can

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