Book Review-‘Scapa 1919: The archaeology of a scuttled fleet’ by I. McCartney, Osprey

Abstract

The first thing to be said about this book is that it is not a traditional historical account of the ‘grand scuttle’, neither is Innes McCartney’s new book a traditional archaeological report, too many of which are hard going even for archaeologists. Instead the author has produced a hybrid publication which revisits the end of the High Seas Fleet and the subsequent fate of the wrecks, through a combination of exhaustive and questioning research in published and unpublished sources with state of the art remote and diving surveys of the nine remaining wrecks and associated scrappage sites. The result is a powerful narrative exploring how an act born of frustration and national humiliation has been transformed into an internationally important heritage site a hundred years later. The book can also be seen as a benchmark for maritime archaeologists and researchers seeking to lucidly communicate their work…

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Filed under: WW1 | North Sea
Subjects include: Archaeology | Navies