Khubilai Khan's Lost Fleet; In Search of a Legendary Armada

Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2008. First Printing [Stated]. Hardcover. Very good/Very good. Alex Waterhouse-Hayward (Author photograph). xi, [1], 225, [3] pages. Plates. Timeline of Chinese, Japanese and Korean Dynasties and Periods. Maps. Sources. Notes. Index. Decorative DJ front. Signature of William Webster on the fep--believed to be that of the former FBI Director. William Hedgcock Webster (born March 6, 1924) is an American attorney and jurist who most recently served as chair of the Homeland Security Advisory Council from 2005 until 2020. He was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri and a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit before becoming director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from 1978 to 1987 and director of Central Intelligence (CIA) from 1987 to 1991. He is the only person to have held both positions. James Preston Delgado (born January 11, 1958) is a maritime archaeologist, historian, maritime preservation expert, author, television host, and explorer. Delgado is a maritime archaeologist who has spent over four decades in underwater exploration. A veteran of over 100 shipwreck investigations around the world, his work has included the wrecks of RMS Titanic, USS Independence (CVL-22), USS Conestoga (AT-54), USS Monitor, USS Arizona (BB-39), USS Nevada (BB-36), Sub Marine Explorer, the buried Gold Rush ships of San Francisco, the atomic bomb test fleet at Bikini Atoll, the slave ship Clotilda, and Khubilai Khan's legendary lost fleet. Delgado's career has included heading a major maritime museum, leading both the National Park Service and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)'s maritime heritage programs, teaching at several universities, and sharing his expertise in hundreds of televisions documentaries. He also pioneered the standards and guidelines for the U.S. government's National Park Service's National Historic Landmark Studies to preserve maritime shipwrecks and cultural land sites as designated, protected areas. In addition, he is the author of over 200 academic articles, and more than 33 books. He also edited the first encyclopaedia of underwater and maritime archaeology. In 1279, near what is now Hong Kong, Mongol ruler Khubilai Khan fulfilled the dream of his grandfather, Genghis Khan, by conquering China. The Grand Khan now ruled the largest empire the world has ever seen, one that stretched from the China Sea to the plains of Hungary. He also inherited the world's largest navy, more than seven hundred ships. Yet within fifteen years, Khubilai Khan's massive fleet was gone. What actually happened to the Mongol navy, considered for seven centuries to be little more than legend, has finally been revealed. Renowned archaeologist and historian James P. Delgado has gone diving with a Japanese team currently studying the remains of the Khan's lost fleet. Drawing from diverse sources, sunken ships, hand-painted scrolls, drowned bodies, and historical and literary records, in this gripping account that moves deftly between the present and the past, Delgado pieces together the fascinating tale of Khubilai Khan's maritime forays and unravels one of history's greatest mysteries: What sank the great Mongol fleet?