Goldfinder (Paperback, illustrated edition)

"[An] energetic rags to riches saga. . . . enjoyable."
–Publishers Weekly

Born a penniless Yorkshire lad seemingly destined for the mills, Keith Jessop instead became a salvage diver, becoming the world’s most successful treasure finder through unyielding determination, extraordinary physical prowess, and keen intelligence. Now, with Neil Hanson, the critically acclaimed author of The Custom of the Sea, Jessop tells his marvelous rags-to-riches story and the tremendous saga at its center: his lifelong quest for the warship HMS Edinburgh, sunk in the Arctic Sea with ten tons of Russian gold.

FOLLOW THE JOURNEY: "The gold on that wreck is further away than the surface of the moon. It took the American astronauts two and a quarter days to travel back from the moon; it’ll take seven days in decompression to bring you back just eight hundred feet from the floor of the ocean."

SHARE THE DANGER: "We won’t even be able to go back for the gold if you don’t take maximum care as you work. It’s stored in the bomb room, the most secure part of the ship. . . . If the gold is still there, it’ll be surrounded by unexploded shells, bombs, and ammunition."

DISCOVER THE STAKES: "Like everyone else on the ship, they were working on standard terms of business for treasure divers: ‘No Cure, No Pay.’ They stood to gain tens of thousands of pounds each if we found the gold; if we didn’t, they wouldn’t get a penny."