Civil engineers Graham Harris and Les MacPhie have spent over a decade investigating the enigma of Nova Scotia's Oak Island. In this new edition of their book; they set out the previously unknown story of how complex and expensive engineering work was undertaken to create an elaborate flood tunnel on the island. Built to frustrate treasure seekers attempting to get at the valuables buried decades earlier at the bottom of the island's Money Pit; the tunnel has admirably served its purpose. It has ensured that all efforts up to now to recover the treasure have been unsuccessful. Oak Island poses two different challenges for treasure seekers. There is a deep mineshaft; at the bottom of which the treasure lies. The authors offer evidence that this treasure came from the wreck of a Spanish galleon in the seventeenth century. Even more mystifying than the mineshaft is the complex tunnel; which links it to the ocean. Harris and MacPhie have determined that the project would have required a labor force of over 100 men to supplement a small force of experienced miners. The work would have taken almost two years to complete. In new chapters written for this edition; they present the evidence they have discovered in British military history records which shows who commanded this force; how it reached Nova Scotia; and when the work was carried out. The new facts and insights offered in this book are a startling and convincing addition to the history of Oak Island.
#832829 in Books 2013-05-14 2013-05-14Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.25 x 1.25 x 6.25l; 1.20 #File Name: 1455511889336 pages
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Birmingham; Alabama enters the 20th century - reluctantlyBy TJPHas anyone who played in a grand total of one MLB game achieved the notoriety of Larry Colton? Well; there’s Walter Alston; who became one of the game’s great managers. And you could make a case for Moonlight Graham; introduced to America in the movie; Bull Durham. But that’s about it.Colton is the author of Southern League; a look back at the 1964 Birmingham Barons; the AA farm team of the Kansas City Athletics. Southern League also chronicles the civil rights movement as it played out in Birmingham; Alabama and in Washington; D.C. during the summer of 1964.Birmingham; Alabama; in 1964; was an American disgrace. African-Americans – as well as whites in possession of a working conscience – were still dealing with the aftermath of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing on September 15; 1963; when white robed domestic terrorists; aided by 15 sticks of dynamite; killed four girls and injured 22 others.Readers will encounter familiar and unfamiliar heroes and villains. George Wallace; Governor of Alabama; joins the narrative; as does Bull Connor; the racist Birmingham police commissioner. Charlie Finley; who built a thriving insurance business; purchased a perpetually struggling MLB franchise – the Athletics – and would soon lead the league in proposing hare-brained ideas. Haywood Sullivan; the Southern-born and -bred rookie manager of the Barons; who would achieve much greater fame and fortune in baseball..Colton’s strength as a writer; his go-to pitch; as it were; is his ability to create believable and interesting portraits of the not-famous – his fraternity housemates in Goat Brothers; for example. In Southern League; his background stories of some of the 22 members of the Barons are the highlight of the book for this reader.Unfortunately; material for the other half of the book appears to have been solely gleaned from the microfilm library of the Birmingham Post-Herald. As amply demonstrated in Goat Brothers; Larry Colton is not encumbered with an abundance of profound or original socio-political insights. Thus; he is well suited to the task of writing about professional baseball and the stultifying anti-intellectualism that has pervaded the sport since the dead ball era; less so to the task of chronicling the arrival of Birmingham; Alabama into the 20th century.3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. a tale needed to be toldBy Brian MaitlandBeing an A's fan from the '70s this was right in my wheelhouse as far as baseball books go. It's a season-in-the-making look at return of minor league baseball to Birmingham; Alabama; in 1964. The Barons (the Kansas City A's AAA farm club) were also significantly a team composed of Caucasian; African-American and Latino ballplayers in a deeply divided South and in a city that came to represent all that was reprehensible about Jim Crow laws and the de facto Ground Zero really for those in the South who did not want desegregation.The author does not mince text in describing the horrid events that preceded the Barons' return to the Birmingham sports scene from the church bombings; lynchings; torture right down to the daily indignities done to the black populace. Some of this stuff is truly stomach churning to read especially given this occurred just a little over 50 years ago.Still the main focus of the book is on the personalities associated with the ballclub including players who made significant contributions to the Oakland A's World Series titles in the '70s--Blue Moon Odom; Bert Campaneris and Paul Lindblad. Probably; though; as compelling as those three players' stories are the most interesting characters on the Barons were their manager Haywood Sullivan (who would go on to eventually become an owner of the Boston Red Sox during the Yaz/Tiant years); Barons' owner Albert Belcher and two players who showed incredible guts and determination that season--Tommie Reynolds and Hoss Bowlin. Of course; there still is enough on the MLB parent club owner; the colorful and controversial Charlie O. Finley; to whet any A's fan's appetite as well.It's truly a story that needed to be told and one that shows how sports in its small; but significant; way actually helped break down a lot of barriers and heal rifts in an extremely violent city that was so divided over the issue of race. It's also amazing that so many published studies of the Civil Rights movement missed this. Thankfully; author Larry Colton stepped up to the plate and told this story.3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. First rate time travelBy emachineAn amazing book; funny; intimate and smart; about baseball and race in the deep South in 1964; before mankind had yet to drink Tang on the moon; Vietnam was still a nightmare waiting in the wings and if you were black; especially in Birmingham; you remained very much a negro. Colton traces a season of a minor league baseball team; the Barons; that had seen its ranks rather suddenly supercharged by the presence of black ball players during a time in which many if not most Alabamans considered integration; to put it kindly; an oil and water proposition. Southern League is graced by lots of vivid baseball action; both on and off the field and star turns by the likes of Bull Conner; Bear Bryant and Charlie Finley. But what makes the book so exceptional is the way Colton collapses time. The decades disappear. making 1964 seem in its revivified details like some new kind of lost American day before yesterday.
