W&N clutches Gibbins' tale of underwater treasures

Weidenfeld & Nicolson will publish maritime archaeologist and novelist David Gibbins’ A History of the World in 12 Shipwrecks uncovering some of the “greatest underwater discoveries of all time”. 

Maddy Price, editorial director, acquired world rights including translation from Luigi Bonomi at LBA. It will be published in in hardback, trade paperback, audio and e-book on 8th February 2024.   

Described as “masterful and entrancing” by author Professor Alice Roberts, and “a bravura work, insightfully woven, grippingly told” by author and explorer Mensun Bound, W&N described A History of the World in 12 Shipwrecks as “some of the stories of some of the greatest underwater discoveries of all time”.  

The blurb reads: “From a Bronze Age ship built during the age of Queen Nefertiti and filled with ancient treasures, to a Viking warship made for King Cnut himself, Henry VIII’s spectacular ’Mary Rose’ and the tragic story of ’HMS Terror’, these are tales of treasure, bravery, endurance and wonder. This is also the story of the spread of people, religion and ideas around the world, a story of colonialism and migration which continues today. 

“Drawing on decades of experience excavating shipwrecks around the world, and including several shipwrecks he has personally explored himself, renowned maritime archaeologist David Gibbins reveals the riches hidden beneath our waves.”  

Price said: “David’s more than three decades’ experience of exploring shipwrecks around the world make this history truly unique. We encounter the people who built, sailed, and often perished on these ships, we discover their treasures hidden on the seabed alongside David as he dives down to explore the wrecks, and we see the bigger picture of how humans navigated the world from the very earliest times. This is a very special book and I can’t wait for readers to discover it.” 

Gibbins said of his first non-fiction work: “This book is special to me because it represents a passion that has driven me all my life – for diving and shipwrecks and their place in world history. 

"With many of the wrecks in this book being ones that I have dived on myself, I hope that readers will take away the same sense of adventure that I felt on making these discoveries as well as my passion for the bigger picture – for seeing wrecks not only as fascinating episodes of life through the ages but also as part of an overarching narrative, one that gives vivid insights into the past in an innovative and exciting way.” 

A maritime archaeologists and author of historical novels, Gibbins’ 12 books have been published in 30 languages. He has a first-class honours BA in Ancient Mediterranean Studies from the University of Bristol and a PhD in Archaeology from the University of Cambridge, where he was a Research Scholar of Corpus Christi College and a postdoctoral fellow. He is a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, the Royal Society of Arts and Winston Churchill Memorial Trust.