Synopsis
On the Bottom [Hardcover] [Jan 01, 1929] Edward Ellsberg, (Lt Comm.)
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
From the Publisher
Originally published in 1929, this magnificent account of the struggle on the ocean floor to salvage the sunken U.S. Navy submarine, S-51, has become a modern classic of the sea.
What was not included in Edward Ellsberg's gripping account are specifics of the accident, the aftermath, and the extent that the event touched the nation. This expanded edition presents this and more by including an introduction by renowned submariner and author Edward L. Beach; a publisher's preface; additional photographs; an afterward; and appendixes. Also added is a CD recording of the period ballad "Sinking of the Submarine S-51," an oral interview with Rear Admiral Ellsberg, and a DVD of rare on scene newsreel footage.
About the Author
The son of Jewish immigrants, Edward Ellsberg was born in 1891 in Connecticut, but his family moved to Colorado when he was a boy. He entered the U.S. Naval Academy in 1910 and graduated first in his class in 1914. After varied service on the USS Texas, he was ordered to the Massachusetts Institiute of Technology for postgraduate work in Naval Architecture and graduated in 1920. One of Ellsberg's more notable assignments during his early career was solving boiler and ventilation problems aboard the passenger liner Leviathan, the former German liner Vaterland, following her conversion to oil.
In 1925 he led the salvage efforts to raise the sunken submarine USS S-51, for which he became the first sailor to earn the Distinguished Service Medal in peacetime and was promoted to Commander by a special act of Congress.
Shortly after the raising of S-51, Ellsberg entered civilian service but remained in the naval reserve. He returned to active duty briefly in December 1927, to assist with the salvage of the submarine USS S-4, which had been rammed and sunk off Cape Cod by a Coast Guard cutter.
In the late 1920's Ellsberg began his long and prolific career as a writer of naval history and fiction. On The Bottom, first published in 1929, is his account of the raising of the S-51. During this time Ellsberg wrote a novel about World War I submarines called Pigboats, which was later made into the movie Hell Below; and the important Hell on Ice, about the ill-fated U.S. Navy Jeannette expedition to the North Pole.
Ellsberg re-entered the Navy on December 8, 1941, and his World War II accomplishments in Ethiopia, North Africa and invasion of Normandy are considered his most valuable work. He chronicled his war years in the books Under the Red Sun; No Banners, No Bugles; and The Far Shore.
Edward Ellsberg retired from the Navy with the rank of Rear Admiral. He returned to private life as a consulting engineer and continued to write and lecture. He and his wife Lucy of sixty years divided their final years between Maine and Florida. He died in 1983 at ninety-one and was buried in the cemetery at Willimantic, Connecticut.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Other Popular Editions of the Same Title
Search results for On the Bottom
Stock Image
On the Bottom
Published by
Dodd, Mead, 1929
ISBN 10: 1127553380
ISBN 13: 9781127553389
Used
Hardcover
First Edition
Signed
Seller: Wonder Book, Frederick, MD, U.S.A.
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
Condition: Fair. Signed Copy First edition copy. . No Dust Jacket Inscribed by author on half title page. Some foxing. Tear to bottom of front free endpaper. (submarines, deep diving, ships ). Seller Inventory # R12OS-00037