The price includes a 4% credit card fee. If you pay by check, money order, or bank wire, the discounted price is $195 delivered within the contiguous United States.
 
1946, Dodd, Mead, New York, FIRST EDITION. Hardbound, gold embossed cover and spine, in original dust jacket in protective sleeve. INSCRIBED BY REAR ADMIRAL EDWARD ELLSBERG. A 77-year-old book is in good condition with some wear. Inside front cover map illustration is split along the hinge. The same map on the inside back cover is in excellent shape. Prior owners library stamp embossed. An essential book on American salvage operations in World War II by a salvage genius. Edited review: It is a firsthand account of the Allied salvage operation that played a key role in recovering North Africa from the Nazis during World War II. By 1942, Mussolini’s forces were on the run in East Africa. In order to slow the Allied advance, the Italians used audacious tactics—including making ports inoperable, leaving the Allies without the infrastructure necessary to continue the war effort. At Massawa, Eritrea, the fleeing Italians left the largest mass wreck in the world, turning a vital port into a tangle of shattered ships, cranes, sunken dry docks, and dangerous booby traps. To continue the war effort and push back the Axis powers in Africa, the Allies enlisted U S naval salvage expert Commander Ellsberg. Ellsberg, a veteran miracle worker in raising sunken ships, was given his toughest assignment yet: Reopen the port with no budget, no men, and no tools. The British had claimed the task was impossible—Massawa couldn’t be cleared. But a determined Ellsberg navigated complicated American and Bri