Lost Patrols, 24 Mar 2007
Innes has probably discovered and indentified more submarine wrecks in the Channel than anyone else, he is consequently well placed to write this book.
Yes the photographs are not brilliant in some cases. So what. The book is not really about photographs. More importantly some of the identifications have been questioned since the book was released but again, so what. Every maritime historian examining submarine wrecks in the Channel starts with Innes' book as a first point of reference and that's really all you need to know.
This book succeeds on two fronts; on the one hand it provides those of us who will never dive the Channel with a vade mecum of submarine wrecks and their descriptions. Secondly and most importantly, Innes delinates the very real input that sports divers can bring to maritime history. (providing they behave in a reverential manner. )
Innes describes how many of the Channel submarines were found by sports divers. As most maritime historians will never venture into the deep, they have a crucial role to play in recording information that enables us to reconstruct how a given submarine or other vessel met its fate. All in all, well worth the effort.
A very popular and successful title, 21 Oct 2006
This book has been around for a year or so and has been much more successful than I ever thought it would be! It clearly has a resonance outside of the diving market as well as within and has spurred me on to write more, hence the Osprey title being published next month.
Thanks to all who have purchased this book and enjoyed it.
Innes McCartney
The Author
Lost Patrols, 14 Jun 2003
I have just acquired the book "Lost Patrols" and although I have yet to read through it completely I have noticed from the outset that the qulity of the images (excluding the centre folds) is quite poor. Many of the illustrations appear quite faded with poor secondary repoduction of many. Despite the nature of the subject there are many other submarine books that have managed to obtain better quality illustrations therefore confirming that better quality illustrations are indeed obtainable.
I feel the price of the book is a little high in terms of the quality of illustrative material and feel that the illustrations lets down what otherwise appears to be a qood reference book.