Ghost Galleon

Ghost Galleon tells the story of archaeologists’ twenty-year search on a desolate beach in Baja California for the enigmatic remains of a Spanish galleon that disappeared without a trace more than four centuries ago. Carrying a cargo of Asian riches to the New World, Manila galleons forged the final link in the unification of the world through commerce by their annual voyages across the Pacific Ocean. Here, author Edward Von der Porten relates how a chance viewing of Chinese porcelain sherds in a museum catalog led him, his wife Saryl, and a team of researchers to the beachcombers who discovered the sherds. To Von der Porten, these sherds represented the possibility of something much more significant: one of the earliest known Manila galleon shipwrecks on the West Coast. In collaboration with the National Institute of Anthropology and History of Mexico (INAH), Von der Porten and his colleagues undertook the first of many archaeological expeditions to investigate the site in 1999. Over twenty years, a team of American and Mexican archaeologists recovered thousands of artifacts and concluded that they had located the remains of the cargo from a Spanish galleon—most likely the San Juanillo of 1578. This copiously illustrated, highly accessible work offers an inside view of how archaeologists carefully assemble the evidence that allows scientific reconstruction of past events. Despite the grudging resistance of time, Von der Porten and his colleagues have resurrected the tale of the ill-fated San Juanillo to enrich our understanding and appreciation of the past.

Still the wave built without breaking, the Andorinha’s keel riding its crest. Majestically she raced shoreward, carried by the wave’s immense power. She must have been riding twenty feet above the ground when the wave crossed the shoreline and, although it was now breaking, the ship’s forward momentum continued. Her hull scraped over the low dunes, coming to rest in the shallow waters of a swamp. A two-year journey … a lifetime of preparation … a disaster of unmitigated proportion; caused by forces beyond Hosea’s control. How could he now complete the voyage for his king and country? What of the men whose faith in his leadership had remained firm in spite of earlier difficulties they had encountered? This a story about the Age of Discovery. A time that has had its history re-written as more discoveries have unlocked the truth about the first Europeans in Australia. Could this be another time?

Ahoy, me hearties! Matilda and the Pirates Next Door return in a series of illustrated stories for young readers. Every full moon, a mysterious ship is seen off the coast of Dull-on-Sea. Then, the next day, gold and jewelry are missing from homes, shops, and museums all over town. Matilda needs the Jolley-Rogers' help to investigate. Can Matilda and Jim Lad retrieve the stolen booty from the mysterious ship before the moon fades? Or will they end up stuck on board with a crew of ghostly pirates forever?

Poet and short-story writer Richard Middleton had a brief literary career that ended tragically with his suicide in 1911. But his oft-anthologized short story "The Ghost Ship" secured a place in literary history as one of the most beloved ghost stories ever written. This collection brings together "The Ghost Ship" and a number of Middleton's other short pieces of fiction, many of which have supernatural themes.

Travel/adventure series. 7 yrs.

Is there a shadow over this sunny land of healthful vigor and natural abundance? This region includes the Central Coast, the San Joaquin Valley, and metropolitan Los Angeles and San Diego, where readers will encounter the spirits of gold prospectors, cowboys, Spanish padres, and movie stars, as well as the phantom camels of Fort Tejon, the shape-shifting witch of Tulare, underwater UFOs, ghosts aboard the Queen Mary, and the tragic specter of Marilyn Monroe.