An estimated three thousand shipwrecks lie off the coast of New Jersey - but these icy waters hold more mysteries than sunken hulls. Ancient arrowheads found on the shoreline of Sandy Hook reveal Native American settlement before the land was flooded by melting glaciers. In 1854, 240 passengers of the New Era clipper ship met their fate off Deal Beach. Nobody knows what happened to two hydrogen bombs the United States Air Force lost near Atlantic City in 1957. Lessons from such tragic wrecks and dangerous missteps urged the development of safer ships and the U.S. Coast Guard. Captain Stephen D. Nagiewicz uncovers curious tales of storms, heroism and oddities from New Jersey's maritime past.
Captain Stephen Nagiewicz is a former dive charter boat operator and acknowledged authority on shipwrecks and scuba diving. He is the former chairman of the board of trustees of the Shark Research Institute of Princeton and is co-expedition leader of the R.J. Walker Shipwreck Mapping Expedition off Atlantic City. He is a licensed USCG master and professional diver with over four thousand scuba dives. He currently teaches environmental and marine science in high school and college and lives in Brick, New Jersey.