In these pages, readers will wrestle with sea monsters, drift endlessly in hot, dead calms, face raging storms, and battle mighty navies. They will join scientists and explorers on expeditions into the sea, across it, and to its floor to discover new life forms, new sources of wealth, and new lands to conquer.

The inimitable Freuchen paints an exciting and colorful picture of humankind's adventures at sea-from the first prehistoric voyages in open rafts to daring scientific explorations in bathyspheres. He tells of sailors who fought for fame and glory, traders who risked their lives for wealth, and galley slaves who sought only freedom. He exposes the scavengers of the sea-pirates, privateers, whalers, and wreckers who placed lights on rocky shoals to lure unsuspecting ships to disaster. He describes the greatest battles of the seven seas-from the destruction of the Persian fleet at Salamis to the great conflict at Leyte Gulf in the Philippines in World War II.

Revealed here are the great mysteries of the sea itself-monstrous waves over 100 feet high; rivers and currents flowing between underwater mountains and valleys; ghost ships, mermaids, and sea serpents. Here too are the great treasures of the sea-jewels, oil, minerals, and millions of dollars' worth of gold in each cubic mile of sea water. The result of many years of exploration and research, this is a truly magnificent volume.