In this archaeological trilogy, Donald G. Shomette provides a tour of the treasures beneath the Chesapeake Bay. The New Jersey, which sank in the waters of the Chesapeake in 1870, is the subject of the first part of this absorbing narrative. The wreck, a veritable time capsule of history, became the subject of large-scale relic hunting, but also of cutting-edge technology, including remotely operated vehicles, ultrasonic mapping, and imaging sonar.In part two, Shomette describes the history and archaeological investigation of Kent Island, where the remains and relics of the earliest permanent European settlement in Maryland were excavated.Part three of the book chronicles a little-known chapter in American history. During World War I, the U.S. government created an emergency program to build hundreds of wooden steamships to replace merchant vessels being destroyed by Germany. Most of these ships never saw the European theater and now lie beneath Mallows Bay off the Potomac.