The Hillsborough River, which runs through the big population area of Tampa, is a popular site for leisure activities. Kevin McCarthy, author of more than 20 books about Florida, guides the reader and boater from the source of the Hillsborough River in the Green Swamp west of Tampa, through Hillsborough River State Park, then through the city of Tampa, to its mouth at the Gulf of Mexico. Both a history and a guidebook, "Hillsborough River Guidebook" features information on the wildlife and culture along the river as well as travel tips, with recommendations of places to eat and stay. Includes photographs and maps. The other books available in the series are "Suwannee River Guidebook" and "St. Johns River Guidebook."

The story of the expeditions of Spanish explorers told through the history of the first American currency: pieces of eight.

This is a story about the lust for gold and treasure," Fine writes. In the 1600s and 1700s, Spain dominated the oceans with its fleet of galleons. Coming to the New World, these ships filled their holds with gold and silver and treasures beyond imagining. The seaway between Spain and the New World was dubbed The Golden Highway. On their journeys back across the seas, many were wrecked on reefs or destroyed by hurricanes. The watery depths now hold their treasures. Today, treasure divers seek their fortunes by attempting--sometimes successfully, sometimes fatally--to retrieve these hordes of riches. In Treasures of the Spanish Main, readers relive each voyage of long ago as well as witness the modern wreck diver's efforts to extract their secrets. Included are: The 1622 fleet * The Concepcion * The Maravillas * The Shipwreck off Jupiter Beach * The San Jose * the 1715 Fleet * and the 1733 Fleet The voyages of centuries ago come alive with Fine's excellent historical detail. Readers will experience the wild storms and the results of unfortunate choices made by long-ago sailors. The eccentric treasure hunters of today, along with those of the past, create a mosaic of suspense and drama on the high seas. A must for everyone interested in pirates, treasure, sailing, history, or just plain fun.

Twentieth-century sleuthing methods are linked with the romance and mystery of the past in this true story of a treasure hunt that has yielded millions. Over 250 years ago a Spanish treasure armada was wrecked on the Florida reefs, and ten richly laden vessels were sunk. In time they were forgotten. In the l 940's Kip Wagner, then a Florida construction man, picked up the first clues to the location of the wrecked ships. They were scarce: occasional blackened silver coins discovered here and there along the beach. But Kip Wagner's imagination was fired, and with the help of his friend and physician, Dr. Kelso, he began the long research and search operations that are described in this engrossing book. They were joined by a small group of other men and formed the Real Eight Corporationappropriately named for the Spanish ocho reales, or piece of eight. Most of the team had other jobs, some of them at nearby Cape Kennedy, and could hunt treasure only in their spare time. But they persisted. The work was arduous, at times dangerous. There were setbacks, disappointments, grueling underwater ordeals. But in time the rewards were sensational -thousands of silver pieces of eight and golden doubloons, silver bars and bullion, gold ingots, gold rings and pendants, priceless Chinese porcelain, a gold necklace appraised by a museum at $50,000, three million dollars in treasure recovered so far by this band of hard-working, adventurous, persistent men.

One hundred years before Columbus and his fellow Europeans began their voyages of discovery, fleets of giant junks commanded by the eunuch admiral Zheng He and filled with the empire’s finest porcelains, lacquerware, and silk ventured to the world’s “four corners.” Seven epic expeditions brought China’s treasure ships across the China Seas and Indian Ocean, from Japan to the spice island of Indonesia and the Malabar Coast of India, on to the rich ports of the Persian Gulf and down the East African coast, to China’s “El Dorado,” and perhaps even to Australia, three hundred years before Captain Cook’s landing. It was a time of exploration and expansion, but it ended in a retrenchment so complete that less than a century later, it was a crime to go to sea in a multimasted ship. In When China Ruled the Seas, Louise Levathes takes a fascinating and unprecedented look at this dynamic period in China’s enigmatic history, focusing on the country’s rise as a naval power that briefly brought half the world under its nominal authority. Drawing on eyewitness accounts, official Ming histories, and African, Arab, and Indian sources, many translated for the first time, Levathes brings readers inside China’s most illustrious scientific and technological era. She sheds new light on the historical and cultural context in which this great civilization thrived, as well as the perception of China by other contemporary cultures. Beautifully illustrated and engagingly written, When China Ruled the Seas is the fullest picture yet of the early Ming dynasty—the last flowering of Chinese culture before the Manchu invasion.

During the middle decade of the 16th century a new type of sailing vessel emerged, designed to carry the wealth of the Americas to Spain. This was the galleon, and over the next century these vessels would serve Spain well as treasure ships and warships, becoming a symbol of Spanish power and wealth during the period. The development and construction of the Spanish galleon are discussed in this book, and the ordnance and crewing needed to produce and maintain these stately vessels is covered. The author also examines the role of the galleon as a treasure ship, and describes how these ships were manned and fought in action.