Jim is the author, co-author or editor of over 35 books as well as numerous articles and archaeological reports covering a wide range of subjects related to the histories of shipwrecks.
Listed below are his most recent books, as well as other selected titles.
Clotilda: The History and Archaeology of the Last Slave Ship
Documents the maritime historical research and archaeological fieldwork used to identify the wreck of the notorious schooner Clotilda
Clotilda: The History and Archaeology of the Last Slave Ship is the first definitive work to examine the maritime historical and archaeological record of one of the most infamous ships in American history. Clotilda was owned by Alabama businessman Timothy Meaher, who, on a dare, equipped it to carry captured Africans from what is now Benin and bring them to Alabama in 1860—some fifty years after the import of captives to be enslaved was banned. To hide the evidence, Clotilda was set afire and sunk.
Clotilda: The History and Archaeology of the Last Slave Ship serves as a nautical biography of the ship as well. After reviewing the maritime trade in and out of Mobile Bay, this account places Clotilda within the larger landscape of American and Gulf of Mexico schooners and chronicles its career before being used as a slave ship. All of its voyages had a link to slavery, and one may have been another smuggling voyage in violation of federal law. The authors have also painstakingly reconstructed Clotilda’s likely appearance and characteristics.
Co-authors: Deborah E. Marx, Kyle Lent, Joseph Grinnan and Alexander DeCaro. Published by University of Alabama Press, March 2023. Purchase online.
The Curse of the Somers: The Secret History behind the U.S. Navy’s Most Infamous Mutiny
A detailed and riveting account of the U.S. Navy’s greatest mutiny and its wide-ranging cultural and historical impact
The greatest controversy in the history of the U.S. Navy of the early American Republic was the revelation that the son of the Secretary of War had seemingly plotted a bloody mutiny that would have turned the U.S. brig Somers into a pirate ship. The plot discovered, he and his co-conspirators were hastily condemned and hanged at sea.
The Curse of the Somers is a thorough recreation of this classic tale, told with the help of recently uncovered evidence. Written by a maritime historian and archaeologist who helped identify the long-lost wreck and subsequently studied its sunken remains, this is a timeless tale of life and death at sea. James P. Delgado re-examines the circumstances, drawing from a rich historical record and from the investigation of the ship’s sunken remains. What surfaces is an all-too-human tale that resonates and chills across the centuries.
Published by Oxford University Press, November 2022. Purchase online.
Jim has been recognized several times for his meticulously-researched historical and insightful non-fiction books that both scholars and the public have enjoyed reading across the decades.
Book awards include:
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John Lyman Book Award (Honorable Mention) for Misadventures of a Civil War Submarine: Iron, Guns, and Pearls, 2012.
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Outstanding Academic Title for Nuclear Dawn: The Atomic Bomb From the Manhattan Project to the Cold War by Choice, the Current Review for Academic Libraries, 2011.
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James Deetz Award for Khubilai Khan’s Lost Fleet: In Search of a Legendary Armada, from the Society of Historical Archaeology, 2011.
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City of Vancouver Book Prize for Best Book Published on the City of Vancouver, for Waterfront: The Illustrated Maritime Story of Greater Vancouver, 2006.
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Bill Duthie Bookseller’s Choice Award for Best Book Published in British Columbia, for Waterfront: The Illustrated Maritime Story of Greater Vancouver, BC Book Prizes, 2006.
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Naval History’s 2003 Author of the Year
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John Lyman Book Award, for Across the Top of The World: The Quest for the Northwest Passage, from North American Society for Oceanic History, 1999.