M any years ago in the early '80s I attended Northlake College in Irving Texas and studied Diesel Engine Technology. One of the favorite things I enjoyed was walking back to lab with the instructor, you could ask any questions on a one on one basis. One day I asked him who invented the Diesel engine. He told me the engine was invented by a man named Rudolf Diesel. The first engines had a tendency to explode and he escaped death on at least one occasion. He then told me that Diesel disappeared while on a ship crossing the English Channel and there was much controversy about the situation. I received the book " The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel" by Douglas Brunt as a Christmas present and was not disappointed in the reading. It tells the story of a good man who overcame enormous hardships and used his talents to change the world we live in. Although, some of the changes were not as he had intended. I believe if you have an interest in the mechanical field this book would be of interest to you.
This is an interesting story, to say the least. In his book " Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea " Gary Kinder records a detailed account of the sinking of the SS Central America, a paddle wheel steam ship that regularly carried the mail, passengers and goods from Panama to New York before the transcontinental railroad was built. She traversed the second leg of the journey, the first leg originated in San Francisco California and ended on the Pacific side of Panama. Besides the account of the sinking, Kinder details the recovery of a good portion of the 30,000 pounds of gold the ship was carrying from the gold rush. This of course was impossible because,..... well,..... at a depth of 8000 feet no one had done this before. Read the book to discover how the heroes on the ship saved the lives of all the women and children and 130 years later a group of young men also did the impossible.
This is a good read. *