Edward Ellsberg has 5 audiobooks on Listento.it, narrated by 4 narrators, with an average listener rating of 5★ across 3 ratings. The most-rated is Under the Red Sea Sun.
Under the Red Sea Sun
Summary
A gripping first-hand description of the salvage operations at the port of Massawa on the Red Sea coast of Eritrea during the early days of World War II. When forced from the region, Italian troops had scuttled many ships to block the important harbour, which was vital to the British war effort. Ellsberg, an American salvage officer, was placed in charge and a small group of workers under his direction accomplished an almost Herculean task with virtually no resources. The book paints a realistic picture of confusion and incompetence in the early days of the war.
©1946 Edward E. Pollard and Ann P. Heilakka (P)2014 Audible Inc.
No Banners, No Bugles
Summary
The unheralded story of how salvage helped the Allies win back North Africa. By the time America joined World War II, Edward Ellsberg had already earned his place as one of the world’s great marine salvage engineers, and his best-selling accounts of raising doomed submarines and histories of classic diving operations had made him a literary star. With America’s entry into the war, Ellsberg returned to active duty with no easy assignment: clearing the vital port at Massawa, Eritrea, with no men, no equipment, and no budget. No Banners, No Bugles picks up with Ellsberg stationed at Oran, Algeria, an important Mediterranean harbor as the Allies prepare for Operation Torch, the fight to reclaim North Africa from the Axis powers. Following his success at Massawa, Ellsberg must sort out the disorganized mess left by the Vichy French and find a way to open the port, though his flagging health proves to be a dangerous obstacle. As General Eisenhower’s chief of salvage in the Mediterranean, Ellsberg needs to clear harbors all across North Africa. No Banners, No Bugles is the riveting story of how Ellsberg the miracle worker tackled his greatest mission yet.
©1949 Edward Ellsberg and Lucy Buck Ellsberg (P)2014 Audible Inc.
On the Bottom
Summary
On September 25, 1925, the S-51 tragically sank to the ocean floor, and Edward Ellsberg was the man whose courage and determination brought it back The sinking of the submarine S-51 was one of the greatest tragedies in American naval history. Due to a miscommunication and subsequent collision between the sub and a passing steamship on a September night, the S-51, including 33 of its crew of 36, sank to the ocean depths. The tragedy of the S-51 captivated the nation, and was a fixture in the pages of American newspapers. The story took on a whole new dimension when the navy decided to take over the salvage of the 1,000-ton behemoth from a civilian company. Heading the crew tasked with this impossible feat was Edward Ellsberg, at the time a lieutenant commander. On the Bottom is Ellsberg's account of the successes and failures he and his men experienced as they attempted an astonishing feat of engineering and bravery: the first salvage of a submarine from the open ocean.
©1946 Dodd, Mead and Company, Inc. (P)2014 Audible Inc.
Hell on Ice
Summary
The thrilling adventure of one crew's harrowing journey back from the Earth's most foreboding frozen hell In the 1870s, newspaperman James Gordon Bennett of the New York Herald drummed up excitement and publicity for his paper through highly publicized missions of exploration. In 1879, Bennett's idea for a voyage was his most audacious to date: the North Pole. To do this, he hired a team of naval veterans in addition to a smattering of civilians with specialized knowledge in meteorology, whaling, and naturalism. The men on board the Jeannette set off in September of 1879. This would be the last time anyone saw them for two years. The product of devoted research into personal histories, memoirs, and classified congressional investigation records, Hell on Ice is a remarkable document: a novelization of history, turning the horrible ordeal of the brave men of the Jeannette into a riveting narrative. Written with a weathered seaman's familiarity, the story brilliantly captures a most perilous voyage from the perspective of the ship's chief engineer. The men of the Jeannette endure months trapped in an Arctic ice pack, and then begin a desperate trek for home.
©1938 Edward Ellsberg and Lucy Buck Ellsberg (P)2014 Audible, Inc.
The Far Shore
Summary
The story of the greatest invasion in history, as told by a master military engineer. Thousands of men desperately struggling through the surf, blood spilling into the sea and mud, bullets whizzing by their ears - this is the Far Shore of Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944. Here, we see D-Day through the eyes of an experienced engineer, brought out of a brief retirement to help make this invasion and eventual Allied victory possible: Rear Admiral Edward Ellsberg. The final book in Ellsberg's World War II trilogy, The Far Shore takes the listener right up to the front lines. In Under the Red Sea Sun and No Banners, No Bugles, Rear Admiral Ellsberg cleaned up impressive wrecks in the Red Sea and North Africa. He answers the call to action despite his advancing age and failing heart, to once again do the impossible. Ellsberg is tasked with floating the artificial harbors that are key to Operation Overlord. Ellsberg, a celebrated writer in addition to his gifts as a naval engineer, pulls no punches in this firsthand account of the preparations and bravery necessary to win on D-day.
©1960 Edward Ellsberg and Lucy Buck Ellsberg (P)2014 Audible Inc.