March 16, 2008

Book Review:

Pirates and the Lost Templar Fleet - The secret War Between the Knights Templar and the Vatican by David Hatcher Childress

A few months ago I was at Borders and was looking in the history section thinking about pirates when I saw an interesting title: Pirate and the Lost Templar Fleet. I read the topic listings on the back and the brief synopsis; it sounded very interesting - could the Templars have created settlements in the Americas centuries before Columbus?

The book's premise is that people have been sailing the oceans for thousands of years, much longer than we give humans credit. But it is possible that the Atlantic ocean was navigable to people as long ago as the ancient Egyptians and Phoenicians. There are claims of artifacts from Roman vessels found off the Atlantic coast of North America. In addition, the author goes to great lengths to try and prove that maps existed LONG before Columbus that clearly, and pretty accurately diagram the coastline of the Americas.

I must admit, the idea is very interesting to me; I am always looking to find controversies in history, without the controversies history is nothing more than the boring subject of school - people and dates. Therefore, I like his theory but am not convinced by his evidence. But his idea that the Knights Templar, in an attempt to escape persecution by the Vatican, sailed across the Atlantic with ancient maps provided by Muslim sailors and kings, did not convince me. In my opinion, this book is a good place to start for additional research that may support the author's supposition, but as it stands now, it needs some help.

A much more compelling and convincing argument is put forth by Gavin Menzies in his book 1421: The Year China Discovered America.