As 'respect our wrecks' evolves into 'adopt our wrecks', and archaeologists encourage us to record rather then pilfer maritime history, this timely boxed set of a BBC2 series sets out to demonstrate that marine archaeology can be fun.
The six programmes that make up Journeys to the Bottom of the Sea were apparently among the most in-demand for video release last year. They tell tales of divers who approach their projects from a variety of motives, from selfless to mercenary, but all of whom become caught up in the thrill of the chase.
On one hand we see the dedication of that nice Colin Martin, who has sunk his own money into excavating the Civil War wreck the Swan off the west coast of Scotland and sharing his findings.
Year after year his saintly family wait patiently on drizzly rocks at one end of an umbilical while he disappears for two hours at a time.
Then there are salvors like Steve Salvison, forced to be philosophical about his ill-fated attempts to retrieve gold bullion from the seas around the Philippines.
Other wreck-hunters such as Barry Clifford seek a lost French fleet off Venezuela and find not treasure but the satisfaction of proving a theory right, while in the case of Phil Masters (nine years seeking Blackbeard's treasure ship in the wrong place) and Peter Gesner (chasing HMS Pandora, the ship which sought to bring the Bounty mutineers home to justice), the pursuit seems to become all-consuming.
Series producer Will Aslett sets out to squeeze each tale into a detective-story mould - it doesn't always come off but I was hooked anyway.
We are repeatedly told that these divers are questing for the truth. The story of the unusually armed submarine M1 conveniently side-steps the truth that another diver had found the wreck shortly before the programme-makers arrived on the scene, and that he pre-empted the theory it took them an hour of TV time to reach. Details, details.
What is true is that there is some splendidly reckless diving in here, from Salvison's 84m air-bounce to Clifford's last-ditch swim across a shallow reef in heavy swells. It's also true that the computerised reconstructions of sinkings are extremely tasty, that most of the programmes could have benefited by being shaved by at least a quarter, and that the relentlessly ominous tones of narrator Ian McShane grate after five and a half hours.
But this captivating series is highly recommended to those who want flesh attached to the dry bones of nautical archaeology.
Steve Weinman