Contributors – Diving With Legends

George Bass		Dr. George Bass, is considered by many as the father of underwater archaeology. In his more than 30 years of research and teaching in this field, he has excavated shipwreck sites ranging from the Bronze Age up through the eleventh century A.D. Most of his work has been in the Mediterranean, but he has also conducted underwater research in many other areas of the world, including the Caribbean and the waters of Virginia and Maine. George was the first person to excavate an ancient shipwreck in its entirety on the sea bed. Founder of the Institute for Nautical Archaeology (INA), he is now Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Texas A&M; University. He has been the recipient of numerous awards and in 2002 President George W. Bush presented him with the National Medal of Science.

Leigh Bishop		Leigh Bishop was one of the first British divers to use mixed gas in order to dive the deeper shipwrecks around England. He has identified scores of previously unknown sites and several famous wrecks such as the ‘Flying Enterprise’ in the English Channel. During the 1990’s Leigh led the first expedition to explore a shipwreck deeper than 330ft in European waters. He began using underwater still photography specifically for the ‘Britannic’ and the several ‘RMS Lusitania’ projects he was involved with. ‘Britannic’, the largest sunken ocean liner in the world, was one of his first deep photographic assignments in 1998 and he was later tasked with the job as official expedition photographer for the National Geographic Channel 2003 project and in 2003 he was a photographer on a NOAA scientific expedition to ‘Titanic’.

John Chatterton		John Chatterton is one of the world’s most accomplished and well known wreck divers and co-host for the History Channel’s ‘Deep Sea Detectives’ with long time diving partner Richie Kohler. His passion has always been researching and diving the deep shipwrecks of the world. The discovery in 1991, and subsequent identification of the German submarine ‘U-869’, off the coast of New Jersey, has been the subject of several television documentaries including ‘Hitler’s Lost Sub’. This same story is now the subject of a New York Times bestselling book by Rob Kurson, called ‘Shadow Divers’. John was also a member of the first technical diving expedition to ‘Ireland’ and the legendary ‘RMS Lusitania’, in 1994. He was the first diver to use rebreather diving technology on the wreck of ‘HMHS Britannic’, at a depth of 400 feet.

Dan Crowell		Dan Crowell is a well-known and respected figure in the world of diving. His diving career has been highlighted in a number of books and publications. As Director of Photography for Seeker Digital Productions (SDP) and Director of Underwater Photography for KPI, he is An award-winning film-maker and videographer, and has produced a number of underwater documentaries for the Military channel, most notably the ‘Quest for Sunken Warships’ series.

James Delgado		Dr. James Delgado is one of the world’s leading maritime archaeologists and has uncovered many new archaeological sites across the globe. He has hosted the National Geographic television series ‘The Sea Hunters’ with author Clive Cussler for five years. He is also the author or editor of some thirty books, including the ‘British Museum Encyclopaedia of Underwater and Maritime Archaeology’, his most recent book, ‘Adventures of a Sea Hunter’ relives many of the series’ most exciting and incredible episodes. When not sea hunting, he is the President of the Institute of Nautical Archaeology.

Martha Watkins Gilkes		Martha Watkins Gilkes served as President of the Women Divers Hall of Fame (WDHOF) for four years. Martha has worked for over 20 years for the promotion and conservation of the marine environment throughout the Caribbean which led to her being recongized in the Whos Who of Women in the Enviornment by the United Nations Enviornment Programme. She is a leading women diver/explorer of the Eastern Caribbean, having explored and documented shipwrecks on 14 Caribbean Islands as well as other shipwrecks worldwide. Martha serves as Diving Liaison Officer for the Historical and Archaeology Society of Antigua and Barbuda. She continues to be an ardent marine conservationist and environmentalist dedicated to the lobby of anti whaling and promoting of freedom of dolphins throughout the world and has published two books on diving in the Caribbean.

Tony Groom		Tony Groom joined the Royal Navy at the age of 17 and went on to become a bomb disposal diver. In 1982, he saw active service in the Falklands war in which he was responsible for clearing mines and dealing with unexploded bombs. Tony kept diaries and records of his career both in the Navy and later as a commercial diver. He turned those stories into the best selling book; ‘Diver’. No matter how many years you have been diving, you will not have experienced what Tony has.

Howard Hall		Howard Hall is perhaps best known for his underwater IMAX films. In 1994 he directed the IMAX 3D feature, ‘Into the Deep’ and in 1998 he directed the IMAX film, Island of the Sharks (produced by his wife Michele Hall). Howard was Director of Underwater Cinematography for the Primesco Productions film ‘Lost Worlds’, the MacGillivray Freeman film, ‘The Living Sea’, and was Underwater Cinematographer for MacGillivray Freeman’s ‘Journey Into Amazing Caves’. In 2002 Howard was Underwater Sequence Director for MacGillivray Freeman’s ‘Coral Reef Adventure’, a film in which both he and Michele are featured on-camera. In 2005 Howard directed his second IMAX 3D feature entitled ‘Deep Sea 3D’ for Warner Brothers. Both ‘Into the Deep’ and ‘Deep Sea 3D’ are among the top five highest grossing IMAX 3D films ever produced by IMAX with ‘Deep Sea 3D’ winning both Howard and Michele a Film Achievement Award. Howard has also won 2 Daytime Emmy Awards.

Graham Hawkes		Graham Hawkes, an internationally renowned ocean engineer/inventor, has been responsible for the design of a significant percentage of all manned (and more than 300 remote) underwater vehicles built for research or industry worldwide. These include the Wasp and Mantis Atmospheric Diving Suits, the Deep Rover research submersibles which were recently featured in the James Cameron 3-D Imax film, ‘Aliens of the Deep’, and the Deep Flight series of winged submersibles. In the James Bond film, ‘For Your Eyes Only’, he played the character Mantis Man, piloting one of his own submersibles. Graham currently holds the world record for the deepest solo dive (3,000 feet), which he achieved while test piloting his Deep Rover submersible.

Jarrod Jablonski		Jarrod Jablonski is widely regarded as one of the world’s most capable and talented exploration divers at the cutting edge of extreme exploration. He is also Training Director for the WKPP Woodville Karst Plain Project, (an on-going exploration of the limestone cave systems that lie beneath the water-table in South Florida), Jarrod has also served as the Training Director for the National Association of Cave Diving; He has been a Board member for both the NACD and NSS-CDS; and sits on the Training Committee for the National Speleological Society cave diving section. As Project Leader and Dive Leader for numerous domestic and international research assignments, (with several thousand dives focusing on long range, deep exploration activities) he has performed many hundreds of extreme exposures utilising mixed gases, stage decompression, rebreathers, and underwater propulsion vehicles. Jarrod also holds the dual records for the world’s longest and deepest cave diving penetrations, a staggering underwater distance of 18,000 feet at a depth of 300 feet, established in 1998 together with, WKPP Poject Director, George Irvine.

Henry Joyce		Henry Joyce is a second generation Submariner. Now retired, he served on the USS Benjamin Franklin (SSBN-640). His father, also called Henry, made six war patrols on board the ‘USS Sea Lion II’ (SS-315) which was the only allied submarine to sink a battleship during the second World War. Henry saved the diaries his father wrote during those patrols. They tell of a submariner’s life, now long forgotten.

Richie Kohler		Richie Kohler’s passion for exploring shipwrecks has led him around the world to such wrecks as the ‘Andrea Doria’, ‘RMS Titanic’ and the ‘HMHS Britannic’, but it was his work identifying the WWII German Submarine, ‘U-869’, that catapulted his diving career into the world of television and underwater documentary film making. The best selling book that it inspired, ‘Shadow Divers’ by Robert Kurson is soon to be a major motion picture by 20th Century Fox. Alongside longtime diving partner John Chatterton, Kohler has co-hosted 57 episodes of the History Channel series, ‘Deep Sea Detectives’, and is now consulting and producing for the film and television industry.

Joe MacInnis		Dr. Joe MacInnis is a physician-scientist, author and deep-sea explorer. He has led 30 expeditions into the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic Oceans and written nine books about undersea exploration. His work has earned him a number of distinctions, including his country’s highest honor, the Order of Canada. In the 1960s, Dr. MacInnis was the medical director of the American ‘Man-in-Sea’ program and worked on the U. S. Navy’s ‘Sea Lab’ project. In the 1970s and 80s he led the teams that made the first scientific dives under the North Pole and discovered the world’s northernmost known shipwreck; ‘HMS Breadalbane’, under the ice of the Northwest Passage. Dr. MacInnis was an advisor to the ‘Titanic’ discovery team and co-leader of a $5 million expedition to film ‘Titanic’ in the giant-screen Imax format. It was this expedition that inspired James Cameron’s Academy Award winning movie. Dr. MacInnis is currently working with Cameron on a series of deep-sea documentary films.

Mike O’Leary		Mike O’Leary has been a Military and Commercial diver for almost 30 years. Whether it was disposing of mines and bombs as a Navy Clearance diver or just trying to stay out of harms way as a Commercial Sat diver, Mike’s had some pretty hairy experiences.

Paul Oberle		Paul Oberle is most famous for founding The Scuba Rangers in 1999. Paul conducted a pilot program at his store in Shreveport, Louisiana, for 12 months in association with Scuba Schools International (SSI) where he pioneered children specific training techniques, new terminology and educational philosophies. Scuba Schools International then worked with Paul to develop detailed instructional manuals and education products based on his program. Paul describes the mission of Scuba Rangers as simply this: to involve children in scuba diving and pass along the excitement of water exploration. The goal is for thousands and thousands of kids to develop a long-term affinity with the sport of scuba diving by the time they are 12 years old. The intent is that when they become adults, and are making recreational decisions, they will retain the affinity for scuba diving and pursue it as their passion. The Scuba Rangers program is now widely accessible to the entire diving industry.

Zale Parry		Zale Parry started diving in the 1940s, initially testing underwater equipment and going on to run the first civilian hyperbaric chamber for divers. In 1954 she set a woman’s depth record of 209 feet and became the third female instructor to graduate from the L.A. County UICC program. In 1954 Zale also made her screen debut in ‘Kingdom of the Sea’, which was shown in 70 countries. This led her to being cast alsongside Lloyd Bridges in the popular television series; ‘Sea Hunt’. An accomplished underwater photographer, Zale co-founded the International Underwater Film Festival in 1957. In 1960, she became the first elected woman president of the U/W Photographic Society. From the 1950s through the 1990s, Zale remained in demand as an actress and underwater stuntwoman for all the Hollywood studios. She has published the book; Scuba America Vol. I, the Human History of Sport Diving in America, and is already busy working on Volumes II through V. Zale is a recipient of the NOGI Award for Distinguished Service, DEMA’s Reaching Out Award, the Women’s Scuba Association Scuba Diver of the Year Award, and the Los Angeles Parks and Recreation Education Award. In 2001, Zale was made a “Lifetime Ambassador at Large,” by The Academy of Underwater Arts and Sciences. In 2002, she was inducted into the Cayman Island International Scuba Diving Hall of Fame and received the ‘Beneath the Sea Diver of the Year’ Award. Zale has been an ardent supporter of The Women Divers Hall of Fame (WDHOF) since its inception in 1999.

Jacques Piccard		Jacques Piccard is a Swiss oceanic engineer best noted for making the deepest ocean dive (with Lt. Don Walsh) in the bathyscaph ‘Trieste’, a submersible vessel he helped build with his father, Auguste Piccard. On 23rd January 1960 he descended seven miles to the deepest point on the earth’s surface, the Challenger Deep, in the Mariana Trench. It was over 50 years before this feat was equaled.

Karl Shreeves		Karl Shreeves is Technical Development Executive for PADI and DSAT (Diving Science & Technology – a PADI corporate affiliate). In that capacity, he’s a writer, instructional designer and photographer as well as a diver. An avid technical diver, Karl has applied his skills to diving for science as well. He’s a Research Diver for the Cambrian Foundation, and a regular contractor supporting NASA’s ‘NEEMO’ program in which astronauts live underwater for up to two weeks to study human factors and dynamics in space exploration.

Carl Spencer		Carl Spencer has been involved in and led expeditions to ‘HMHS Britannic’, still considered the benchmark Expedition dive in the industry, and co-lead joint military expeditions with the Royal Navy and British Army. He is the only person [other than the single remaining surviving ‘Titanic’ survivor] to have seen both the Titanic and her rescuer the ‘RMS Carpathia’. His ‘Britannic’ Expedition in 2003 was successful in locating and documenting the open water tight doors and proved why she sank so fast. His team also located the minefield which she sailed through that caused the fatal damage.

David Trotter		David Trotter has been discovering and exploring Great Lakes Shipwrecks since the late 70’s. In 25 years of exploration, he has discovered 75 shipwrecks. His discoveries and programs have been featured on the Discovery Channel, ABC News, CBS News, Great Lakes in Depth and in leading newspapers, including the New York Times and in leading dive publications. In a continuing odyssey, he has surveyed more than 2000 square miles of Lake Huron in what has become a remarkable one of a kind adventure. His exploits were featured in the best selling book ‘Shipwreck Hunter’, by Gerry Volgenau. David now produces programs on his shipwreck discoveries and shares his adventures on DVD, taking divers and non-divers alike on true Great Lakes adventures.

Stan Waterman		Stan Waterman has been at the forefront of scuba diving since its inception as a recreational sport. However, he may be best known for his work in commercial film. In 1968 he collaborated with Peter Gimbel on the classic shark film, ‘BLUE WATER, WHITE DEATH’. He was associate producer and underwater cameraman during the seven-month long production. He was also co-director of underwater photography and second unit in the production of ‘THE DEEP’, based on Peter Benchley’s best selling novel. Stan has received numerous honors and awards for his work in television including five Emmys, the Cousteau Diver of the Year Award and most recently has been named to the International Scuba Diving Hall of Fame. He has also written a fascinating book: ‘SEA SALT Memories and Essays’ which describes his underwater adventures.

Ralph Wilbanks		Internationally known and respected underwater archaeologist Ralph Wilbanks has lead a successful career searching for shipwrecks all over the world. He has participated in numerous search & salvage projects and more than 250 underwater projects since 1975. One of Ralph’s most famous finds was the CSS H.L. Hunley, the first combat submarine to sink a ship. ‘Hunley’ was the South’s “secret weapon”, built to break the Union blockade of Charleston’s harbor. On February 17, 1864, after sinking ‘USS Housatonic’, the Union’s largest battleship, ‘Hunley’ and her crew vanished. For 15 years, Clive Cussler’s National Underwater and Marine Agency (NUMA) searched tirelessly for ‘Hunley’. Finally, she was located in 1995 under three feet of silt four miles outside Charleston, S.C. The sub was raised in 2000 and is housed at the Warren Lasch Conservation Center in Charleston.

Burt Webber		Discovering the legendary Spanish Galleon ‘Nuestra Senora de la Concepcion’ that sank in 1641 off of the Dominican Republic, world renowned treasure hunter Burt Webber became the first man to see the remains of the treasure galleon in more than three centuries. Webber’s expedition produced a tremendous yield of sunken treasure with over 60,000 silver coins, bullion, gold chains and priceless artifacts, some of which are permanently exhibited in the national museums in Santo Domingo. Webber’s search and recovery operations revolutionized historic shipwreck exploration and salvage by introducing a sophisticated new underwater magnetometer system. Webber has been credited with locating numerous other wrecks and has been instrumental in research related to Captain William Kidd’s ship and Henry Morgan’s legendary ‘H.M.S. Oxford’.

Pete Millar		Dr. Pete Millar couldn’t even be described as a “Legend in his own Lunchtime”. He’s famous for very little other than writing a few books, one of which is ‘DOXA SUB – Forty Years 1967 – 2007’ but is fortunate enough to have the legendary people listed above contribute to the ‘Diving With Legends’ book.