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Response to Deep Sea Vision’s Sonar Target in the Search for Amelia Earhart

Nauticos has surveyed 1860nm2 across 3 expeditions in 2002, 2006, and 2017. Combined with the Waitt Institute’s search in 2009, 3610nm2 have previously been surveyed without locating the aircraft. This is an area close to the size of Connecticut.

The sonar target DSV has detected, appears to be consistent with the sonar signature of an airplane, however, long range sonar images have historically proven to be deceiving, especially in areas with geological formations.

Yes, the sonar target appears to have a fuselage, wings, and a tail, but…it appears to have swept wings, the relative dimensions do not match the Electra, and there is a lack of engine nacelles. Those characteristics are not consistent with a Lockheed Electra 10E.

All airplane “like” targets in the vicinity of Howland Island have the potential to be Amelia’s Electra and should be positively identified.

All credible fuel endurance studies indicate she ran out of fuel around the time of her last transmission at 08:43. One hour after she reportedly radioed “½ hour fuel remaining.”

Nauticos historic radio testing and analysis has determined that she was just outside visual range of the Coast Guard cutter Itasca positioned at Howland Island at 08:00.

From the published materials, it appears that the target DSV located is in an area referred to as the “Dateline Theory.” That area is significantly west of Howland Island, 46-86 nm

Nauticos historic radio testing and analysis has determined that there is little chance that Amelia ditched her aircraft in that area. It would be difficult for her to be significantly west of her 8:00 location when she stated that she was flying north and south (157°/337°) in her 8:43 transmission.

Nauticos believes that if DSV’s target is in fact Amelia’s Lockheed Electra, then the aircraft ended up on the bottom at that location because it floated for an extended period after ditching into the ocean which is unlikely.

DSV’s release of this information will not impact Nauticos / SeaWord plans to launch an expedition to survey newly defined high probability search areas in the near future. Tax deductible donations to support future operations can be made to the SeaWord Foundation www.seaword.org.

Explorer Insights | pixphy |

Books By David W. Jourdan

New Book Last Man Down by David W. Jourdan

Books by David W. Jourdan

SS-168—USS Nautilus—was the pre-war flagship of Submarine Division 12 and operated out of Pearl Harbor throughout World War II. She was commissioned July 1, 1930, before international naval treaties limited future submarine size, and thus was among the largest submarines in the U.S. fleet. Over a football field in length and displacing 4,000 tons submerged, the boat was able to carry a large crew, ample cargo, two dozen torpedoes, cruiser-sized six-inch caliber guns, and cruise as far as 25,000 miles. She could dive to three hundred feet—though her crew was known to take her deeper. Throughout 1942-45 Nautilus engaged the enemy in fourteen war patrols, from the Battle of Midway to the liberation of the Philippines, earning fourteen battle stars and the U.S. Presidential Unit Citation. Her skipper, William H. Brockman, Jr., received not one but three Navy Crosses for heroism, the first for fighting through 42 depth charges at Midway. Nautilus did everything a submarine can do and was involved in most of the major actions of the Pacific theater. In Last Man Down, historical events documented in deck logs and patrol reports are told through the voices of the men who lived them.

Last Man Down

USS Nautilus and the Undersea War in the Pacific

by David W. Jourdan

Introduction

USS Nautilus (SS-168) was commissioned July 1, 1930, before international naval treaties limited future submarine size, and thus was among the largest submarines in the U.S. fleet. Over a football field in length and displacing 4,000 tons submerged, the boat was able to carry a large crew, ample cargo, two dozen torpedoes, cruiser-sized six-inch caliber guns, and cruise as far as 25,000 miles. She could dive to three hundred feet – though her crew was known to take her deeper.

SS-168 was the flagship of Submarine Division 12 operating out of Pearl Harbor, then a U.S. Territory. On May 24, 1942, Nautilus and her untested 93-man crew got underway for her first war patrol to Midway Island to help repel the expected Japanese attack. She returned to Midway on June 7, after shooting five torpedoes and having survived forty-two depth charges. As told in The Search for the Japanese Fleet, the dramatic tale of Nautilus and her actions during an eight-hour period early in that first patrol would rank among the most important contributions of a submarine to the most decisive engagement in U.S. Navy history.

Last Man Down continues the saga of the venerable warship and her service to our nation. Over her fourteen patrols through almost war’s end she sunk Japanese ships off Tokyo Bay; rescued civilians in the dead of night from enemy occupied islands; conducted reconnaissance ahead of the invasion of Tarawa; deployed commandoes to retake Attu in the Aleutians; and delivered vital supplies to resistance fighters in the Philippines. In short, Nautilus did everything a submarine can do and was involved in most of the major actions of the Pacific theater. Over the course of the war Nautilus traveled nearly 125,000 nautical miles, two-thirds of the way to the moon, which amounts to over 40,000 leagues under the sea.

In Last Man Down, historical events documented in deck logs and patrol reports are told through the voices of the men who lived them. Drawing on interviews with surviving crewmen (all since passed), contemporary writings, and consultation with family members, the story brings to life the drama of a torpedo attack, the fear of depth charging, the distress of evacuating wounded Marines, and the liveliness of R&R ashore in Australia. Major characters include a young sonar man who sat in the conning tower manning his gear during depth charge attacks, the gunnery officer whose periscope photos were featured in Life Magazine, a chief electrician who was on board for thirteen patrols, and the submarine’s most famous wartime skipper who earned the Navy Cross for heroism – three times.

Operation Rising Sun

The Sinking of Japan’s Secret Submarine I-52

by David W. Jourdan

In 1944 Allied codebreakers learned the Imperial Japanese Navy had dispatched the cargo submarine I-52 to occupied France with tons of military supplies and payment—in gold—for German assistance. I-52 undertook the mission as part of the Yanagi missions, a military program meant to alleviate Japan’s desperate need for military material and technical knowledge. After tracking I-52 from Asia to the Atlantic, the Allies destroyed the vessel in a battle that ended the Yanagi missions and left I-52 an unlikely treasure ship on the seafloor.

David W. Jourdan adds to the history of I-52 with a spellbinding account of his efforts to find the sunken submarine. One of the first joint American-Russian research expeditions, the search for the wreck combined a team effort, exhaustive detective work, and a dramatic battle with the sea. The effort paid off when the group found I-52’s nearly intact hull three miles down. The expedition also earned an unexpected historical dividend when it uncovered one-of-a-kind recordings of American Avenger torpedo bomber attacks on an enemy submarine.

Part war tale and part seagoing adventure, Operation Rising Sun tells the story of the two very different missions to find submarine I-52.

“Never Forgotten: The Search and Discovery of Israel’s Lost Submarine DAKAR”

by David W. Jourdan

dakarbook

After the submarine DAKAR went down somewhere in the Mediterranean, Israel spent 31 years searching for the sixty-nine officers and crew. Newly purchased from the Royal Navy, along with two of her T-class sisters, she was commissioned into the Israeli Navy on 10 November 1967 as Dakar (“Swordfish” in Hebrew) and en route to Haifa after completing sea trails in England. On January 25 1968, two minutes after midnight, the Dakar transmitted her last communication Compelled by one of Israel’s strongest military traditions to bring home all killed and missing during battle for a proper Jewish burial, over 25 expeditions were launched and to search different areas of the Mediterranean. Imagine the national frustration of not being unable to find a massive 287-foot submarine that was lost for over 31 years, and not knowing the fate of the men of the DAKAR? This was the problem faced by the Israeli Navy in 1996 when it invited David Jourdan and his company Nauticos to conduct the search which led to discovery in May 1999. “NEVER FORGOTTEN: The Search and Discovery of Israel’s Lost Submarine DAKAR” tells the exhilarating story of the will, endurance, and technical know-how of extraordinary people who made a lifelong impact on an entire nation and sixty-nine grieving families. NEVER FORGOTTEN is a first-person account that grew directly from Jourdan’s successful career in deep-sea searches. The narrative follows the technological quest to locate the missing ship, 10,000 feet deep, and then try to discover the cause of the disaster. Included is the story of the DAKAR itself, beginning with its origins as the WWII British HMS TOTEM, through its sale to Israel, and the last, fateful voyage from which it never returned. Through it all we follow the families of the lost crew, from their pride in the DAKAR, to their horror of its loss, and their closure with the discovery of their loved ones’grave site. A dramatic final chapter imagines what the crew of the doomed submarine might have been doing in the final seconds before a massive implosion snuffed out their lives.While the exact cause of the loss is still unknown, it is likely that a catastrophic hull rupture occurred during a dive since it appears that no emergency measures had been taken before Dakar dove rapidly through her maximum depth. On 11 October 2000, Dakar’s bridge and forward edge of her sail were raised, and are now a memorial display in the Naval Museum in Haifa. Recover the remains of the crew members and giving them Jewish burial in Israel was finally abandoned, due to the enormous cost of such an operation and in deference to the long-standing maritime tradition of letting the sea bottom be the final resting place of drowned sailors. The crew members’ families had to content themselves with holding a ceremony in a ship over the submarine’s remnants.In the thirty-year period between the loss of the submarine and the final discovery of its remnants, various suppositions and Cold War conspiracy theories circulated. Many Israeli cities and towns have a Dakar Street, and several schools and other public institutions are also named for the lost submarine. “Full Circle,” a television documentary of the project was first aired on the National Geographic Channel in November of 2003, adding to public recognition of this event.

“The Deep Sea Quest for Amelia Earhart” Never Forgotten Book II

by David W. Jourdan

Amelia Earhart

The disappearance of Amelia Earhart is possibly the greatest aviation mystery of the twentieth century. Amelia and her navigator, Fred Noonan, vanished without a trace in the vast Pacific near tiny Howland Island during their attempt to circle the globe on July 2, 1937. No wreckage, oil slick, or floating debris of any sort was ever found. Other than a few fleeting radio messages, there is no primary source to narrow speculation on their fate. Over the last decade, David W. Jourdan, founder of the deep-sea exploration company Nauticos, and Elgen Long, famed aviator and author of the book Amelia Earhart: The Mystery Solved (Simon and Schuster, 1999), have teamed with engineers, analysts, researchers, sponsors, and investors to begin the most extensive high-resolution mapping of the deep-ocean floor in history. During the course of this work, Jourdan and his team launched two seven-week expeditions, in 2002 and 2006, in a quest to find Amelia Earhart’s Lockheed Electra and put this mystery to rest. Locating such a small target in one of the deepest and most remote places on the planet was one of the most daunting quests ever faced by ocean explorers. It involved dramatic and sometimes life-threatening situations encountered over the course of weeks at sea, far from help or rescue. Deep-towed sonars were used to map underwater topography to one-meter accuracy over an area as large as the State of Rhode Island. Volcanic calderas, extensive ridge systems, and massive seamounts never before seen by humans were revealed as the team imaged terrain on earth’s final frontier. Deploying millions of dollars worth of equipment-spending a dollar every second-the expedition leaders and their supporters risked great fortune in the hopes of discovering an even greater historical treasure. The limits of equipment, endurance, nature, and even medicine were tested as the team pressed on.

The Battle of Midway as seen from the submarine Nautilus

The Search for the Japanese Fleet — USS Nautilus and the Battle of Midway by David W. Jourdan
The Search for the Japanese Fleet
USS Nautilus and the Battle of Midway
by David W. Jourdan
Potomac Books. June 2015. 368 pp. 6 x 9.
$29.95* hardcover 978-1-61234-700-4

The Search for the Japanese Fleet

USS Nautilus and the Battle of Midway

David W. Jourdan

Foreword by Philip G. Renaud

“A superb combination of history, strategy, tactics, and science, David Jourdan’s new treatment of the epic Battle of Midway is a masterpiece. He takes us deep—both literally and figuratively—into acoustic exploration at sea, unlocks the mysteries of the undersea portion of Midway, and tells a gripping tale of war at sea in what many believe was the pivotal battle of the Pacific theater of World War II. An instant classic!”—Adm. James Stavridis, USN (Ret.), former supreme allied commander at NATO, 2009–13

“David Jourdan and his team discovered the sunken Japanese submarine I-52 and found the lost Israeli submarine Dakar, but could they find the Japanese carrier Kaga, sunk at the Battle of Midway when, despite the best efforts of others, its location remained a mystery? Two submarines, incredibly sharing the hull number 168, played key roles in the battle. One was Japanese, I-168, whose torpedoes sent the wounded Yorktown into the deep. The other was the American Nautilus (SS-168), which played a crucial role during the battle itself, and again, fifty-seven years later, in the hunt for Kaga. Jourdan brings both to life in this fascinating account.”— Vice Adm. George W. Emery, USN (Ret.), former commander U.S. and allied submarine commands, Atlantic

In The Search for the Japanese Fleet, David W. Jourdan, one of the world’s experts in undersea exploration, reconstructs the critical role one submarine played in the Battle of Midway, considered to be the turning point of the war in the Pacific. In the direct line of fire during this battle was one of the oldest boats in the navy, USS Nautilus. The actions of Lt. Cdr. William Brockman and his ninety-three-man crew during an eight-hour period rank among the most important submarine contributions to the most decisive engagement in U.S. Navy history.

Fifty-seven years later, Jourdan’s team of deep-sea explorers set out to discover the history of the Battle of Midway and find the ships that the Allied fleet sank. Key to the mystery was Nautilus and its underwater exploits. Relying on logs, diaries, chronologies, manuals, sound recordings, and interviews with veterans of the battle, including men who spent most of June 4, 1942, in the submarine conning tower, the story breathes new life into the history of this epic engagement. Woven into the tale of World War II is the modern drama of deep-sea discovery, as explorers deploy new technology three miles beneath the ocean surface to uncover history and commemorate fallen heroes.

| pixphy |

Has Amelia Earhart Really Been Found?

“Don’t bet on it. A recent media frenzy that linked the missing aviator to bones recovered long ago on the Pacific island of Nikumaroro missed a crucial point. She probably wasn’t anywhere near the place.”

Carl Hoffman dressed in local garb for his bus trip across the Salang Pass in northern Afghanistan. Courtesy Carl Hoffman.

Carl Hoffman, journalist and adventure traveler, summarized the status of the search for Amelia Earhart in this article in Outside Magazine. Carl should know something about the topic: he was sent by National Geographic as an independent journalist to cover the Nauticos 2002 search expedition, and has been following the story ever since.

Hoffman suggests that no claim offered to date challenges the evidence that Amelia was somewhere near Howland Island when she ran out of fuel and was lost in the deep ocean. In particular, there’s nothing about the bones in and of themselves that establish them as being Earhart’s, even making the dubious assumption that she was there in the first place.

We at Nauticos agree, and will strive to continue the search for Amelia’s Lockheed Electra on the sea floor near Howland Island.

Learn more about Carl Hoffman and check out his latest book: The Last Wild Men of Borneo.

Explorer Insights | David Jourdan |

Jonathan Blair — Photographer

Jonathan Blair 1941-2017

We just learned of the sudden passing of the accomplished photographer, former Nauticos employee, and member of the 2002 Amelia Earhart search expedition, as well as long-term supporter of the project. Jonathan was noted in the Fall 2001 issue of Meridian Passages when he joined the team, the same issue that featured Elgen Long’s world flight. Some highlights of his career are below:

Blair was born in 1941 in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. He began his career at Northwestern University as a darkroom technician where he took photos of stars for Dearborn Observatory. Later, he enrolled at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) and received a degree in illustrative photography, graduating cum laude. One summer, he became the park’s photographer at Yosemite National Park. During his time there, he published many photographs for the United States Department of the Interior which helped him earn credits towards a bachelor’s degree in fine arts and photography, and helped him to secure a position as an intern for the National Geographic magazine. His first assignment for National Geographic was in 1966.

Jonathan participated in numerous expeditions to Africa, Asia Minor, and Europe. Since the 1970s, he has published more than three dozen articles with photographs in National Geographic, including The Last Dive of I-52, which he wrote after he took a 17,000 feet (5,200 m) dive in the Atlantic Ocean. In 2001, he became the Director of Media Development for Nauticos. His first assignment with them was at-sea photographer during their search for Amelia Earhart’s airplane.

Jonathan passed away quietly at home after an illness. His son Dakota, sister Kit, and brother Jeffrey were with him.

Explorer Insights | David Jourdan |

Eustace Earhart Discovery Expedition: The Team

Nauticos first learned of the availability of a suitable vessel for an extended deep-sea search expedition in mid December. The research vessel R/V Mermaid Vigilance would be arriving in Honolulu late January. Preparations have been underway for the expedition since the beginning of the year, with the aim of getting underway by the third week in February. This is a very short time to mobilize an expedition, but the opportunity to begin the charter in Hawaii, the nearest U.S. port to our search area, avoiding the cost of moving a vessel from the West Coast or Gulf of Mexico made it worth the effort.

R/V Mermaid Vigilance
R/V Mermaid Vigilance

Vigilance is a Multi Purpose Vessel capable of carrying cargo, handling large equipment, fighting fires, or providing support for any offshore activities. The vessel is 230 feet long and displaces close to 3,000 tons. Sporting a huge aft deck spanning most of its length, Vigilance is an ideal platform for deep ocean equipment. It’s five story tall forward superstructure includes comfortable accommodations and a wrap-around bridge. A huge engine room, kept very clean and tidy, houses twin diesels that propel Vigilance at a steady 9 knots, up to 11 in a pinch. Ship’s electricity is normally handled by a single generator, but four are provided with an emergency backup unit for good measure. The vessel is registered in Singapore, with an international crew from Mexico, Indonesia, and Ukraine. We look forward to sailing with Captain Noe Flores and his shipmates.

Our search and identification system is the Remus 6000 Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) fielded by the Oceanographic Systems Lab at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). The thirteen foot long one-ton torpedo shaped vehicle operates without cable or tether, and can dive to 6,000 meter depths (almost 20,000 feet). Its lithium batteries will run for nearly a full day, propelling the vehicle as it follows terrain just above the seafloor and running sensors including a side scan sonar for searching and a still camera for imaging targets. An autonomous navigation system guides the vehicle through its survey or imaging assignment and returns it to the surface at the end of each sortie. A launch and recovery system hauls the vehicle on board, where the mission’s data is downloaded and a fresh battery is installed. Within hours, the AUV is ready for the next sortie. Greg Packard will lead a team of four WHOI engineers to work with Nauticos and the ship’s crew to maintain and operate the Remus.

Remus 6000 Autonomous Underwater Vehicle
Remus 6000 Autonomous Underwater Vehicle

Overall management of the operation will be the responsibility of Nauticos and Operations Manager Spence King. We will define search areas, analyze sonar data, and strive on behalf of Alan Eustace to make sure all operations run smoothly and everyone on board works as a team.

The expedition will be documented by Bill Mills of BMA Production Services, who will serve as our Director of Photography. Bill is a veteran of past expeditions including our 2002 Amelia Earhart search. The SeaWord Foundation will conduct STEM educational outreach activities led by teacher Sallie Smith with support from the entire team. And of course we will have ashore liaison support led by Charlotte Vick. More to come in future posts about this extraordinary team it is my privilege to sail with.

Explorer Insights | David Jourdan |

The Deep-Sea Quest for Amelia Earhart Resumes

In late February a team from Nauticos with stratospheric explorer Alan Eustace and aviation pioneer Elgen Long will depart Honolulu for the vicinity of Howland Island, 1,600 miles to the southwest, to complete the deep sea search for Amelia Earhart’s lost Lockheed Electra. Adding to the work conducted during prior expeditions in 2002 and 2006, the team plans to complete a sonar survey of about 1,800 square miles of seafloor, an area believed to contain the aircraft. The expedition will use autonomous underwater technology to image the ocean floor nearly 18,000 feet below.

The Eustace Earhart Discovery Expedition is an important step in human exploration, expanding the realm of human achievement, funded by an explorer who extends the range of human possibility and in honor of a great explorer lost in those causes. Alan Eustace, with a doctorate in computer science, has led developments in pocket computing and computer architecture, and most recently retired from Google as Director of Knowledge.

Alan Eustace soars to the stratosphere
Alan Eustace soars to the stratosphere

A pilot, skydiver, and adventurer, Alan made history in 2014 with a record breaking near-space dive from the stratosphere at 135,890 feet. Free-falling over 23 miles, he reached a speed of 821 mph (breaking the sound barrier at Mach 1.3) before slowing in the thickening atmosphere and parachuting safely to earth. His spacesuit and support equipment went on permanent exhibit at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum on December 15, 2016.

Besides conducting our own search operations, our expedition will be working with NOAA to support its upcoming exploration of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument as the research vessel Okeanos Explorer maps the deep seafloor near Howland Island in March. An education team on board our vessel will share the excitement of deep sea exploration and the fascination of robotic technology as we sail the central Pacific in our quest.

Stay tuned over the coming days and weeks as we share details of our team, technology, and adventures as we prepare to go to sea.

Explorer Insights | David Jourdan |

Amelia

Eustace Earhart Discovery Expedition

On February 18, 2017 a team from Nauticos with stratospheric explorer Alan Eustace and aviation pioneer Elgen Long departed Honolulu for the vicinity of Howland Island, 1,600 miles to the southwest, to complete the deep sea search for Amelia Earhart’s lost Lockheed Electra. Adding to the work conducted during prior expeditions in 2002 and 2006, the team plans to complete a sonar survey of about 1,800 square miles of seafloor, an area believed to contain the aircraft. The expedition will use autonomous underwater technology provided by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution to image the ocean floor nearly 18,000 feet below.

The Eustace Earhart Discovery Expedition is an important step in human exploration, expanding the realm of human achievement, funded by an explorer who extends the range of human possibility and in honor of a great explorer lost in those causes. Alan Eustace, with a doctorate in computer science, has led developments in pocket computing and computer architecture, and most recently retired from Google as Director of Knowledge. A pilot, skydiver, and adventurer, Alan made history in 2014 with a record breaking near-space dive from the stratosphere at 135,890 feet. Free-falling over 23 miles, he reached a speed of 821 mph (breaking the sound barrier at Mach 1.3) before slowing in the thickening atmosphere and parachuting safely to earth. His spacesuit and support equipment went on permanent exhibit at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum on December 15, 2016.

Book II of the "Never Forgotten" series, "The Deep Sea Quest for Amelia Earhart"
Book II of the “Never Forgotten” series, “The Deep Sea Quest for Amelia Earhart”

Besides conducting our own search operations, our expedition will be working with NOAA to support its upcoming exploration of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument as the research vessel Okeanos Explorer maps the deep seafloor near Howland Island in March.

Thanks to the sponsorship by SeaWord, an educator a teacher volunteer, and a journalist will be on the 2017 Earhart expedition, as well as a videographer. The team will share the excitement of deep sea exploration and the fascination of robotic technology as we sail the central Pacific in our quest.

| pixphy |

“The Deep Sea Quest for Amelia Earhart” Never Forgotten Book II



Amelia EarhartThe disappearance of Amelia Earhart is possibly the greatest aviation mystery of the twentieth century. Amelia and her navigator, Fred Noonan, vanished without a trace in the vast Pacific near tiny Howland Island during their attempt to circle the globe on July 2, 1937. No wreckage, oil slick, or floating debris of any sort was ever found. Other than a few fleeting radio messages, there is no primary source to narrow speculation on their fate. Over the last decade, David W. Jourdan, founder of the deep-sea exploration company Nauticos, and Elgen Long, famed aviator and author of the book Amelia Earhart: The Mystery Solved (Simon and Schuster, 1999), have teamed with engineers, analysts, researchers, sponsors, and investors to begin the most extensive high-resolution mapping of the deep-ocean floor in history. During the course of this work, Jourdan and his team launched two seven-week expeditions, in 2002 and 2006, in a quest to find Amelia Earhart’s Lockheed Electra and put this mystery to rest. Locating such a small target in one of the deepest and most remote places on the planet was one of the most daunting quests ever faced by ocean explorers. It involved dramatic and sometimes life-threatening situations encountered over the course of weeks at sea, far from help or rescue. Deep-towed sonars were used to map underwater topography to one-meter accuracy over an area as large as the State of Rhode Island. Volcanic calderas, extensive ridge systems, and massive seamounts never before seen by humans were revealed as the team imaged terrain on earth’s final frontier. Deploying millions of dollars worth of equipment-spending a dollar every second-the expedition leaders and their supporters risked great fortune in the hopes of discovering an even greater historical treasure. The limits of equipment, endurance, nature, and even medicine were tested as the team pressed on.

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| Jenne James |

About

Nauticos Corporation was founded in September 1986 and provides ocean technology services to government, science and industry. In 1995, Nauticos Corporation received international recognition for its participation in the discovery of the I-52, a historic World War II deep-water shipwreck of a Japanese submarine found at a depth of 17,000 feet. After this discovery, Nauticos Corporation began its expansion into ocean exploration and discovery. In 1998, Nauticos Corporation managed the operations for “Titanic Live”, a live broadcast from the bottom of the ocean, for the Discovery Channel and NBC’s Dateline.

SonarI52
Sonar image of the submarine I-52, resting at a depth of 17,000 feet in the Atlantic.

In 1999, Nauticos Corporation again gained worldwide recognition for the discovery of the DAKAR, an Israeli submarine lost in the Mediterranean Sea in 1968. Many previous efforts had failed to find the lost submarine, but Nauticos Corporation located the DAKAR off the coast of Crete at a depth of 10,000 feet by relying on its proprietary RENAV software to define the search area. This project culminated in the recovery of a 4-ton piece of the hull that was delivered to Haifa, Israel for preservation and exhibit in a memorial to the crew. At the same time, Nauticos Corporation teamed with the Naval Oceanographic Office to locate wreckage from the Japanese aircraft carriers sunk at the World War II Battle of Midway in 1942. The discovery of the Kaga, lying at a depth of 17,500 feet, was the subject of a Discovery Channel documentary that appeared in December 2000. During the DAKAR operation, Nauticos Corporation also discovered an ancient shipwreck dating back to the third century BC, with thousands of archaeological artifacts in pristine condition. The Institute of Nautical Archeology at Texas A&M University claims that this wreck is the oldest, deepest shipwreck yet discovered.

The bridge gyrocompass of the DAKAR rests on the bottom at a depth of 10,000 feet.
The bridge gyrocompass of the DAKAR rests on the bottom at a depth of 10,000 feet.

During 2000, Nauticos Corporation began to see the fruition of its 1998 vision as it signed $15 million of new core business contracts, aired its first television documentary, completed several successful salvage operations, and began work on several new media products. Nauticos Corporation also developed a 6,000-meter deep-towed sonar system, NOMAD, the main component of a planned suite of ocean operations equipment.

2001 saw the company embark on a program to search for Amelia Earhart’s lost Electra, with the first expedition setting out in February of 2002. Though the plane was not found, a significant portion of the search area was covered using NOMAD.

In 2003, Nauticos Corporation was merged with Oceaneering International, which continued much of the government and industry work the company had supported over the prior seventeen years. As part of the agreement, founder David Jourdan formed Nauticos, LLC, which continues the program of Ocean Discovery projects that the company had been pursuing. In 2006, Jourdan led a second expedition to the Earhart search area, and covered more territory. He also supported projects in such diverse areas as the use of deep-ocean water, historical shipwreck searches, and stratospheric exploration.

 

DWJDavid W. Jourdan is the founder and president of Nauticos LLC, a company devoted to the exploration of the deep oceans.

His career of nearly 30 years has been devoted to the exploration of the deep oceans, concentrating in the areas of remote sensing, underwater navigation, and renewable energy applications.

During his commission as a U.S. Navy submarine officer and as a physicist at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, he became an expert in the exploitation of large undersea environmental data sets, specializing in information collected by U.S. Navy ocean research submersibles and associated development programs.

As leader of Nauticos for over 20 years, he has continued to support scientific, archaeological, and military programs. These include the development of oceanographic database systems for the Navy, development and use of Kalman Filter navigation analysis software for submarine inertial navigators, and support of autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) test programs. More recently, he has worked on projects to develop the use of cold Deep-Ocean Water for fresh water production, cold agriculture, and other renewable energy applications.

In 1999 Mr. Jourdan was honored as Maryland’s Small Business Person of the Year and awarded Ernest and Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year in Science and Technology. He is an International Fellow of the Explorer’s Club, and a member of the Sea-Space Symposium.

| pixphy |