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| How I Got Started My love affair with the sea began when I was no more than six years old, walking along the sandy beaches of Southern California. I always wanted to make the first set of footprints in the wet sand. My adventures began in small tidal pools carved in the rocks where creatures of all colors and shapes hid from view or darted back and forth, eager for the rising tide to set them free. Later my adventures took me out on a long pier near my home, where I spent countless hours dangling a baited hook beneath the sea, wondering what monster I might catch. Unlike many surfers who sought the perfect wave, my interests always lay beneath the sea’s surface in a world I could only imagine and dream of. Soon, wearing a snorkel and a mask, I made my first solo adventures in the deep. Later I would learn how to scuba dive, expanding my world of exploration many times over. All along the way, my parents and teachers encouraged my interest in the sea, providing me with books to read or taking me to the ocean once we moved inland and I couldn’t reach it by myself. Perhaps the greatest turning point in my life came when I was in high school and I wrote a letter to the famous Scripps Oceanographic Institution, in San Diego, asking how I might learn more about the sea. A kind scientist answered my letter and told me how to apply to Scripps for a summer scholarship, which I received. During one of their cruises that summer, I met Dr. Robert Norris, a marine geologist. He loved the sea almost as much as I did. His passion was infectious. Soon he was asking me what my plans were and where I expected to attend college. I told him I didn’t know, so he suggested I consider his school, the University of California in Santa Barbara. My parents drove me to Santa Barbara for an interview, and one year later I drove there myself, this time as a member of the freshman class. Where My Interests Take Me For three months, during the summer between my junior and senior years of high school, I went on one adventure after another while working at Scripps. On my first two times at sea, my ship was tossed about in an angry ocean. It was like a ride on a watery roller coaster. I was so impressed with the power of the sea and its ability to control my life. Now my love affair with the sea became a serious endeavor. I needed to learn a lot about geography, navigation, meteorology, geology, biology, and many other things. While I was in school, I took a little of everything. I decided another important thing for me to do was to join the U.S. Navy. If I was going to be an undersea explorer, I would have to lead men and women on dangerous adventures where they might get hurt, and I didn’t want that to happen. In the Navy I learned discipline, organization, and how to motivate and lead people on expeditions so that we could explore the wonders of the deep. Finally, the time came to put all that I had learned to use, to go forth with a team of men and women and explore—an adventure I am still on and hope to be on for many years to come.
I ask myself, is the project challenging? Has it ever been done before? Is it truly worth doing? Does it have importance to the world? I follow my own ideas and work on projects that I’m passionately interested in. Reading and research generate ideas for me. The hardest thing about my work is to convince people to sponsor an expedition—finding a Queen Isabella who’ll hock her jewels and trust in my dream. I need to assemble a dedicated team who shares my passion and has the knowledge and motivation to operate extremely complex technologies under the worst of conditions. Each project requires a great deal of long-term planning, so I have a number of projects all in various stages. Every project follows a five-year cycle: We first research the project to see if it’s doable; then I look for a sponsor to provide the financial resources; then the project has to be organized; and finally, we get to go on the expedition. When the project is completed, there are articles to write for scientific journals or magazines, or perhaps a book or TV special to put together. Discoveries in the Field My biggest discovery was the luxury liner Titanic, in the North Atlantic, but I am most proud of discovering hydrothermal vents and ancient Roman trading ships. The hydrothermal vents, deep-sea hot springs that are formed when plates of Earth move apart on the ocean floor and crack open in the crust, support truly amazing communities of undersea animals. Most of the creatures my colleagues and I found were completely new to science. We stored specimens in everything from Tupperware to plastic bags to take back for study. Living in the hydrothermal vents are ancient, exotic creatures not closely related to any other creatures found in the deep sea. These creatures have learned how to live off the energy of the Earth instead of the energy of the sun. In many ways they are like living dinosaurs. They may have been some of the first creatures on our planet. In fact, life on Earth may have begun in hydrothermal vents like these. I am proud to have the opportunity to bring history alive and to add to our scientific understanding. My expeditions are very careful to preserve our discoveries for research. We are not interested in treasure hunting. For example, we felt it was important not to diminish the Titanic’s beauty and dignity by taking objects from it.
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| Photo Credits. Top: Ken Marschall. Right: Jonathan Blair. Bottom: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. © 2000 National Geographic Society. All rights reserved. |
