David Mearns

American maritime archaeologist

For the librarian and scholar of Abraham Lincoln, see David C. Mearns.

David Mearns

OBE OAM

Born|  (1958-08-10) August 10, 1958 (age 66)

Weehawken, New Jersey

Alma mater| Fairleigh Dickinson University
University of South Florida
Occupation| Marine scientist

David Louis Mearns (born 10 August 1958), is an American-born United Kingdom based marine scientist and oceanographer, who specializes in deep water search and recovery operations, and the discovery of the location of historic shipwrecks.

## Early life

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Mearns was raised in Weehawken, New Jersey, where he attended Weehawken High School, graduating in 1976. He subsequently graduated B.Sc. in Marine Biology from Fairleigh Dickinson University in 1980, and obtained a masters degree in Marine Geology from the University of South Florida in 1986.[1]

## Oceanographic career

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From 1986 to 1995 Mearns was employed in the commercial undersea surveying industry in a managerial capacity. In 1990 he worked on the criminal investigation into the deliberate sinking of the freighter Lucona by a time bomb, and in 1994 located the wreck of the ore-bulk-oil carrier MV Derbyshire. Relocating to England in the mid 1990s, he established Blue Water Recoveries, Limited, a commercial company that locates and researches historic deep-sea shipwrecks across the globe.[2]

In 2001, to coincide with the 60th anniversary of the Battle of the Denmark Strait high seas confrontation between the naval forces of the British Empire and Nazi Germany during World War II, Mearns successfully led an expedition funded by Channel 4 Television to locate and film on the seabed of the North Atlantic Ocean the wrecks of the Royal Navy flagship HMS Hood, and its nemesis, the Bismarck. An extended television documentary entitled The Hunt for the Hood was produced from the expedition.[3] In 2012 Mearns led an expedition, filmed for a British television documentary entitled How the Bismarck Sank HMS Hood, to re-visit the wreck of HMS Hood to facilitate study of the technical aspects of the warship's destruction.[4]

Mearns and Blue Water Recoveries Ltd. holds five Guinness World Records, including one for the deepest shipwreck ever found, the German blockade runner Rio Grande, which was located at a depth of 5,762 metres (18,904 ft).[5]

In 2008 Mearns led a search team to find the Australian cruiser HMAS Sydney and the German auxiliary cruiser Kormoran, which both sank following an engagement off Western Australia in 1941 during World War 2. Prior to finding HMAS Sydney, Mearns said that it was, in some ways, "bigger than the Titanic" because of what it meant to Australia. "Nothing comes close to the Sydney."[6] At the end of 2010, he successfully led the search for another missing Australian shipwreck, the Hospital Ship Centaur, which was torpedoed off Queensland by a Japanese submarine in 1943.[7] On 1 November 2010, Mearns was awarded an honorary Medal of the Order of Australia in recognition of his work in locating and analyzing the wrecks of HMAS Sydney and AHS Centaur.[8]

On 3 March 2015, Mearns was part of a team led by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen which located the wreck of the Japanese battleship Musashi in the Sibuyan Sea.[9]

On 15 March 2015, Mearns jointly announced with the Ministry of Heritage & Culture of the Government of Oman the discovery of a shipwreck from Vasco da Gama's 4th Portuguese India Armada in 1502-1503. The wreck is believed to be the Portuguese nau Esmeralda that was commanded by Vicente Sodré, the maternal uncle of Vasco da Gama.[10] Having sunk in May 1503, the Esmeralda is believed to be the earliest ship from Europe's Age of Discovery ever to be found and excavated by archaeologists. Mearns published a paper, with co-authors D. Parham and B. Frohlich, on the discovery in the International Journal of Nautical Archaeology.[11]

Since 2003, Mearns has been studying the possible wreck location of Sir Ernest Shackleton's Endurance, which was lost during the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition to the South Pole in 1915.[12] Together with Lars Bergman and Robin Stuart, Mearns conducted new analysis of the final sinking position of Endurance's shipwreck based upon a re-analysis of the original lunar occultation timings made by Reginald James and Frank Worsley.[13] Mearns delivered the Royal Institute of Navigation 2022 EGR Taylor Lecture on their analysis.[14] Bergman, Mearns and Stuart were awarded a special Certificate of Achievement by the Royal Institute of Navigation "in recognition of their pioneering data analysis and modelling leading to the successful location of Endurance's wreck".

In January 2019, Mearns was commissioned to locate a light-aircraft (carrying the professional footballer Emiliano Sala and pilot, David Ibbotson) which had disappeared whilst flying across the English Channel. On 3 February 2019 the search team led by Mearns located the wreck of the aircraft lying in waters around the Channel Islands.[15][16]

Mearns was a lead member of a Royal Canadian Geographical Society team that discovered the wreckage of the Quest, the polar exploration vessel of the Shackleton–Rowett Expedition of 1921–1922 on which Sir Ernest Shackleton died in 1922. The wreck was found in 390 metres of water on the seabed of the Labrador Sea approximately 85 kilometres off Labrador's south coast, sitting almost upright, and appearing to be broadly intact.[17]

## Personal life

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Mearns lives in the West Sussex village of Lodsworth. He is a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and the Explorers' Club.[18]

## Awards and honours

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* 2025: Order of the British Empire OBE for services to the Location and Recovery of Historic Shipwrecks[19]
* 2024: Joseph Elzéar Bernier Medal, Royal Canadian Geographical Society[20]
* 2024: QUEST Medal, Royal Canadian Geographical Society[21]
* 2024: Honorary Fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society[22]
* 2023: Certificate of Achievement, Royal Institute of Navigation
* 2019: Lowell Thomas Award, The Explorers Club
* 2019: Global Leadership Award, University of South Florida
* 2018: Mountbatten Best Book Award for The Shipwreck Hunter
* 2018: Society for Nautical Research Certificate of Merit for The Shipwreck Hunter
* 2015: Sir Robert Craven Award, Britannia Naval Research Association
* 2011: Distinguished Alumni Award, University of South Florida
* 2010: Maritime Fellowship Award, UK Maritime Foundation
* 2010: Honorary Medal of the Order of Australia OAM for service to Australia
* 1995: Seatrade Awards Safety at Sea Commendation for the MV Derbyshire Search Project

## Books

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* Hood and Bismarck (Pub. Channel 4, London) 2001.
* The Search for the Sydney (Pub. HarperCollins) 2009.
* The Shipwreck Hunter (Pub. Allen & Unwin) 2017.
* The Sinking of H.M.A.S. Sydney (Pub. HarperCollins) 2018.

## References

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1. ^ Hague, Jim. "Weehawken native finds HMS Hood on ocean's floor Mearns' six-year journey ends with mixed emotions; leads to documentary, book" Archived 2016-12-30 at the Wayback Machine, The Hudson Reporter, November 9, 2001. Accessed December 29, 2016. "When David Mearns was a youngster growing up in Weehawken, he was always fascinated by water.... Upon graduating from Weehawken High School in 1976, Mearns headed to Fairleigh Dickinson University to major in marine biology. He graduated in 1980 after studying in St. Croix in the Virgin Islands for a semester, then headed to graduate school at the University of South Florida in Tampa."
2. ^ Entry (dated 2017) for Mearns on the Linkedin professional profile website.
3. ^ IMDb entry for 'The Hunt for the Hood'. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1318884/
4. ^ 'How the Bismarck Sank HMS Hood', Darlow Smithson Productions, 2012, IMDb website (2018). https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2585546/
5. ^ A.B.C. (Australia) Report, 'The Hunt for H.M.A.S. Sydney', April 2008. http://www.abc.net.au/tv/hmassydney/whosinvd.htm
6. ^ "'I'll find HMAS Sydney'". news.com.au. Sunday Telegraph. 2006-11-12. Archived from the original on 2012-09-05. Retrieved 2008-09-01.
7. ^ Fraser, Andrew (21 December 2009). "Discovery proves maligned navigator got it right". The Australian. p. 3. Retrieved 21 December 2009.
8. ^ Smith, Aaron (4 November 2010). "Shipwreck finder gets honorary OAM". Australian Geographic. Archived from the original on 6 November 2010. Retrieved 5 November 2010.
9. ^ "Live video feed of sunken Japan WWII warship Musashi by Paul Allen research team". CBS News. 13 March 2015.
10. ^ "Vasco da Gama shipwreck Esmeralda near Oman from Vasco da Gama fleet".
11. ^ Mearns, David (14 March 2016). "A Portuguese East Indiaman from the 1502–1503 Fleet of Vasco da Gama off Al Hallaniyah Island, Oman: an interim report" (PDF). International Journal of Nautical Archaeology. 46 (2): 331–350\. doi:10.1111/1095-9270.12175.331-350&rft.date=2016-03-14&rft_id=info:doi/10.1111/1095-9270.12175&rft.aulast=Mearns&rft.aufirst=David&rft_id=http://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/23370/13/Mearns_et_al-2016-International_Journal_of_Nautical_Archaeology-1.pdf&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:David+Mearns" class="Z3988">
12. ^ 'Shipwreck Hunter David Mearns', profile and interview, 'HistoryNet', 29 April 2018. http://www.historynet.com/shipwreck-hunter-david-mearns.htm
13. ^ Bergman, Mearns and Stuart (November 2022). "Influence of chronometer error uncertainties on the Longitude of Shackleton's vessel, Endurance". The Journal of Navigation. 75 (6): 1269–1279\. doi:10.1017/S0373463322000649. Retrieved 21 February 2023.1269-1279&rft.date=2022-11&rft_id=info:doi/10.1017/S0373463322000649&rft.au=Bergman,+Mearns+and+Stuart&rft_id=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-navigation/article/abs/influence-of-chronometer-error-uncertainties-on-the-longitude-of-shackletons-vessel-endurance/9A0C79B045AEC8F65005DC5CB04C0AC3&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:David+Mearns" class="Z3988">
14. ^ Stead, Clare. "EGR Taylor lecture - Reconstructing the navigational clues to the sinking location of Shackleton's Vessel ENDURANCE". Royal Institute of Navigation. Retrieved 13 October 2022.
15. ^ Sheena McKenzie and Samantha Beech (3 February 2019). "Wreckage from missing plane of footballer Emiliano Sala found". CNN.
16. ^ "Who is the man behind the Sala search?". BBC News. 4 February 2019.
17. ^ Pope, Alexandra (12 June 2024). "Wreck of Quest, famed Antarctic explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton's last ship, found in Labrador Sea". Canadian Geographic. Royal Canadian Geographical Society. Retrieved 12 June 2024.
18. ^ 'Blue Water Recoveries' website (2018), biography of David Mearns. http://bluewater.uk.com
19. ^ Christian, Fuller. "Shipwreck hunter appointed OBE in New Year Honours". BBC News, South East. Retrieved 30 December 2024.
20. ^ "RCGS honours Shackleton Quest Expedition team with special medal". Royal Canadian Geographical Society. Retrieved 08 November 2024. `{{cite web}}`: Check date values in: `|access-date=` (help)
21. ^ "RCGS honours Shackleton Quest Expedition team with special medal". Royal Canadian Geographical Society. Retrieved 08 November 2024. `{{cite web}}`: Check date values in: `|access-date=` (help)
22. ^ "Featured Fellow: David Mearns". Royal Canadian Geographical Society. Retrieved 08 November 2024. `{{cite web}}`: Check date values in: `|access-date=` (help)

## External links

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* David Mearns' Twitter account
* Blue Water Recoveries (official website)
* Elizabeth Gosch, "Maritime legend" Archived 2008-04-12 at the Wayback Machine The Australian (April 11, 2008)