Underwater archaeologist James Delgado reveals the stories behind history's most haunting shipwrecks
Delgado, who has investigated more than 100 shipwrecks globally, gained international attention in 2019 when he discovered the Clotilda, the last known slave ship to arrive in the United States. The discovery was later featured in a "60 Minutes" segment with Anderson Cooper.
The archaeologist's fascination with shipwrecks began in childhood while growing up in the San Francisco Bay area, where he learned about ships from the 1849 Gold Rush. He said locating shipwrecks requires extensive preparation.
"It takes a team. And that team includes oceanographers, people that understand currents. We're also looking at old records and charts. You're also trying to understand the forensics of it," he said.
The process involves analyzing factors like ship speed and sailing patterns. Once located, the wrecks often don't match popular expectations.
"We have great images that people think of as shipwrecks, but there are a pile of rockets and timber and anchor, and then you go, all right, what exactly am I looking at here," he said.
In his book, Delgado describes the sea as "the largest museum on Earth" and argues that every shipwreck has a story to tell.
"I think the most important thing for people to remember about shipwrecks is that it's okay for them to have different meanings," Delgado said. "Some people like them because they inspire you with the stories of bravery. Others are tragic and sad. For some, they're the graves of family. But for others, they're a great opportunity to dive and to explore."
The archaeologist has also explored the Titanic, describing the experience as overwhelming despite the ship's fame.
"Nothing prepares you for seeing 'Titanic,'" he said.
After a 2.5-hour descent in a Russian submersible, with pressure so intense that "a regular styrofoam coffee cup gets squeezed down" when strapped to the outside, Delgado said the anticipation suddenly disappeared when the ship appeared.
"There it was looming out of the darkness," he recalled. "This massive hull rising twice as high as the ceiling here. Still painted but streaked with rust and rusticles that are orange and yellow and red. And then a porthole that's open and another closed."
Delgado described one particularly eerie moment: "One of the spookiest moments — because 'Titanic' is a ship of the dead — is when I first looked through the porthole, 2.5 miles down, the lights — I could see a face looking back at me in the porthole. It was my own reflection."
He reflected on the ship's enduring power: "This ship sitting on the bottom ruined and deteriorating still is the stage upon which some of the most powerful drama played out that we all know about with the shipwreck. And you're there."
"The Great Museum of the Sea" is available wherever books are sold.
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