Mission Logs April 30, 2006 Crunching data, wrapping up and heading home. April 29, 2006 Rough seas and small craft advisories make the going tough. April 28, 2006 The team explores the North America, a 19th century masted vessel. April 27, 2006 Today kicked off media day as the team provides an educational tour under water. April 26, 2006 Archaeologists kick off the photo-mosaic mission. Take a look at the newly developed sled technology in action! Mission Home Page

Brenda S. Altmeier is a program support specialist for the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary upper region. A Key Largo resident since 1991, Brenda moved to the Keys from Frankfort, Mich., a small coastal town on Lake Michigan. Since 1993, Brenda has worked for the sanctuary evolving from a position within the education department to one with Maritime Heritage Resources. Brenda has been a PADI certified diver since 1994 and a NAUI Dive Master/NOAA Working Diver for the past three years. She will serve as a support diver during the project.

Stephen F. Beckwith
R/V Odyssey Captain

Commander Stephen F. Beckwith, a NOAA Corps officer, is currently the upper region manager of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. His responsibilities include implementing the Maritime Heritage Resources Management Action Plan for the sanctuary. Beckwith has been a NOAA Working Diver for the past 13 years. He will command the research vessel and serve as a support diver during the Shipwreck Trail Photo-Mosaic Project.

Walt Bonora
Writer

Walt Bonora, writer/editor with NOAA's National Marine Sanctuary Program, will join the team to provide daily Web logs, write articles about the expedition, and serve in various media capacities as needed. Walt hails from the Department of Interior where he was one of the editors for Interior's national newsmagazine, and author of numerous feature articles about Interior's missions and accomplishments. Walt has also freelanced, been published in USA Today, and written television ads for the U.S. Navy. Not the maverick diver as his colleagues, he has, nevertheless logged several dives that involved near brushes with small damsel fish, colorful tangs, and goofy looking groupers.

Tane Casserley
Team Lead and Principal Investigator

Tane Casserley is a maritime archaeologist for NOAA’s Maritime Heritage Program and his office is located at the Maritime Archaeology Center in Newport News, Virginia. He specializes in 19th-century warships and deep-water archaeology. Tane has surveyed more than 40 submerged cultural resource sites, from Kure Atoll to Maine, and has worked on several projects sponsored by NOAA and the National Undersea Research Center at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. In 1998, he received a Graduate Certificate in Maritime Archaeology and History from the Marine Option Program at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. His research focused on the maritime history of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands and conducted surveys on Pearl and Hermes, and Midway atolls. In 2005, Tane received his master’s degree from the Program in Maritime Studies at East Carolina University. Tane’s thesis focused on the steamer Queen of Nassau, the former Canadian warship CGS Canada, lying in 230 feet of water within the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.  He has led NOAA archaeological expeditions to the USS Monitor as well as the Florida Keys, and most recently dove with the National Park Service on a B-29 in Lake Mead. He has conducted projects using technical diving, remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), as well as manned submersibles.  Tane is a dive instructor and certified trimix diver with the National Association of Underwater Instructors (NAUI).

Russ Green
Archaeologist

Russ Green is with NOAA's Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary in Alpena, Mich. A former underwater archaeologist for the state of Wisconsin, Russ obtained his undergraduate degree from the University of Rhode Island and a graduate degree in maritime studies from East Carolina University, where his thesis research focused on a colonial era shipwreck in the lower reaches of Maine's Penobscot River. His role on the project will be as archaeologist and videographer. Russ has worked on maritime archeology projects along the east coast and in the Great Lakes, as well as Bermuda and Micronesia. Trained in mixed gas and closed circuit rebreather diving, Russ has led technical expeditions in the Great Lakes and worked on the Civil War ironclad USS Monitor. Most recently he joined the National Park Service for the archaeological investigation of a World War II B-29 airplane resting in 180 feet of water in Lake Mead, Nev.