Friday, July 02, 2004

By Sarah Briney, PR Intern

Wilmington, N.C.- Divers from the National Undersea Research Center (NURC) at University of North Carolina at Wilmington will appear on the History Channel’s documentary entitled “Deep Sea Detective: Explosion at Sea (Queen of Nassau).”

The documentary is about the Queen of Nassau, a luxury cruise ship that sank in July 1926 after leaving Miami for Tampa. The ship sank seven miles from Lower Metacumbe Key in eight minutes and was not seen again until 2001. The wreckage of the ship conflicts with the accounts of the accident by surviving crew members. NURC/UNCW joins John Chatterton a deep sea detective and Tane Casserley a nautical archaeologist from National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Maritime Archeology Center, to uncover what really happened to the ship.

NURC/ UNCW assisted with operational support, personnel and diving supervision in the examination of the Queen of Nassau. Staff also provided assistance to the underwater film production team, handling field logistics and providing diving safety and operations support during the making of the documentary. Doug Kesling served as mission coordinator, Jay Styron was the diving supervisor, Glenn Taylor and Otto Rutten were research divers, and Mike Birns was the vessel captain.

The site is eligible for nomination to the National Register of Historic Places; however, further fieldwork and research need to be completed to positively identify the ship as the Queen of Nassau. Once the survey is completed the site can be nominated to the register.