In Brief …

 

John Broadwater currently is Chief Archaeologist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Office of National Marine Sanctuaries. An underwater archaeologist, John has authored a book, nearly a dozen chapters in books by others, and numerous technical and popular articles, mostly concerning his research. Currently, he is completing two archaeology books and, at the same time, writing an adventure novel for middle-school readers based on his experiences as an underwater archaeologist.

 

 

Biography

 

John D. Broadwater was born and reared in southeastern Kentucky. In 1966 he received a degree in electrical engineering from the University of Kentucky and began a career in guided missile development (aka “rocket science”!). In 1969, while working in Micronesia, he developed a passion for investigating the shipwrecks there, eventually self-publishing a book about his discoveries. Not long after returning to the States he made the decision to change careers and become an underwater archaeologist. In 1978, John became Virginia’s first State Underwater Archaeologist. For nearly a decade he directed a major shipwreck project in the York River that resulted in a permanent exhibit at the Yorktown Victory Center and his June 1988 article National Geographic magazine.

From 1992-2005 John was Manager of the Monitor National Marine Sanctuary, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), where he directed seven major expeditions to the remains of the famous Civil War ironclad warship USS Monitor, resulting in recovery of hundreds of significant objects and development of the USS Monitor Center at The Mariners’ Museum, Newport News, Va.

John holds an M.A. in American Studies from the College of William and Mary and a Ph.D. in Maritime Studies from the University of St. Andrews. He serves on several archaeological advisory boards, is a Fellow in The Explorers Club, and is listed in Who’s Who in America. In 1985, he served as first mate aboard the Godspeed, a replica square-rigged sailing ship, for an ocean crossing from London to Jamestown, and in 2001 he made a submarine dive two and a half miles down to explore the RMS Titanic.

John loves diving on shipwrecks and writing about his research. His current writing projects, in addition to his children’s novel, are books on the Yorktown Shipwrecks and the USS Monitor. He is also looking for additional opportunities to write magazine articles.

He and his wife, Sharon, who recently retired from a faculty position at the College of William and Mary, have lived in Williamsburg, Virginia, since 1978. They have two daughters and four grandsons.

FOR MORE OF MY PUBLISHED WORK AND RECOMMENDED LINKS, PLEASE SEE MY WEBSITE (Coming soon).

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