The Sea Hunters: An Interview with James Delgado
from
National Geographic Channel web site
Enjoy this exclusive interview with James Delgado, the extraordinary marine archeologist on The Sea Hunters. Delgado explains what it's like to be a key member on one of the world's most famous dive teams. Make sure to read on for highlights from the all new season four!
NationalGeographic.ca: I have heard your profession described in a variety of ways: anthropologist, underwater archeologist, historian, author and explorer to name a few. Which job title do you find most fitting to your life?
James Delgado: I'm an archaeologist who was trained anthropologically—that is, the basis of my interest in the past comes from a passion for knowing more about people, and how we behave. Shipwrecks offer a chance to study human behaviour through wreck events, which always seem to bring out the best—and the worst—in people. I was also trained to be a historian when I was in school, which fits nicely with being a shipwreck archaeologist because the branch of archaeology I belong to is closely affiliated with historical archaeology — the study of the recent past (that is, someone has written about it!). Being a "sea hunter" means I get to be an explorer sometimes, and when I write about it all, then I'm an author. What this all means is that I'm usually way too busy, but having fun.
NG: The television series has solved some incredibly famous sea mysteries from the Carpathia and the Andrea Gail to Catherine the Great's Vrouw Maria and the haunted Mary Celeste. In your opinion, which Sea Hunters find is the most intriguing?
JD: There are a few…Vrouw Maria is one because of the incredible preservation of this intact ship from 1771 and the crates of Catherine the Great's lost art, followed for me by the Mongol invasion fleet of Kublai Khan's failed 1281 invasion of Japan, and our dives into the flooded Nazi factories and concentration camp at Mittelbau-Dora. So much of what we see intrigues me, though, which is why I wrote Adventures of a Sea Hunter—to share the intrigue, the passion, and the incredible stories we encounter when we dive.
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