WEBVTT
Kind: captions
Language: en

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In my career, I’ve been able to find a great
deal.

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I’ve seen ancient ships from a time when
the Mediterranean was an expanding area of

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different cultures from ancient Egypt to the
Phoenicians, to the rise of the Greeks and

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the Romans, I’ve worked on ships from medieval
periods, I’ve worked on ships in the far

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East, including a fleet that Kublai Khan,
the Mongol emperor of China sent to try to

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invade and conquer Japan in 1281.

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I’ve been able to work on more modern wrecks
too, from Titanic, to lost ships from World

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War II, to ships sunk at the end of the second
World War that were lost when they were atomic

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bombed as the United States was testing this
new and powerful weapon.

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No matter what type of history it represents,
no matter how old it is or how new it is,

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for me the thing that is most powerful is
when I see things on these ships that connect

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me to the people.

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Human beings built these ships with their
hands.

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They sailed on them and operated on them,
working with one another.

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Whether they’re up climbing and moving sails
and hauling ropes, whether they’re down

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in an engine room shoveling coal or turning
a valve, whether they’re firing a gun or

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taking a navigational sighting.

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In some cases they’re passengers, they’re
sailing on these ships, to start a new life

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in a new land, or they’re exploring, or
they’re going to fight someone.

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For all of that, when they live in that ship,
they are their own community, they’re a

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village, they’re a town, and when you as
an archaeologist dive on those ships, you

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find the evidence of what they did.

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And in some cases, you find them.

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And with that, you learn a great deal, not
only about the ship, but about the people.

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Because ultimately, for me archaeology isn’t
about things.

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It’s about people.

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The progression of how people have changed
in response to the oceans, but now how the

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ocean is changing in response to us, that’s
where I think it really becomes relevant.

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More of us need to be out there, bearing witness
not just to new discoveries, not just to the

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past, but to what we see now.

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We need to share more of the oceans and why
they’re important with the rest of the country

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and with the rest of the planet.