Anglo-American shipwreck-hunter David Mearns has been appointed an Officer of the British Empire (OBE) in the King’s New Year Honours List, for his services to the location and recovery of historic shipwrecks.
The 66-year-old deep-ocean expedition leader, oceanographer and chartered marine scientist has located 29 major wrecks in a career spanning 35 years.
Now one of the world’s most experienced deep wreck-hunters, he claims an overall 90% success rate – and has also claimed five Guinness World Records, including one for locating the deepest shipwreck ever found, the Rio Grande at 5,762m.
Mearns’ wreck-finding exploits began in 1990 when he traced the cargo vessel Lucona, which had been sunk by a time-bomb that killed its crew.
Subsequent significant discoveries include the bulk-carrier Derbyshire, the biggest shipping loss in British maritime history; the WW2 battle-cruiser HMS Hood, sunk by the Bismarck; HSK Kormoran, scuttled after sinking HMAS Sydney; Australian hospital ship AHS Centaur, illegally sunk by a Japanese submarine; and the earliest colonial shipwreck ever found and excavated by archaeologists, the Esmeralda from Vasco da Gama’s 1502/3 fleet.
Mearns was also part of the team that located the Japanese battleship Musashi, and in 2019 led the privately funded search that located the Piper Malibu aircraft carrying footballer Emiliano Sala, which had disappeared over the English Channel.
Quest for Quest
The latest accolade comes soon after Mearns’ role as director of search on the expedition to find Sir Ernest Shackleton’s Quest, located 390m deep in the Labrador Sea in June, 2024. Shackleton had died while onboard the ship in 1922.
“David Mearns exemplifies the spirit of exploration and discovery,” said John Geiger, who led the expedition. “His vital role in locating Quest underscores his unparalleled expertise in deep-sea exploration and his dedication to uncovering stories that connect us with our past. This recognition is richly deserved.
“The OBE is a fitting tribute to a career defined by curiosity, courage, honour and a relentless drive to uncover the secrets of the deep.”
Mearns is a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and the Explorers Club. He has received many honours in the past, including an honorary Medal of the Order of Australia in 2010 and the Explorers Club’s Lowell Thomas Medal in 2019. He was made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society last June and received its Quest and Joseph-Elzéar Bernier medals.
He has written three books, including his autobiography The Shipwreck Hunter, which won the Mountbatten Award for Best Book of 2018.
Windrush ambition
Mearns currently has plans to recover a 1.5-tonne anchor from HMT Empire Windrush, which sank off Algeria six years on from its arrival in Essex in 1948, when it had carried the first generation of Caribbean migrants to settle in the UK.
The Windrush Anchor Foundation has been set up to bring the anchor back to the UK to go on permanent display.
“I have seen first-hand how important a physical object, like the bell of HMS Hood, can be in connecting people to the memory of a ship and her crew,” says Mearns. “I am in no doubt that Windrush’s anchor will become a similar ‘touchstone’ for the Windrush Generation and the wider public.”
Also on Divernet: Quest for the Quest: lost Shackleton boat found, Esmeralda wreck-find is early astrolabe, Four war wrecks solve several mysteries
