Dear Friends,

Following the success of my first book on the Nauticos discovery of the Israeli submarine INS DAKAR, I continue the “Never Forgotten” series with “The Deep Sea Quest for Amelia Earhart.”  Book II of the series chronicles our continuing search for Amelia’s Lockheed Electra, including the dramatic events of expeditions in 2002 and 2006.

If you would like more information on the book (including ordering info) you can visit our website at http://www.earhartdiscovery.com.

I hope you take a look at it!  And please feel free to pass on this message to anyone who might be interested.

Dave

Imagine being unable to find a massive 287-foot submarine that was lost for over 31 years, and not knowing what happened to the sixty-nine officers and crew who vigorously competed for a place on the ship. This was the problem faced by the Israeli Navy in 1996 when it invited David Jourdan and his company Nauticos to conduct the search which led to discovery in May 1999. “NEVER FORGOTTEN: The Search and Discovery of Israel’s Lost Submarine DAKAR” tells the exhilarating story of the will, endurance, and technical know-how of extraordinary people who made a lifelong impact on an entire navy and sixty-nine grieving families.

NEVER FORGOTTEN is a first-person account that grew directly from Jourdan’s successful career in deep-sea searches. The narrative follows the technological quest to locate the ship, 10,000 feet deep, and then try to discover the cause of the disaster. Included is the story of the DAKAR itself, beginning with its origins as the WWII British HMS TOTEM, through its sale to Israel, and fateful voyage from which it never returned. Through all we follow the families of the lost crew, including a wife, a brother, and a son, from their pride in the DAKAR, to their horror of loss, and their closure of discovery of their loved ones’ grave site. A dramatic final chapter imagines what the crew of the doomed submarine might have been doing in the final seconds before a massive implosion snuffed out their lives.

David W. Jourdan: Photo by Jonathan Blair, courtesy Nauticos, LLC

David W. Jourdan is the co-founder and president of Nauticos, a company devoted to the exploration of the deep ocean. He studied physics and engineering at the U.S. Naval Academy and Johns Hopkins University, and served as a U.S. Navy submarine officer during the Cold War. As a physicist at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, and as leader of Nauticos, he became an expert in the exploitation of undersea environmental data, and has supported many scientific, archaeological, and military programs. He has written about diverse technical topics including underwater navigation, oceanographic survey, remote sensing, underwater vehicles, ocean exploration, and ocean renewable energy applications.

Jourdan and his Nauticos team managed ocean operations for The Discovery Channel during the live broadcast from the wreck of the Titanic in 1998. He is responsible for the discovery of the Japanese aircraft carrier Kaga, sunk at the World War II Battle of Midway in the Pacific, and the Japanese World War II submarine I-52 in the Atlantic, both at depths exceeding 17,000 feet. His team discovered the missing Israeli submarine Dakar in the Mediterranean at 10,000 feet and he has led two deep ocean expeditions in search of Amelia Earhart’s lost Lockheed Electra airplane. He has spoken to military, business, and scientific organizations across the country about his major discoveries and has appeared on the National Geographic Channel, The Discovery Channel, and the Today Show.

Jourdan was named Maryland Small Business Person of the Year in 1999 and is an International Fellow of the Explorer’s Club. He has been active in many humanitarian programs, including Rotary International since 1994, and has traveled to Africa to support initiatives to combat AIDS and provide fresh water to rural communities.