DAVID JOURDAN Brief Biography
David W. Jourdan is the 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 has published two non-fiction books about his discoveries: Never Forgotten: The Search and Discovery of Israel’s Lost Submarine Dakar, and The Deep Sea Quest for Amelia Earhart. His third book, The Search for the Japanese Fleet, chronicling the discovery of Kaga, will be published in the spring of 2015.
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. He and his wife Lynn live in the coastal Maine village of Cape Porpoise.
