| Meet the Principles and Specialists |
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The Principles |
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W. Keith Webb
President and CEO
W. Keith Webb, President and CEO of Blue Water Ventures Key West, entered the field of historic sunken shipwreck search and recovery with more than 20 years of achievement in the financial industry in his arsenal of skills. He began his career as the Human Resource Director for a major brokerage firm and later, with his knowledge of the brokerage business and professional relationships gained over the years, started a small boutique mergers and acquisitions firm. With success came opportunities, which eventually led to treasure salvage in the Florida Keys.
Researching the history of the 1622 Fleet shipwrecks, and meeting with Kim Fisher, President of Mel Fisher’s Treasures, Keith saw an opportunity to employ his aptitudes and resources in pursuit of adventure and set his sights on solving the mystery of the Santa Margarita’s missing, rich treasures. Soon a joint venture partnership between companies was agreed upon, and Keith began to put his considerable energy and human resources talent into assembling a topnotch crew of researchers, scientists, captain, and crew. Today, W. Keith Webb and his team are making worldwide news with their exciting discoveries on the trail of the Santa Margarita – and are expanding the scope of their treasure hunting interests to other areas both within and outside the United States.
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Beth Weeks-Webb
Logistics
Just as all roads were once said to lead to Rome, innumerable BWV details flow through Beth Weeks-Webb. Behind the scenes and on shore, in addition to acting as executive assistant for CEO Keith Webb, Beth contributes to the daily organization of the operations team, including logistics, marketing, accounting and project coordination. She has an extensive background within the travel industry, and with a degree in history from Florida State University, she assists Webb, archaeologist Dr. R. Duncan Mathewson III and the archaeological team with research and fieldwork coordination.
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Pat Shane
Corporate Advisor
Pat Shane is currently advising BWVKW with regards to corporate development, sponsorships, and project research. He has worked in business finance for over twenty-five years with a focus on corporate finance, advising small and micro-cap companies on the U.S. public financial markets for the last fifteen years.
With an extensive background in communications and marketing within the financial community, his professional network extends throughout Europe and Asia. Pat has managed a broad range of mergers and investment banking activities and has management experience in a number of industries including entertainment, media, banking, and finance, and has served on various corporate and civic boards. Prior to specializing in the equities market, Pat served as a senior financial and marketing executive with ASCAP, the world’s largest performing rights organization. He holds a B.S. degree in Finance from the University of Central Florida.
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Dr. R. Duncan Mathewson III
Project Manager and Archaeological Director
Dr. R. Duncan Mathewson is a much-noted marine archaeologist and retired university professor. He began working with treasure hunter Mel Fisher in 1973 and was instrumental in helping Treasure Salvors, Inc., identify and map the Atocha scatter patterns leading to the discovery of the ship’s mother lode in 1985. He has 35 years of underwater experience in shipwreck archaeology and has written well over 50 major conference papers, articles, and books on historic shipwreck archaeology. His best selling book Treasure of the Atocha, first published in 1986 by H.P. Dalton as a Book-of-the-Month Club alternate title, has sold some 100,000 copies around the world with five different printings and two overseas editions in Britain and Spain. Duncan is married with three children and lives on Little Torch Key in the Florida Keys. He presently sits on the Monroe County School Board.
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Dr. Eugene Lyon
Project Historian
Dr. Eugene Lyon, a Florida native, served in the Korean War aboard the USS Hobson, (DMS-26). He holds a Ph.D. degree from the
University of Florida, and is a specialist in Spanish colonial Florida and the Spanish maritime system.
Lyon's publications include The Enterprise of Florida, The Search for the Motherlode of the Atocha, and Pedro Menendez:
a Sourcebook. The St. Augustine Historical Society published his work Richer Than We Thought, and the University of South
Carolina Press published Santa Elena: A Brief History of the Colony. He wrote a monograph on Spanish colonial nails and has
written many conference papers and book chapters. He has produced five National Geographic articles; one of which featured
previously unpublished data on Christopher Columbus's caravel Niña, discovered by Lyon in the Spanish archives, and two of
which were cover articles: Search for Columbus (January 1992), and The Manila Galleons, (September 1990).
For fourteen years, Lyon directed the St. Augustine Foundation, and carried out microfilming projects in archives in Spain,
Cuba, and Minorca. The Foundation holds more than a thousand reels of microfilm related to Spanish Florida or colonial shipwrecks.
Much of that material has been translated into English for inclusion in an accessible database.
From data he uncovered in the Archives of the Indies, Lyon enabled the salvor Mel Fisher to locate and definitively
identify the sunken ships Nuestra Senora de Atocha and Santa Margarita in the lower Florida Keys. He received the grade
of Oficial in the Order of Isabella from King Juan Carlos of Spain, and the grade of Comendador in the Order of Christopher
Columbus, from the President of the Dominican Republic. The City of St. Augustine awarded him its highest honor, the Order
of La Florida, and in 2003 the Florida Historical Society gave him the Jillian Prescott Award for lifetime service to Florida
History. In 2005, he received the Mel Fisher Lifetime Achievement Award.
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John Brandon
Site Operation Advisor
John Brandon became interested in historical shipwrecks and Spanish galleons at the age of ten and found his first silver coin from the 1715 Fleet on the beach at thirteen - which was the year he began applying to Mel Fisher’s Treasure Salvors Inc., for a job as a diver. Mel finally relented and hired him at age sixteen, beginning a career and an association that continues to this day, more than four decades later.
Since his early beginnings, John has recovered well over four thousand silver coins, dozens of gold chains and hundreds of artifacts from the 1715 Fleet shipwrecks along the beaches of the Treasure Coast. In the late 1970’s, John formed his own research and recovery company, Marine Archaeological Research and Salvage (MARS), in which Mel Fisher was a partner, and recovered over three thousand silver coins and hundreds of artifacts from two early 17th century Spanish galleons.
John has successfully recovered significant amounts of treasures and artifacts from the wrecks of the 1715 Fleet; the 1622 galleons, Atocha and Santa Margarita; the Bahamas Lucaya wreck; and a wreck off Wabasso, Florida, believed to be that of the San Martin, the 1618 Almiranta of the Honduran fleet.
For many years, he has worked closely with Taffi Fisher-Abt and the Mel Fisher Center of Sebastian, Florida, where he continues his successful explorations of the 1715 fleet sites aboard the M/V Endeavor.
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Gary Randolph
Chief Technical Advisor
Gary Randolph is the Chief Technical Advisor for Blue Water Ventures Key West. He is Vice President and Operations Manager for Mel Fisher’s Treasures and Captain of the survey vessel The Huntress.
Gary is recognized for qualities of determination that enable him to make the sacrifices it takes to pursue his dreams. He became Captain of the salvage vessel J.B. Magruder on December 1, 1995, an unprecedented eleven months after joining its crew as a diver. On his first trip as Captain, his team recovered a gold coin and a gold chain – an exciting and auspicious event to mark his December 11 birthday.
In the years following the designation of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, Gary’s diplomatic skills were invaluable in the establishment of a cooperative relationship between the Florida Keys salvage community and the newly installed Sanctuary management. Working together, high standards of ecologically responsible salvage have since been achieved. In 1997, Gary’s hard work and dedication earned him the position of Operations Manager for Mel Fisher's Treasures, soon followed by the title of Vice President. With an extensive background in computer technology, he developed and continues to refine one of the most comprehensive Marine Archaeological Artifact Databases in existence.
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The Specialists |
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Carol Tedesco
Vice President Media Relations
Carol Tedesco is an internationally recognized Spanish Colonial coin expert and historic shipwreck professional who has worked on sunken shipwreck projects in North America, South America, and the Pacific. With a background that includes a diverse résumé of media and public relations and audio/visual arts, her accomplishments have been recognized by the Who’s Who of Entrepreneurs (2002) and with membership in the Explorers Club. An award-winning photographer, Carol has been a popular speaker across the United States on the subject of sunken galleons and their treasures. “The saga of Florida’s shipwrecks is an epic romance, peopled with larger than life characters. To have the opportunity to mingle my professional passions for Blue Water Ventures Key West - and work with such a dynamite team - is the icing on the cake.”
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Dennis Cousins
Magnetometer and Technical Support
Dennis Cousins' decades of sailing and powerboat adventures paid off in a knowledge of areas of the Northern Caribbean which then expanded to an interest in Spanish Colonial sunken shipwrecks. Soon, his studies and comprehension of the technical aspects of treasure hunting led him to the BWVKW team. With 32 years of metal and managerial experience behind him, Dennis retired from Reynolds Metals Company in 2002.
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Cliff Sirman
Senior Application Developer, Webmaster
After serving honorably in the US Air Force as a Protective Service and Counterintelligence Officer, protecting the President and
Vice President of the United States and foreign dignitaries, Cliff took his Bachelor of Science and three Associate of Science degrees into the civilian world to
work for top companies such as Washington Mutual, Bank of America, The Mayo Clinic, AT&T, Pfizer and Alltel, to name a few, developing
world class database driven, web based applications. Upon association with Mel Fisher's, he turned his talents on the Marine
Archaeological Artifact Database, centralizing the data, and making it available on the internet for the general public to view.
Cliff was selected by the scientific commitee of the 10th International Congress - "Cultural Heritage and New Technologies", in
Vienna, Austria to present a lecture on how the "Historic Artifact Research Database", hosted by a private sector marine salvage
company can benifit all those involved in this nature of work be it for profit or academic.
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Ron Pierson
Graphic Design Technologies and Multi-Media, Webmaster
Ron is a US Air Force veteran with over 20 years of honorable service. Soon after retiring from the Air Force in 2005, Ron moved to Key West to enjoy a fun new career and a slower pace. He is an accomplished and skilled designer and self-taught photographer with work displayed in publications such as Mar & Pesca International, The Robb Report Collection, Discover Boating, The Las Vegas Guide, Wreck Diving Magazine, Travel Host Magazine, The Japanese Tourist Guide, and a variety of other publications and media sources around the world. Ron has produced thousands of professional quality photos both underwater and above and has quickly mastered the art of “high-end” treasure photography.
Ron earned his Associates Degree in Human Services from the Community College of the Air Force and a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Visual Communication/Graphic Design from American Intercontinental University where he graduated Summa Cum Laude.
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Arlene Mathewson
Administrative Services
With a B.A. in Anthropology and a M.A. in Public Health Administration, Arlene is an R.N. working for the State of Florida,
Department of Health at the Monroe County Health Department in Tavernier, FL. She has a number of years experience working
with shipwreck artifacts from the Atocha and Margarita shipwrecks in the Mel Fisher conservation laboratory.
Since 1987, Arlene, who lives in the Florida Keys with her husband Dr. R. Duncan Mathewson III and their three children,
has worked with her husband at the National Center for Shipwreck Research Ltd processing shipwreck data for archaeological
reports, publications and printings of the Treasure of the Atocha.
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Bill Muir
Ship Historian
Bill is a WWII veteran having enlisted in the U.S. Navy when he was seventeen to serve in the South Pacific. His ship was involved in the invasions of the Marianas, the Carolines, Guam, Ulithi, and was torpedoed and sunk during the Lingayen Gulf invasion. He survived the great typhoon in 1944 and the disastrous fuel tanker fire at the Ulithi Atoll. After the war, Bill studied aeronautical engineering for 4 years at the University of Alabama. He was employed in the engineering department of the Key West Naval Air Station, was an inspector for new construction with the First Federal Savings and Loan, and was involved in architectural design in the Keys.
Bill's interest in naval history and ships led him to join the Key West Maritime Heritage Society in the early 1970's when he became actively involved with underwater archaeology and the study of early sailing ship construction techniques. He played a major role in the archaeological study of the Santa Margarita top-timber framing discovered in 1980, and the lower hull framing of the Atocha, as well as the detailed measurement and resulting drawings of the recovered bronze guns and anchors, etc., of both vessels. His ship drawings have been published widely, including the Nautical Research Journal and Seafarers Journal, Vol 1. Bill presently lives with his wife Eva, on Big Coppitt Key.
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John R. Whitesel
Technical Illustrator and Animator
John R. Whitesel has over 16 years experience working professionally in the computer graphics and media industry. As an artist, producer, technical illustrator and animator, John has created award-winning work for documentaries, universities, museums and a wide range of corporations. Employing state of the art 3D modeling and animation, and an eye for detail, John excels at transforming complex technical ideas and concepts of engineers, designers, architects, and historians into exciting and understandable visual presentations that invite the lay person to explore new technology and history.
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