Ralph Wilbanks

Ralph Wilbanks

Ralph was raised on a barrier island in South Carolina, and grew up watching the ocean and Sea Hunt. In high school he wanted to be an underwater archaeologist. He got there. For 9 years he was the Assistant Underwater Archaeologist for the State of South Carolina and in 1984 left government work to go into contract archaeology. While still with the State he met Clive Cussler, and they have remained friends since. Since 1994 he has been an Underwater Archaeologist with NUMA and is on their board of Directors. Most of his work is in the United States, but he has worked on the D-Day beaches for the Navy, in the Bahamas, Bermuda, Tobago, Puerto Rico, Lake Michigan, and the Great Salt Lake. Though he has been diving since 1961, most of his work now is done with side scan sonar and magnetometers. In addition to shipwrecks, he has located crashed F-16's and other downed planes, ejection seats, channel marker batteries for the US Coast Guard, lost dredge pipes and other items lost by dredge companies, dock and bridge builders, and mariners.

Ralph's Pictures of The Hunley

Ralph will be presenting the following programs at this year's show: