MANAGERS

Meet Tom Dettweiler: Senior Project Manager

Everyone aboard the Odyssey Explorer looks up to Tom Dettweiler — and with good reason. His resume reads like the encyclopedia of deep-ocean adventure.

Exploring the world's oceans for 35 years, he’s been involved with many of the greatest discoveries in the deep ocean.

He spent five years as Robert Ballard's operations director and led the team that discovered Titanic. His crew also discovered a 2,300-year-old-vessel in the Mediterranean Sea, believed to be the deepest ancient shipwreck ever discovered.

Tom served as the science officer on Jacques Cousteau's Calypso for two years and as expedition leader on the ship that discovered the World War II Japanese submarine I-52 at more than 17,000 feet deep.

In addition, he received a medal from the government of Israel for the discovery, exploration and recovery of the lost submarine DAKAR. As Odyssey’s Senior Project Manager Tom also directed the historic discovery and recovery of the treasure from the 'Black Swan' site in 2007.

Meet Neil Cunningham Dobson: Principal Marine Archaeologist

Popular with the crew, and a fixture at Odyssey for nearly a decade, Neil is a feisty Scot who is quick to laugh and keeps everyone on their toes with his keen Scottish wit.

His passion for sharing the shipwrecks he investigates with the public has earned him the affectionate nickname, the People’s Archaeologist. A self-acknowledged goofball, Neil has worked in the marine industry for over 30 years.

At the age of 17 he was a junior deck officer in the Merchant Navy. He then served as a stability officer and barge engineer on offshore drilling installations in the North Sea and Irish Sea.

A long spell ashore saw Neil as an offshore survival instructor/examiner. During this time he took up sport diving and gained commercial diving qualifications. After graduating from St. Andrews University with a master's in marine archaeology, Neil decided to test the theory that robots and manned-submersibles could be an archaeologist’s hands and eyes.

Neil’s worked with Odyssey on scores of shipwreck sites and supervised work on projects such as the SS Republic recovery as well as other projects in the Mediterranean and Atlantic. He is the company’s principal field archeologist and has more experience viewing shipwrecks through ROV cameras than any other archaeologist in the world.

Meet Mark Martin: Project Manager

With a gruff exterior and 'can-do' attitude, Mark Martin may upset the applecart once in a while, but he knows how to get things done.

While Mark enjoys practical jokes and is always looking for a laugh, he’ll do whatever is needed to take care of his crew. As a retired US Navy submariner, diver, manned deep-submersible pilot and project manager, Mark has more than 30 years of offshore experience.

He spent much of his time in the Navy as a member of the elite Submarine Special Projects, Deep Submergence and Naval Special Warfare Support communities.

He’s had a diverse career, holding various at-sea and ashore senior management positions, and has been a member of numerous high-profile and cutting-edge deep-ocean expeditions. Mark and Tom Dettweiler have worked closely together on a number of projects over the years.

Meet Andrew Craig: Senior Project Manager

One of Odyssey’s longest-serving offshore employees, Andrew Craig started with the company as a trainee side-scan technician and worked his way through every facet of offshore operations to now head up operations alongside Tom Dettweiler.

Before joining the Odyssey team, he obtained a bachelor of science degree, with honors, from Plymouth University in underwater studies and marine technology. Before that, he worked as a commercial diver and dive instructor around the world.

A very hands-on manager, Andrew has been involved with all of Odyssey’s major operations and finds; most notably the SS Republic and 'Black Swan' projects.

Related links:
- See exclusive Video of the Odyssey in action
- Check out Team photos