Jim Receives Two Lifetime Achievement Awards
Explorers Club William Beebe Award for Underwater Exploration
Jim has been honored with the Explorers Club William Beebe Award for Underwater Exploration. The award recognizes a lifetime of achievements in underwater discovery, deep-sea exploration, and the preservation of our seafaring heritage. Read more.
National Marine Sanctuary Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award
Jim has been honored with the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation’s Lifetime Achievement Award, one of the highest recognitions in the fields of ocean exploration, maritime heritage, and marine conservation. Read more.
Latest News
A Personal Tour of Four Famous Shipwrecks
Join Jim in Mobile, Alabama, for a special presentation on March 5, 2026. Jim will also be available to sign books. For more information, visit the History Museum of Mobile website.
Great Museum of the Sea – Current Archaeology review
Jim’s new book The Great Museum of the Sea: A Human History of Shipwrecks was reviewed by Current Archaeology.
Great Museum of the Sea – Online Lecture
Date: July 29, 2025 Time: 6:45-8:00 ET Jim will be giving an online Zoom lecture based on his new book The Great Museum of the Sea for Smithsonian Associates. Register here.
Great Museum of the Sea – CBS Mornings
Jim was featured on CBS Mornings, July 4, 2025, talking about his new book The Great Museum of the Sea: A Human History of Shipwrecks
About James Delgado

Career
Jim holds a Ph.D. in Archaeology from Simon Fraser University, has a M.A. in Maritime Studies from East Carolina University, and he earned his B.A. in History from San Francisco State University. He has published actively in leading archaeology and history journals and has written, co-authored or edited more than 33 books on archaeology and history, most recently The Great Museum of the Sea: A Human History, which will be released on July 1, 2025. Other titles include Clotilda: The History and Archaeology of the Last Slave Ship, The Curse of the Somers: The Secret History behind the U.S. Navy’s Most Infamous Mutiny, War At Sea: A Shipwrecked History from Antiquity to the Twentieth Century (winner of the 2021 Deetz Award), Robert J. Walker: The History and Archaeology of a U.S. Coast Survey Steamship, The Lost Submarines of Pearl Harbor: The Rediscovery and Archaeology of Japan’s Top-Secret Midget Submarines of World War II, The Maritime Landscape of the Isthmus of Panama, Misadventures of a Civil War Submarine: Iron, Guns, and Pearls, Silent Killers: Submarines and Underwater Warfare, Nuclear Dawn: The Atomic Bomb from the Manhattan Project to the Cold War (winner of the 2011 Choice Award), Khubilai Khan’s Lost Fleet: In Search a Legendary Armada (winner of the 2011 Deetz Award), Gold Rush Port: The Maritime Archaeology of San Francisco’s Waterfront, Waterfront: An Illustrated Maritime Story of Greater Vancouver, Adventures of a Sea Hunter: In Search of Famous Shipwrecks, the Encyclopedia of Underwater and Maritime Archaeology, Ghost Fleet: The Sunken Ships of Bikini Atoll, Pearl Harbor Recalled: New Images from the Day of Infamy, Great American Ships, To California by Sea: A Maritime History of the Gold Rush, and three books for children; Wrecks of American Warships, Native American Shipwrecks, and Shipwrecks of the Westward Movement.
Jim is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, and the Explorers’ Club, and an Officer of the Order of Civil Merit, an honor conveyed by His Majesty King Juan Carlos of Spain.






