Mr. James Sinclair, Jim, MA serves as Chief Archeologist at Blue Water Ventures International, Inc. Mr. Sinclair is an internationally recognized marine archaeologist who began his professional career in 1980 with the Atocha project. During his years as director of the conservation laboratories, Mr. Sinclair oversaw the conservation of over 500,000 archaeological objects and helped develop techniques used in many laboratories around the world today. In 1980, he also assisted in archaeological recovery of the sister ship of the Atocha - the Santa Margarita - where more than 20 million dollars of treasure was recovered. In 1982, recovery efforts were renewed on the 1715 Plate Fleet shipwrecks off of the east coast of Florida. He became the lead archaeologist overseeing that project. He is still involved as the Primary Investigator on both the 1622 Fleet shipwrecks and the 1715 Fleet shipwrecks in addition to other projects. In 1984, he took part in expeditions off the State of Vera Cruz, Mexico, investigating possible ship losses in that region. His expertise has been sought by expeditions throughout the world, including a project off of Panama seeking one of Columbus’s early ships of discovery, the Lusitania project off of Ireland, the Pilar Project in Guam, and the Flor de la Mar Project in Indonesia, to name a few. He has worked in Canada on the wrecks of Le Chameau, 1731, and that of a fleet of ships lost off of Prospect, Nova Scotia, thought to be carrying plunder from the sacking of Washington, DC in 1814. In 2008, he was part of a team of archaeologists investigating the Lusitania off of Ireland. He has worked on the Dutch protectorate island of St. Eustatius, Netherlands Antilles, the earliest “Freeport” in the New World, investigating part of a sunken city and wharf complex associated with colonial trade. He has also conducted investigations on the islands of Barbuda and Anguilla. He has also overseen investigations on the San Miguel de Archangel, 1654, off of Jupiter, Florida and on the suspected Viscyana, Columbus’s wreck off of Nombre de Dios, Panama on a very early ship of exploration. Mr. Sinclair has been a voice of moderation in what are the normally divisive factions of archaeologists and the private sector community. In this capacity he has given testimony to panels that range from the President Commission of Ocean Policy, NOAA and the State Department of the United States as a prelude to their participation in the conferences held by UNESCO on the Treaty for the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage. Mr. Sinclair has worked with both HSSPC (Historic Shipwreck Salvage Policy Council) along with the Florida Bureau of Archaeology in the formation of the new rules governing historic shipwreck exploration and recovery in Florida. A member of the Explorers Club, he was the first professional archaeologist to visit the wreck site of the RMS Titanic in 2000 and was lead archaeologist on a historic period shipwreck discovered in 16,300 feet of water in the mid Atlantic. Mr. Sinclair has given presentations at professional symposia ranging from the Society of Historical Archaeology, Underwater Intervention, Oceanology International to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Mr. Sinclair has also given presentations to lay audiences in over 150 cities around the world. He is a past member of the Registry of Professional Archaeologists. In recognition of his years of work he was elected to the prestigious Explorers Club. Mr. Sinclair holds a Masters degree.
