John D. Broadwater is president and founder of Spritsail Enterprises, an archaeological consulting company. During 2007-2010, he was chief archaeologist in the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). From 2005-2007, he served as program manager of NOAA’s Maritime Heritage Program, a new program that he helped create. From 1992-2005 he was manager of the Monitor National Marine Sanctuary, during which time he directed seven major expeditions to the remains of the Civil War ironclad USS Monitor, which lies at a depth of 235 feet, 16 miles off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. During 1978-90, as senior underwater archaeologist at the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, Broadwater directed a study of shipwrecks from the Battle of Yorktown, 1781. He has participated in numerous national and international underwater archaeological expeditions, including deepwater archaeology expeditions in the Black Sea and North Atlantic. In September 2001, he descended in the Mir 2 submersible to the wreck of the RMS Titanic. He has served on numerous archaeological advisory boards and is a Fellow in The Explorers Club.
He has published a variety of technical and popular articles and contributed to numerous archaeological books and encyclopedias. He has a master’s degree in American Studies from the College of William and Mary, and a Ph.D. in Maritime Studies from the University of St. Andrews, Scotland. John and his wife, Sharon, live in Williamsburg, VA.