Dr. Joe MacInnis
              Physician, Explorer, Motivational Speaker and Author

Undersea Research Ltd.
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UNDERSEA EXPEDITIONS

 Dr. Joe MacInnis has led or participated in numerous science and engineering projects. For convenience these are divided into three periods: the Deep Ocean, the Arctic Ocean and the Temperate Ocean.

THE DEEP OCEAN

2005 — The Discovery Channel’s Titanic Live project—led by James Cameron—builds the world’s first surface-to-seafloor communication system and produces a 90-minute live broadcast from the wreck 4,000 meters below the Atlantic. (See Dr. MacInnis’ book Titanic Dreams)

2003 — The Disney-Walden Media Aliens of the Deep project—led by James Cameron—makes 40 dives at volcanic vent sites in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans for scientific research and the production of the 3-D Imax film Aliens of the Deep.

(See Dr. MacInnis’ book Aliens of the Deep.)

2000 — Nuyttco’s Deep Worker sub makes maximum-depth test dives to 600 meters in Desolation Sound, British Columbia.

1997— National Geographic and the Smithsonian Institution use remotely operated vehicles in an attempt to photograph the giant squid in Kaikoura Canyon off the coast of New Zealand.

1995 — National Geographic, the Canadian Navy and Can-Dive Ltd use a research sub and the Newt Suit to photograph the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald in Lake Superior and recover the ship’s bell. (See Dr. MacInnis’ book Fitzgerald’s Storm.)

1994 — Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution’s research sub Clelia is used to film the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald  in Lake Superior and a 19^th century schooner in Lake Erie.

(See Dr. MacInnis’ book Fitzgerald’s Storm.)

1993 — The MacInnis Foundation conducts a search for Sir John Franklin’s lost ships Erebus and Terror in the western Northwest Passage near Cambridge Bay.

1991 — Imax Corporation, the Russian Academy of Sciences, National Geographic and Undersea Research conduct the Imax-Titanic project making 17 dives in the Mir subs for the first scientific study of the Titanic and the production of an Imax film and a CBS television special. (See Dr. MacInnis’ book Titanic In A New Light.)

1990 — National Geographic and the Russian Academy of Sciences use divers and a remotely operated vehicle to study the biology and geology of Lake Baikal in Siberia.

         — Dr. MacInnis takes former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau on a 3,000-meter dive in a Mir sub into Monterey Canyon off the coast of southern California.

 1989 — The Russian Academy of Sciences use the two Mir research subs—launched from their mother ship the Akademik Keldysh—to recover geological samples from King’s Trough, a 5,000-meter deep canyon in the Atlantic Ocean north of the Azores.

 1988 — The Canadian Navy uses the Pisces sub to survey the wreck of HMS Breadalbane under the ice of the Northwest Passage.

 1987 — France’s Institute of Marine Research (IFREMER) uses the research sub Nautile—launched from the mother ship Nadir—to make 32 dives to the Titanic, recover 1800 artifacts and produce a television special. (See Dr. MacInnis’ book Titanic Dreams)

 1986 — National Geographic uses the Pisces sub to make seven dives to study and photograph six-gill sharks in 600 meters off Bermuda.

 1985 — A French-American team discovers the wreck of the Titanic at a depth of 4,000 meters 350 kilometers south of Newfoundland. (See Dr. MacInnis’ book Titanic Dreams)

 THE ARCTIC OCEAN

 1983 — The MacInnis Foundation, supported by the Canadian government, National Geographic, Can-Dive and others, use the Wasp manned-diving suit and a remotely operated vehicle to explore and film HMS Breadalbane—a three-masted ship sunk in 1853—under the ice of the central Northwest Passage.

(See Dr. MacInnis’ book The Land That Devours Ships)

 1981 — The MacInnis Foundation, supported by the Canadian Coast Guard, National Geographic and others use the Coast Guard ship Louis St. Laurent and a remotely operated vehicle to film the wooden hull and deckhouse of HMS Breadalbane under the ice of the Northwest Passage.

 1980 — The MacInnis Foundation, supported by the Canadian Coast Guard, National Geographic and others use a side-scan sonar operated from the Coast Guard ship Sir John A. McDonald to discover the wreck of HMS Breadalbane—the world’s northernmost known shipwreck—in 100 meters of water south of Beechey Island in the Northwest Passage.

(See Dr. MacInnis’ book The Land That Devours Ships and the National Geographic magazine cover story August 1983)

1979 — Canadian oceanographic institutions conduct the Operation Lorex project, a drifting ice camp to conduct biological and geological studies under the ice at the North Pole.

         — Dr. MacInnis takes Ed Schreyer, the Governor-General of Canada on a dive under the ice at the North Pole.

      — The MacInnis Foundation, supported by the Canadian Coast Guard and National Geographic, conducts a search for the wreck of HMS Breadalbane.

1978 — The MacInnis Foundation, supported by the Canadian government, conducts a search for the wreck of HMS Breadalbane off the coast of Beechey Island in the Northwest Passage.

1975 — Dr. MacInnis escorts HRH Prince Charles on a 30-minute dive under 1.5 meters of ice in Resolute Bay in the Northwest Passage.

         — The MacInnis Foundation makes a series of dives in Erebus and Terror Bay off Beechey Island to search for 19^th century maritime artifacts.

         — The MacInnis Foundation makes a series of dives in Koluctoo Bay, Baffin Island, to record the first underwater footage of Narwhals. 

1974 — The MacInnis Foundation, supported by the Canadian government, conducts Arctic IV, a two-month long project in Resolute Bay in the Northwest Passage to develop the systems and techniques to dive safely under the polar ice pack. Arctic IV includes:

         —  The first science dives at the North Pole

         — The first oxy-helium dives under the polar ice

         — The first saturation dive under the polar ice

         — The first live television broadcast from under the sea

1973 — Supported by the National Film Board of Canada, dives are made off the north coast of Alaska to record the first underwater film footage of Bowhead and Beluga whales.

1972 — The MacInnis Foundation, supported by the Canadian government and National Geographic, conducts Arctic III, a month-long project in Resolute Bay, to develop the systems and techniques to dive safely under the polar ice pack. Arctic III includes the construction and utilization of Sub Igloo, the world’s first manned polar station.

(See Dr. MacInnis’ article in National Geographic magazine August 1973.)

1971 — The MacInnis Foundation, supported by the Canadian government, General Electric and others conducts the Arctic II project in Resolute Bay to develop the systems and techniques to dive safely under the polar ice pack.

         — Supported by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, dives are made in the Gulf of St. Lawrence to record the first underwater film footage of Harp seals.

1970 — The MacInnis Foundation, supported by the Canadian government, the Tower Foundation and others, conducts the Arctic I project in Resolute Bay to develop the systems and techniques to dive safely under the polar ice pack.

THE TEMPERATE OCEAN

1970 — Dr.  MacInnis escorts former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau on a dive to the U.S. government’s Tektite 2 undersea station in the Virgin Islands.

1969 — The MacInnis Foundation, supported by many individuals and institutions, installs Sublimnos—the first manned station under fresh water—in Lake Huron at a depth of 10 meters. The ‘underwater classroom’ operates throughout 1969 and 1970 and includes 10,000 all-season dives by students, divers and scientists and a science and engineering program.

        —   Ocean Systems Inc., under contract to the U.S. Navy’s Supervisor of Salvage, conducts salvage operations for a B-52 aircraft in Lake Michigan and a Pan American 707 aircraft off the coast of Venezuela.

1968 — The U.S. Navy conducts Sea Lab 3 a multi-week, 200-meter saturation dive at San Clemente Island off the coast of California. (The project is cancelled when Barry Canon, a member of the first team, is killed.)

         — Edwin Link, with support from Ocean Systems Inc., conducts a 215-meter dive—the deepest ever from a research sub—off Great Stirrup Cay in the Bahamas.

         —Ocean Systems, under contract to the U.S. Navy’s Supervisor of Salvage, coordinates the search for the nuclear submarine USS Scorpion, missing off the Azores Islands.

1967 — Ocean Systems Inc., supported by Esso Production Research, conducts a world-record 48-hour, 210-meter saturation dive in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana.

        —Ocean Systems, under contract to the U.S. Navy’s Supervisor of Salvage, uses the research sub Deep Diver to search for a U.S. Navy cable-laying device, lost off the Grand Banks.

 — Ocean Systems Inc. conducts a series of simulated bounce and saturation dives to 200 meters in its research chamber at the Union Carbide research facility in Tonawanda, N.Y.

1966 — Ocean Systems Inc., working for Esso Production Inc., conducts a series of 135-meter working dives on the first offshore rig to drill for oil in the North Sea.

         — Ocean Systems Inc., under contract to the U.S. Navy’s Supervisor of Salvage, coordinates the recovery of an H-bomb from a depth of 2,400 meters off the coast of Spain.

         — Florida Atlantic University and Ocean Systems conduct a saturation dive in Hydrolab in 60 feet of water on the edge of the Gulf Stream near Palm Beach, Florida.

1965 - — The U.S. Navy conducts Sea Lab 2, a two-week, 100-meter saturation dive off the coast of Southern California.

1964 — Edwin Link, supported by the U.S. Navy and National Geographic, conducts a world record 48-hour 132-meter saturation dive off Great Stirrup Cay in the Bahamas.

          — The U.S. Navy conducts Sea Lab 1, a 10-day 63-meter saturation dive off the coast of Bermuda.