Toni Carrell
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Toni Carrell began her professional career in 1976 with the National Park Service Inundation Study and later the Submerged Cultural Resources Unit. For 14 years she traveled to national parks and US Trust Territories inventorying, recording, and reporting on ships lying in the cold waters of Lake Superior to the tropical lagoons of the Western Pacific. With the NPS Toni investigated sites spanning early man deposits to World War II ships. After joining Ships of Discovery in 1990, she pursued her interest hull construction. That fervor led to Toni's involvement with replica ships constructed in Brazil, searching for Columbus' lost Gallega in Panama, and excavating an unidentified Spanish ship on the reefs off Cancun. In 1996, Toni took a two-year leave from Ships of Discovery to co-direct the excavation of the La Salle shipwreck, La Belle, for the Texas Historical Commission. Now back with Ships of Discovery, she is presently completing La Belle's hull analysis and her doctorate from St. Andrews University. Toni was appointed to the ACUA in 1987 and, when the organization became an elected body, was among the first to stand for election. After serving as vice-chair, in 1995 she was elected the first woman chair. She serves on the SHA governing board and is the Society's representative to the UNESCO meetings on the Draft Convention on the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage. In addition to her archaeological skills, Toni expanded and honed her technical skills, becoming a NAUI instructor in 1975, and serving as the first woman NPS Regional Dive Officer. In December 2000 she was elected to the Women Diver's Hall of Fame, co-sponsored by Beneath the Sea, the Underwater Society of America, the Women's Scuba Association, and Women Underwater. The Hall of Fame recognizes and honors women whose achievements in diving-related professions have enriched the world wide diving community. Why I got into underwater archaeology ... My interest in underwater archaeology did not stem from a lifelong love of the sea and ships nor from a desire to do something useful with my life. Rather it grew from watching Lloyd Bridges in Sea Hunt. As a tomboy growing up in California, the weekly episodes represented escape and adventure of the most exotic kind. But thoughts of Sea Hunt faded as I grew. I entered college as a business major, and to fulfill a requirement for a class in the social sciences, I read Kroeber's Ishi. That lead to other classes in anthropology/archaeology, and by the time I finished my undergraduate degree in anthropology, my fascination with prehistoric California was strong. I would have pursued terrestrial archaeology as a career except for Sea Hunt. I jumped at the opportunity to take a scuba class in my senior year. After my first open water dive, I was hooked on scuba as a sport. Within a few months of becoming certified I visited California's Channel Islands and saw my first shipwreck. Since then ships and the people who built them have captured my imagination and challenged my curiosity. The wrecks that now mark their passage truly embody escape and adventure for me. Favorite quote Adventure is danger
and discomfort when viewed from the complacency of reflection. When we go back to
the sea, we return to the place from whence we came. About Ships of Discovery Ships of Discovery is a publically-funded not-for-profit scientific and research institute headquartered in the Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History. Established in 1989, the institute has pursued the study of exploration and discovery era ships. It is best known for its pioneering work on the Molasses Reef Wreck in the Turks & Caicos Islands. The wreck is the central exhibit in the Turks & Caicos National Museum. Since the completion of that project, Ships' staff have continued their involvement with the Turks & Caicos National Museum designing and building exhibits, designing and equipping a conservation laboratory, and investigating prehistoric and historic sites and shipwrecks in the islands. Ships' staff have also collaborated with the Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History's (INAH) Underwater Archaeology Department, the Cayman Islands National Museum, and worked in Panama and the Bahamas. Organization home
page: www.shipsofdiscovery.org |