Edgerton Alvord Throckmorton, known as Peter Throckmorton, was an American photojournalist and a pioneer underwater archaeologist, frequently described as the Father of Underwater Archaeology. Throckmorton was a founding member of the Sea Research Society and served on its Board of Advisors until his death in 1990. He was also a trustee for NUMA and was an instructor at Nova Southeastern University.
Discoveries
The Cape Gelidonya shipwreck was discovered by Throckmorton in 1959 using information provided him by Kemal Aras, a sponge diver from Bodrum, Turkey who had first seen parts of the vessel's cargo of bronzeingots in 1954, but who had failed to recognize that it was actually a Bronze Age shipwreck and thus its archaeological importance. The ship is believed to have been Syrian.
The Yassi Ada shipwreck was discovered in a fully silted ancient Roman harbor at Yassi Ada, Turkey, by Peter Throckmorton and Honor Frost in 1958, but was not fully surveyed and excavated until 1967–69.
The Pantano Longarini wreck, found by Peter Throckmorton and Gerhard Kapitän at Pantano Longarini in 1965, is of Greek or Southern Italian origin.
The Dokos shipwreck was discovered near Hydra Island, Greece, in 1975 by Peter Throckmorton who found cargo from an obviously sunken ship at 20 meters depth. The cargo consisted of pottery of the Cycladic type. This is possibly the oldest wreck discovered to date.
Peter also discovered the 1877 iron barkELISSA lying off the shipbreaker's yard in Perama, Greece. From her lines and fittings and his experience sailing aboard a 'Downeaster' as a teenager, he knew ELISSA for what she was- one of the last square-rig ships still in the trade, even if greatly modified, of smuggling cigarettes. His efforts, combined with those of the San Francisco Maritime Museum's founder Karl Kortum, saved the ship until she could find a safe haven with the Galveston Historical Foundation. She is now completely restored and considered one of the finest nineteenth-century tall ships still sailing.
Publications
The Sea Remembers: Shipwrecks and Archaeology from Homer's Greece to the Rediscovery of the Titanic, ed. Peter Throckmorton Library of Congress: 87-14273
Oldest Known Shipwreck Yields Bronze Age Cargo. by Peter Throckmorton, National Geographic 121.5 : 696-71
The Lost Ships: An Adventure in Underwater Archaeology. by Peter Throckmorton, Boston and Toronto, 1964.
The economics of treasure hunting with real life comparisons, by Peter Throckmorton, 1990
