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PostPosted: Wed Dec 08, 2004 4:37 pm 
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http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/news/ ... hart.shtml

Feel like escaping Maine this February? How about a trip to the equatorial Pacific for a bit of mystery and adventure?

A Kennebunkport-based company is using eBay to auction off four spaces on an expedition to search the ocean depths for famed aviatrix Amelia Earhart's airplane, which disappeared over the Pacific Ocean as she attempted to fly around the world in 1937.

Minimum bids for three different packages run $250,000, $150,000 and $80,000. The auctions end Dec. 16. Nauticos LLC will use any money raised from the online auction to defray the five-week expedition's costs, which are estimated at close to $1.7 million, said company owner and deep-sea explorer David Jourdan.

"It is a unique, once-in-a-lifetime experience, and we do expect to have a few extra berths," Jourdan told the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram.

The $250,000 package is for two people, and the $150,000 and $80,000 packages are for one. The two more expensive packages include a return trip in February 2006 to salvage Earhart's airplane, if Nauticos finds it. The company says it plans to bring a teacher and a college student in addition to the paying passengers.

The eBay auction site warns potential bidders that five to six weeks at sea "can be an intense experience." The area the ship will search is near the equator, roughly half way between Hawaii and Australia and southeast of the Marshall Islands. It's a week-long voyage from Hawaii, with no doctor on board.

"We're not looking for a cruise ship passenger here. We're looking for someone who wants to get out there on deck with us, handle lines, man the sonars," said Jourdan.

Nauticos first searched for Earhart's Lockheed Electra plane in 2002. A winch failure after the 27th day of searching in 20,000-foot-deep waters sent the crew home early. They covered two-thirds of the 800-square-mile search area.

That search, along with other underwater forays, attracted attention from publications ranging from Time to National Geographic.

In March, the expedition will finish the search area and investigate some promising sonar contacts, said Jourdan.

Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan left Miami on June 1, 1937, for the circumnavigation attempt, which would have been the first by a woman flier and the first by anyone over the equator.

With only 7,000 miles remaining, they left Lae, Papua New Guinea, on July 2, headed toward Howland Island to refuel when the plane vanished. Storms were obstructing the area, and Earhart and her navigator had instrument problems and apparently missed Howland, which is quite small, said Jourdan.

"As with any disaster, it's a combination of many things. That last hour or so of the flight, she was desperately searching (for Howland)," said Jourdan. "We don't know what path, exactly, she was following. We have to use a lot of assumptions and try many different paths. That spreads out the search area quite a bit."

Jourdan said he has worked with radio engineers and used Earhart's last transmissions to narrow down the crash area. They modeled radio waves and studied vintage radios in their research, but the search area is still broad.

"Whether you're searching for your TV remote in the living room or for a ship on the bottom of the ocean, you've got to do two things: You've got to look with something that can see it, and you have to look where it is," said Jourdan.

He said he's looking to charter the Mt. Mitchell, a research vessel out of Seattle, to run the expedition. The search will including towing sonar equipment and robotic video systems.

Jordan said he would have returned to continue his search sooner, but it took time for him to sell part of his company, and a financial backer pulled out of an earlier deal, delaying the mission.

Nauticos was responsible for discovering the I-52 (a sunken World War II Japanese submarine), the Dakar (an Israeli submarine lost in the Mediterranean in 1968), wreckage from Japanese aircraft carriers sunk in the Battle of Midway, and an ancient shipwreck dating to the third century B.C. Nauticos has also managed the operations for such celebrated expeditions as the "Titanic Live" broadcast for the Discovery Channel and "Dateline NBC," and has worked in conjunction with such organizations as the U.S. Navy and National Geographic.

The Earhart expedition holds a certain charm for Jourdan.

"It goes without saying that this is an incredible mystery and an incredible challenge. We always like that," said Jourdan. "It's one of the greatest mysteries of the century. That's all wonderful. It's certainly a draw. We also think we can communicate the legacy of Amelia Earhart. She was an incredible woman - very intelligent, a wonderful communicator. She was a business woman. She volunteered as a nurse in World War I in Canada. She endorsed luggage, designed clothing - she did it all."

For information on Nauticos' last Earhart mission, visit www.earhartdiscovery.com.

Staff Writer Matt Wickenheiser can be contacted at 791-6316 or at:

mwickenheiser@pressherald.com


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PostPosted: Wed Dec 08, 2004 6:40 pm 
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Hey Rob, if you nominate me as the teacher to go along, I promise I'll bring you back Ms. Earhart's other shoe (Just a little TIGHAR joke there...uh...ahem...yeah... :roll: )

Actually, just forget that idea. My school board would never let me go unless I took them all along with! :wink:

As you mentioned, if anyone were going to have success at this I believe Nauticos has a better shot at it than most (But then, what would TIGHAR look for...maybe Navy birds for NHC?).

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PostPosted: Thu Dec 09, 2004 11:19 pm 
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Sorry Rob, I remember you telling me about the meeting and the fact that you tromped all over some very big egos, but the details elude me!(Suffering from Holiday Tramatic Stress-induced CRS! :shock: Its a Postal worker desease)


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