E. Lee Spence | |
|---|---|
 E. Lee Spence with a 22kt gold sword hilt. | |
| Born | Edward Lee Spence November 1947 (age 77–78) |
| Citizenship | United States |
| Education | University of South Carolina College of Marine Arts |
| Known for | Discovery ofH. L. Hunley Discovery ofSS Georgiana Discovery ofthe identity of the "real Rhett Butler" |
| Awards | Donald O. Bushman Award |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Underwater archaeology |
| Institutions | Sea Research SocietyInternational Diving Institute |
Edward Lee Spence (born November 1947[1]) is a German-born Americanarchaeologist. He is a specialist in the field ofunderwater archaeology.
Between 1991 and 1992, Spence served as Chief of Underwater Archaeology forSan Andres y Providencia. His work encompassed a variety ofshipwrecks, including Spanishgalleons,pirate ships,Great Lakesfreighters, modern luxury liners, Civil War blockade runners, and submarines.[citation needed]
Spence held editorial and publishing roles in several magazines, includingDiving World,Atlantic Coastal Diver,Treasure,Treasure Diver,Treasure Quest,ShipWrecks, andWreck Diver. His published works in non-fiction reference books and photography have contributed to the field ofunderwater archaeology and the study of shipwreck exploration.
Spence graduated from theUniversity of South Carolina in 1976, where he obtained aBachelor of Arts Degree inInterdisciplinary studies with anacademic concentration inmarine archaeology and was arrested for stealing several original Audubon bird books while studying at USC. Charges were dropped after he returned those books. He won the Donald O. Bushman Award incartography. Hisdoctorate is a Doctor of Marine Histories (DMH) fromSea Research Society'sCollege of Marine Arts.[citation needed]
Spence is the current President and Chairman of the Board of theSea Research Society. He is a past member of both the Board of Directors of theAmerican Military Museum and Board of Directors of the Cardiovascular Research Institute of theMedical University of South Carolina inCharleston. He is a lifetime member ofMensa International and a former member ofIntertel. Spence has anhonorable discharge from the United StatesArmy Reserve and has served as Commander and Vice Commander for Post #10 of theveteran's organizationAmerican Legion.[citation needed]
He is a founder, owner, and Vice President of theInternational Diving Institute, an organization that teaches and certifies commercial deep-sea divers.[2]
Spence first reported the discovery of theCivil WarsubmarineHunley in 1970.[3] He mapped and reported its location to numerous government agencies. The July 2007 cover story inU.S. News & World Report noted that theHunley "disappeared without a trace" until 1970 when it was supposedly found by "underwater archaeologist E. Lee Spence."[4]
On September 13, 1976, theNational Park Service submitted Sea Research Society's (Spence's) location forH.L. Hunley for inclusion on theNational Register of Historic Places. Spence's location forHunley became a matter of public record whenH.L. Hunley's placement on that list was officially approved on December 29, 1978, though many dives were made on that site, and the sub was never found.[5][6]
Spence's bookTreasures of the Confederate Coast, which had a chapter on his supposed discovery ofHunley and included a map complete with an"X" showing the wreck's location was published in January 1995.[7]
In 1995, the discovery was independently verified by a combinedSouth Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology (SCIAA) andNational Underwater and Marine Agency (NUMA) expedition directed by SCIAA underwater archaeologistMark M. Newell[8] funded, in part, by novelistClive Cussler.[9] Later the same year, at the official request ofSenator Glenn F. McConnell (chairman), of the State of South CarolinaHunley Commission, Spence donated all of his rights to theshipwreck to the State.[10][11]
TheHunley discovery was described by William Dudley, Director of Naval History at theNaval Historical Center, as probably the most important (underwater archaeological) find of the (20th) century."[12] The tinysubmarine and its contents have been valued at over $40,000,000 making thediscovery anddonation one of the most significant and valuable contributions ever made to the State of South Carolina.[13][14]
After a seven-year legal battle, in August 2008 novelistClive Cussler's organization dropped a lawsuit that had been filed infederal district court against Spence in which it had claimed that they, and not Spence, had discovered the wreck in 1995. Both sides still claim that they, and not the other, discovered the wreck.[15]
In 2016, theNaval History and Heritage Command published a detailed report on the history, discovery, and restoration of theHunley entitledH. L. Hunley: Recovery Operations suggesting that it is most likely Spence found a nearby buried navigation buoy rather than theHunley.[16]
In addition to theHunley, Spence has discovered several historically significant shipwrecks, including theSS Georgiana[17][18] (said to have been the most powerfulcruiser built by theConfederate States of America).[19][20]
South Carolina's law protecting both the state's and the salvors' interests in shipwrecks was passed following Spence's discovery of theGeorgiana and his company Shipwrecks Inc. was granted South Carolina State Salvage License #1.[21]
Spence claims to have salvaged over $50,000,000 in valuable artifacts[22] and has been responsible, through hisarchival research, for the locating of the wrecks of the side-paddle-wheel steamersRepublic[23] andCentral America[24][25] from which over one billion dollars in treasure has been recovered.[26]
On April 4, 1989, Spence announced his discovery thatMargaret Mitchell, who had claimed herPulitzer Prize winning novelGone with the Wind was purefiction, had actually taken much of her compelling story of love, greed and war from real life.[27] He claimed that Mitchell had actually based the characterRhett Butler on the life ofGeorge Alfred Trenholm, a shippingmagnate from Charleston, South Carolina who had made millions of dollars fromblockade running and was thrown in prison after theCivil War after being accused of making off with much of the Confederatetreasury.[28][29] Spence's literary discovery, that had its roots in his prior discoveries of some of Trenholm's wrecked blockade runners, made international news.[30]
TheEncyclopedia Of Civil War Shipwrecks by W. Craig Gaines additionally credits Spence with the discoveries of the following Civil War wrecks: theConstance (lost 1864, found 1967);Housatonic (lost 1864, found 1970);Keokuk (lost 1863, found 1971);Minho (lost 1862, found 1965);Presto (lost 1864, found 1967);Ruby (lost 1863, found 1966);Stonewall Jackson (lost 1863, found 1965).[31] Spence's own books, as well as numerous third-party books, newspaper and magazine accounts, and archaeological reports detail his discoveries of the blockade runnersMary Bowers andNorseman and dozens of other ships of all types and nations in waters all over the world spanning a time period of over two thousand years.[32][33][34]
In June 2013, Spence announced his discovery of the wreck of theSSOzama, a steamer with a history ofsmuggling that wrecked off the South Carolina coast in 1894.[35]
Spence is also acartographer and has published a number of popular and archaeological (proximal,contour and conformant) maps and charts dealing with historical events, archaeology, shipwrecks and treasure.
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