Michael C. Barnette is an Americandiver, author,photographer and founder of the Association of Underwater Explorers.^[1]

Barnette was born in September 1971 inFredericksburg, VA.^[2] In 1989, he graduated fromStafford Senior High School. Then, he attended theUniversity of South Carolina, graduating in 1995 with a degree inMarine Biology. Barnette is married and currently resides inSaint Petersburg, FL.

Barnette works for theNOAA'sNational Marine Fisheries Service as a marine biologist.^[3][4] His current duties include protectingsea turtles by making surefishing fleets worldwide are utilizingturtle excluder devices.^[5] Barnette was made a fellow ofThe Explorers Club in March 2009.

Barnette has been actively diving and researchingshipwrecks since 1990, resulting in the identification of over 30 wreck sites.^[1] In 1996, Barnette founded the Association of Underwater Explorers (AUE), an organization dedicated to expanding understanding of submergedcultural resources.^[6][7]

In 2005 Barnette participated in the recovery of aB-25c Mitchell bomber fromLake Murray (South Carolina), working with divers from AUE, theRubicon Foundation, andWoodville Karst Plain Project^[8][9] underExplorers Club flag number 103.^[10] This bomber had been ditched in the lake on April 4, 1943, and remained 45 meters (148 ft) below the surface for 60 years. The recovery effort was headed by Dr. Robert Seigler and supervised by Gary Larkins of the Air Pirates.^[8][11] The project was documented by theHistory Channel and televised on their showMega Movers.^[8] The plane is now being preserved by theSouthern Museum of Flight inBirmingham, Alabama.^[9]

A year later, in 2006, Barnette was part of theHistory Channel's expedition toHMHS Britannic led by explorersJohn Chatterton andRichie Kohler.^[12]Titanic's Achilles Heel was the first documentary to be released from this expedition, on June 17, 2007.^[13] The documentaryTitanic's Tragic Sister also featured details from this expedition, and firstaired on October 14, 2007.^[14]

Barnette's recovery ofOculina varicosa from theGulf of Mexico in 2006 allowed researchers to confirm its existence as aspecies of concern in abundance in the Gulf.^[15] In 2009, Barnette returned to collect coral samples for testing that identified the species as genetically identical toOculina varicosa found off the eastern coast of Florida.^[16][17]

When the Eagle's Nest cave system needed newguidelines in 2007 Barnette and AUE took on the task of replacing the old line as well as removing unnecessary lines.^[18]

In January 2020 Barnette, along with fellow explorers, discovered what they believed to be a 95-year-old ship, the SS Cotopaxi, which had disappeared near theBermuda Triangle in 1925.^[19] The boat had departed fromCharleston, South Carolina, carrying 32 passengers and never made it to its final destination,Havana, Cuba. Barnette sought help from historians and researchers to ensure that it was the SS Cotopaxi. In doing so, he learned that the ship had sent a distress signal two days into its voyage from a location that aligns with where the wreckage was found. The discovery was featured on a February episode of Shipwreck Secrets, aScience Channel series. In 2020, he identified the wreck of the Sandra, which was reported lost in the Bermuda Triangle in April 1950; the discovery was featured in the History Channel documentary "History's Greatest Mysteries: Expedition Bermuda Triangle." Barnette has been featured in multiple television documentaries on shipwrecks associated with theBermuda Triangle that have aired onThe Discovery Channel,National Geographic,History Channel, andThe Learning Channel.^[20][21]

Barnette has been active in the identification of numerous shipwrecks that include:

• The steamerArratoon Apcar^[22]
• The yachtEsmeralda^[23]
• The tugGwalia^[24][25]
• The tankerJoseph M Cudhay^[26]
• The steamerLeif Eriksson^[27]
• The tankerMunger T. Ball^[26]
• The luxury yachtNohab (exLensahn (III))^[28]
• The tankerPapoose^[29]
• The steamerPeconic^[30]
• The tugPoint Chicot^[31]
• TheQueen of Nassau^[7][32][33]
• The tankerSan Delfino^[29]
• The schooner bargeVitric
• The freighterCotopaxi^[19]
• U.S. Coast GuardAlbatross #1240^[34][35]
• The tankerW.E. Hutton^[29]
• The steamerValley City^[36]
• The paddle steamerIdaho
• The steamerMunisla
• The freighterHolstein
• The tankerPan Massachusetts
• The sailboatKringeline
• The freighterSandra

• Barnette, Michael C. (2003).Shipwrecks of the Sunshine State: Florida's Submerged History. Association of Underwater Explorers.ISBN 0-9743036-0-7. Archived fromthe original on February 19, 2009. RetrievedJune 5, 2009.
• Barnette, Michael C. (2008).Florida's Shipwrecks. Arcadia Publishing.ISBN 978-0-7385-5413-6.^[1]
• Barnette, Michael C. (2010).Encyclopedia of Florida Shipwrecks: Volume I, Atlantic Coast. Association of Underwater Explorers.ISBN 978-0-9743036-1-1.

• Barnette, Michael C. (2002)."M/S Rhein".Advanced Diver Magazine (9). RetrievedJune 4, 2009.
• Barnette, Michael C. (2002)."Looking Deeper Into the Florida Keys".Advanced Diver Magazine (10). Archived fromthe original on May 18, 2009. RetrievedJune 4, 2009.
• Barnette, Michael C. (2003)."Looking for a Needle in a Sea of Haystacks".Divers (March–April). RetrievedJune 4, 2009.
• Barnette, Michael C. (2004)."Don't Like the Weather in Hatteras -- Just Wait an Hour: Murphy's Law and the Battleship Virginia"(PDF).Divers Ocean Planet (1). RetrievedJune 4, 2009.
• Barnette, Michael C. (2004)."German U-Boat Attacks Off Florida Coast".Wreck Diving Magazine (1). Archived fromthe original on May 18, 2009. RetrievedJune 4, 2009.
• Barnette, Michael C. (March 2004)."Two for the Price of One: Diving the RBJ".Florida Scuba News. RetrievedJune 4, 2009.
• Barnette, Michael C."Identity Crisis - Finding a Name for the Middlegrounds Wreck".Advanced Diver Magazine (17). Archived fromthe original on May 18, 2009. RetrievedJune 4, 2009.
• Barnette, Michael C."The Loss of the Holstein"(PDF).Advanced Diver Magazine (18). RetrievedJune 4, 2009.
• Barnette, Michael C. (2005)."But For a Single Wave: The tragic loss and recent identification of the steamshipPeconic".Wreck Diving Magazine. Archived fromthe original on May 18, 2009. RetrievedJune 4, 2009.
• Barnette, Michael C. (2006)."Observations of the deep-water coralOculina varicosa in the Gulf of Mexico"(PDF).NOAA Technical Memorandum NMFS-SEFSC-535: 12. RetrievedJune 4, 2009.
• Barnette, Michael C. (2006)."Florida Shipwrecks: Fishing for History: Thousands of wrecks, thousands of fishing spots and countless fascinating tales". FloridaSportsman.com. Archived fromthe original on August 2, 2009. RetrievedJune 4, 2009.
• Barnette, Michael C. (2006)."Scrambled History: A Tale of Four Misidentified Tankers"(PDF).Wreck Diving Magazine. Archived fromthe original(PDF) on September 28, 2007. RetrievedJune 4, 2009.
• Barnette, Michael C. (2009). "U-2513: The First True Modern Submarine".Advanced Diver Magazine (29).

• USS Narcissus (1863)^[37]
• Oculina varicosa^[15]

• Association of Underwater Explorers
• Barnette's photography

• 1971 births
• Living people
• American male non-fiction writers
• American underwater divers
• People from Fredericksburg, Virginia
• Fellows of the Explorers Club
• 21st-century American explorers

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• Use mdy dates from April 2020