Roger C. Smith has crossed the bar

[Alexandre]

Dr. Roger C. Smith served for three decades as Florida's State Underwater Archaeologist.

He received his doctorate at Texas A&M University and taught several undergraduate and graduate courses at Florida State University and the University of West Florida.

Smith directed a number of surveys and excavations throughout Florida and worked extensively in the Caribbean, Mexico, the Bahamas, Bermuda, and Africa.

He published widely in the field of nautical archaeology, authoring "Vanguard of Empire: Ships of Exploration in the Age of Columbus", "An Atlas of Maritime Florida", and "The Maritime Heritage of the Cayman Islands". He was also the editor of "Submerged History: Underwater Archaeology in Florida", and "Florida's Lost Galleon: The Emanuel Point Shipwreck".

 

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[Mackaydon]

He had four years of retirement; I hope he took the opportunity to enjoy them.
RIP Dr. Smith.
Don......

 

[smallfoot]

RIP Dr smith!

 

[CaptEsteban]

So sorry to hear about this. May he rest in peace !

 

[Red_desert]

RIP Smith, Florida shall never again be the same!

 

[ivan salis]

wonder if he fought mel fisher in court or not ...and if he actively worked to block people from getting salvage permits … like many state archies do these days ...but clearly he loved finding shipwrecks and harvesting items from them --don't we all? rip mr smith

 

[aquanut]

wonder if he fought mel fisher in court or not ...and if he actively worked to block people from getting salvage permits … like many state archies do these days ...but clearly he loved finding shipwrecks and harvesting items from them --don't we all? rip mr smith[/QUOTE
Yes, he fought hard against us treasure hunters. He once said and I quote, "I'd rather see everything rot at the bottom of the ocean than have it recovered by treasure hunters". Sorry, but I don't miss him.

 

[ivan salis]

hard to miss those who try to screw ya--but being he is dead and I am not -- may he rest in peace --I wish no ill to the dead -- after death god alone judges folks and their actions in life as to right or wrong …

 

[Urmom]

He helped people with valid research proposals, funding, and professional experience to acquire exploration permits. The with enough research and evidence you'd be provided with a salvage permit. I'd rather leave the "harvesting" to the professionals than let you put some gold coins on your necklace chain or a cannon ball on your mantle.

 

[PhipsFolly]

Urmom... you are flat out wrong about this... many treasure hunters are true professionals and are as much lovers of history as archies and respect what they do, however that sentiment was not returned by Mr. Smith and many of the archies charged with protecting OUR heritage and providing the ability for US to pursue our projects in the state of Florida. Yes, we have to sell some things to make a living since we are not tax funded like many establishment archies but we have a respect for history and overall, use the same equipment and methodology/techniques as the archies. Additionally, much of what you see in Museum are from treasure hunters and not archies... also, according to the code of ethics for archies, they are not supposed to maintain collections of their own... there isn’t one Archie that I have met so far that has not broken that code of ethics... treasure hunters have always wanted to work side by side with archies but the feeling was not mutual... unfortunate...