2026 Maritime Archaeological Society Conference

Dr. Derek Abbey is the President and CEO of Project Recover, a nonprofit organization dedicated to locating and repatriating Americans missing in action from past conflicts. A Marine Corps veteran, he leads a global team of scientists, historians, technologists, and more who apply advanced maritime search methods, including underwater robotics, remote sensing, and archaeological science, to recover lost service members. With more than two decades of experience leading complex international missions, Derek works closely with the U.S. government, academic institutions, and maritime professionals to advance the science of underwater search and recovery while honoring those who never returned home.

Keeping America’s Promise: The Mission to Return Missing American Service Members to Their Families and Why it Is Important

This presentation will expose the audience to the work and impact of Project Recover. Project Recover is a non-profit organization and Department of Defense partner that has been in existence for three decades. Their mission is to locate and repatriate Americans missing in action (MIA) from our previous wars. There are more than 81,000 American MIAs and five million Gold Star MIA family members waiting for answers to what happened to their loved ones so that they can find healing and some sort of closure. Project Recover is the only fully vertical non-governmental organization (NGO) executing this mission in the world. Project Recover executes the entire mission set from research, to search, to documentation, to recovery in both the terrestrial and underwater environments. The entire mission will be explored with multiple stories of success and the impact these missions have created around the world.

Dr. Mike Brennan is a maritime archaeologist specializing in deepwater shipwrecks, with a focus on World War I and II wreck sites and their interaction with the marine environment. After beginning his career working with Dr. Robert Ballard and the Ocean Exploration Trust in the Mediterranean and Black Seas, he now serves as a maritime principal investigator at SEARCH Inc., studying historic shipwrecks and assessing potential environmental risks such as oil, fuel, and unexploded ordnance as these sites continue to age on the seafloor. Dr. Brennan holds a Ph.D. in Oceanography and an M.A. in Maritime History from the University of Rhode Island, as well as a B.A. in Anthropology and Geology from Bowdoin College.

Ian Dunshee is a professional archaeologist whose career spans both the terrestrial and maritime sectors. Originally from Des Moines, Iowa, his work has taken him both throughout the United States and internationally to study many different subjects. On land these include historic iron mining in the Midwest, prehistoric and colonial sites, petroglyphs, and engravings in the Caribbean, and the archaeology of the Southwest. Both on and in the water, he has been a part of marine surveys and diving operations worldwide studying historic maritime infrastructure, shipwrecks, and assisting the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) in their ongoing mission to search for missing American military personnel. He currently resides in Portland, Oregon and works for the international cultural resource management firm Chronicle Heritage. Presently his personal research focuses on using advanced imaging techniques, statistics, and 3D modeling to study tool markings and degradation on historic shipwreck timbers to better understand their deterioration in the marine environment and document ship construction traditions of the past. In his spare time he enjoys rock climbing, roller derby, and enjoying a good stout at Fort George Brewing.

Douglas C. Wilson (Ph.D., University of Arizona, 1991) is a retired archaeologist and adjunct associate professor at Portland State University, who has explored the historical archaeology of the Pacific Northwest for over 30 years. Among his awards are the 2011 John L. Cotter Award for Excellence in National Park Service Archeology and the 2016 Society for Historical Archaeology’s Diversity Field School Competition Award. He has published in many academic books and journals with his most recent book the Historical Archaeology of the Pacific Northwest published in 2024, part of the American Experience in Archaeological Perspective series by the University Press of Florida. He has a forthcoming chapter in The Archaeology of Colonial Fortifications (2026, edited by Michael S. Nassaney and Sergio Escribano-Ruiz).

Talk summary: This talk will explore the maritime history and archaeology of the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site waterfront in Vancouver, Washington. Fort Vancouver has a waterfront complex along the Columbia River with a deep history that goes back to Indigenous shoreline settlement before and during the colonial period through the Hudsonʻs Bay Company fur trade and U.S. Army occupations. Archaeological surveys, both surface and underwater, have revealed the nature of use of the waterfront and the maritime materiality of the early 19th century fur traders.