www.wellsreserve.org/news/2005-01-26_amelia.htm

SEARCHING THE DEEP SEA FOR AMELIA EARHART

POSTPONED TO FEBRUARY 17 AT NOON

WELLS, MAINE - A forthcoming expedition to solve the mystery of aviator Amelia Earhart's 1937 disappearance will be the subject of a presentation at the Wells Reserve at Laudholm Farm on Thursday, February 10, at noon. David Jourdan, chief scientist for the expedition, will speak at the brown-bag lecture.

The presentation is free and open to the public. Please bring your bag lunch and a mug for free organic coffee or tea. The reserve will provide drinks, so reservations are requested at (207) 646-1555.

Amelia Earhart's name became a household word in 1932 when she became the first woman - and second person - to fly solo across the Atlantic. That year, she received the Distinguished Flying Cross from the Congress, the Cross of Knight of the Legion of Honor from the French Government, and the Gold Medal of the National Geographic Society from President Hoover.

In 1935, Earhart became the first person to fly solo across the Pacific Ocean from Honolulu to California. Later that year she soloed from Los Angeles to Mexico City and back to Newark, N.J.

In 1937, Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan sought to fly around the world over the equator. On July 2, they disappeared at sea in the south Pacific. No physical evidence of the flyers or their plane has ever been found. Researchers generally believe the plane ran out of fuel and Earhart and Noonan perished at sea.

A 2002 search by the Nauticos Corporation covered two thirds of an area thought to have a high probability of holding Earhart's lost Lockheed Electra. Investigators plan to return to complete their search later this year.

David W. Jourdan was president of Nauticos Corporation for sixteen years before he sold the core business to Oceaneering International in 2003. His career has been devoted to the exploration of the deep oceans, concentrating in the areas of remote sensing and underwater navigation. During his commission as a U.S. Navy submarine officer and as a physicist at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, he became an expert in the exploitation of large undersea environmental data sets, specializing in information collected by U.S. Navy ocean research submersibles and associated development programs.

The Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve, with facilities at historic Laudholm Farm, is committed to investigating coastal environments and increasing understanding of their ecology. The Wells Reserve is located at 342 Laudholm Farm Road in Wells, just off Routes 1 and 9 near the Kennebunk line. www.wellsreserve.org

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