Heather Knowles
Making Waves Across New England - Heather Knowles
Heather Knowles is a co-founder of Northern Atlantic Dive Expeditions, Inc. and co-captain of the dive charter boat, Gauntlet. She has been diving since the age of 10 and made her first dive to the Andrea Doria at the age of 23.
Heather is a technical diving instructor, fellow of the Explorer’s Club and Associate Member of the Boston Sea Rovers. She served as the Diving member of the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary Advisory Council from 2008-2023, which included leadership roles on the executive committee. Heather has had the privilege of exploring shipwrecks, caves and mines around the world.
Heather has co-led teams that have made shipwreck discoveries in local waters, including the USS Nezinscot and Allentown, among others. She has collaborated on research projects with NOAA in support of exploration in Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary.
Heather Knowles about to dive into the Atlantic.
Heather Knowles walks down the ramp to where the Gauntlet is docked.
New England Exploration, Hundreds of Feet Underwater
In 2007, A research team aboard the dive vessel, Gauntlet, led by Captain Heather Knowles and Captain David Caldwell located the wreck Nezinscot in New England waters off Cape Ann.
The Nezinscot, a ship constructed in 1897 capsized and sank when a deck load shifted in heavy seas in off Cape Ann and hadn't been seen in almost 100 years until the team discovered it.
It was said by many that the Nezinscot routinely carried more than her intended capacity of cargo for a tug and at one point a former captain refused to take her to sea saying it would be too dangerous. Yet another captain was hired and she continued to be overloaded and shipped out to various ports. In 1901 after operating in the Spanish War, she was based out of Portsmouth, NH making runs to New York, Massachusetts and Maine.
In August 1909 while steaming from Portsmouth to Boston, the Nezinscot capsized and sank when cargo shifted in a bout of heavy seas. She was said to have sunk in about two minutes, leaving the crew in rough seas and stormy weather in the middle of the ocean. A few of the men found the life boat, uprighted it and were able to climb aboard. While nine of the crew survived, including the captain’s son and wife, four did not make it.
When Heather Knowles and team located the wreck in 2007, they documented their findings and surveyed the site knowing they were the first to see it in almost 100 years.
The team: Heather Knowles, David Caldwell, Eric Takakjian, Peter Piemonte, Scott Tomlinson, Pat Beauregard, Brian Holmes, Steve Pace, Tim Dwyer, Roman Ptashka, and Jeff Downing.
Heather climbing back aboard the Gauntlet after a wreck dive.
Heather takes a photo of a diver at the massive propeller of wreck, Coyote, that was relocated by Heather and team in 2001.
Allentown Exploration Team.
Heather gearing up with her rebreather
Learn more about Heather Knowles:
northernatlanticdive.com
Additional References
Heather Knowles YouTube
Heather at Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary
A Collaboration with NOAA
Heather has decades of outstanding work under her belt with the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary.
In 2011, NOAA’s Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary provided Heather with a recognition saying, “Since 2005, Ms. Knowles has raised the sanctuary’s visibility and promoted responsible diving in the sanctuary through presentations, websites, and her dive charter, Northern Atlantic Dive Expeditions.“
Heather Knowles snaps a photo of the scallop bed making a home next to the wreck of the North Star in Stellwagen Bank.
Collaboration between Citizen Scientists and Maritime Archaeologists.
Heather also led an effort with Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary to implement a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).
The MOU was the first of its kind and served as a model for collaboration between citizen scientists and sanctuary maritime archaeologists. The aim? To explore unidentified shipwreck targets in the Sanctuary.
Heather Knowles and Gauntlet's exploration team received all available sonar data on the targets. After careful review, research and consideration, the team then dived them and documented their experience at each site through observation, photography and video.
The success of the collaboration validated the use of MOUs for public/private partnerships. It also served as a means to enable access to sensitive and protected shipwreck sites.
If this story interested you, you will find Heather Knowles in person at Boston Sea Rovers’ annual symposium the weekend of March 15, 2025.