Robert McClung
Following his more mainstream career as the Chief of Police in Aspen Colorado, Mr. McClung has been professionally focused on the exploration and recovery of shipwrecks for over 25 years.
Beginning with the discovery and recovery of the pirate ship "Whydah"(circa 1717). Mr. McClung was a partner and VIce.Pres of Maritime Explorations. Mr. McClung worked with the board of Underwater Archeology for the State of Massachusetts for four years and served as Director of Field Operations for maritime Explorations Inc. In 1986, Mr. McClung led the team that rediscovered the British Man-O-War "HMS Hussar" in Hells Gate on the East River of Manhattan. At that time Mr. McClung structured a working agreement with the S.U.N.Y Maritime College of New York at Ft Schyler on its recovery. After six years, Mr. McClung became President of Oceanic Explorations Inc. a shipwreck exploration company.
From 1989 to1990, Mr. McClung recovered artifacts believed to be from the "San Felipe"(circa 1625), discovered by Oceanic. Then Oceanic was recruited by a private investment group to search for Spanish Galleon "San Jose’s Las Amana’s"(circa 1733). For the subsequent four years, Oceanic worked both under contract for outside parties as well as its own, to recover many shipwrecks including the "Christenstad" . (circa 1797), "The Betray" (circa 1702), "Le Lacourte" (circa 1711), "Far fan Galleon" . (Circa 1556), "Brig Baltic" (circa 1866) and "Trujillo Galleon" (circa 1604). In 1998,
In 1996, Mr. McClung discovered the shipwreck of the famous Treasure Galleon "Jesus Maria La Limpia de Concepcion" of 1654 in the waters off Chanduy, Ecuador. Under contract with a private group of Ecuadorian Investors an estimated $25 million dollars worth of Treasure and artifacts were recovered under his expedition leadership.
Mr. McClung was recruited by MAREX Inc. between recovery seasons in Ecuador to serve as the Director of Deep Dive Operations in the U.S. for the shipwreck of the "SS North Carolina" (circa 1876). A side-wheel steamship, 20 miles off the coast of South. Carolina.
During the period from 1994 to present date, Mr. McClung has spent considerable time in Panama, Honduras, Nicaragua, Columbia, Peru and Ecuador searching for shipwrecks and recovering artifacts. Over thirty old Historic shipwrecks have been located. Specific Caribbean shipwrecks included "El Dragon" (circa 1798), the Cordova fleet (circa 1605), "Le Duc de Orleans" (circa 1780’s), the "Santa Teresa" (circa 1681) and "La Champeron" (circa 1681). "La Botacardia" (circa 1681), "The Satisfaction" (circa 1671) Flag ship of the famous pirate Captain Morgan, and recovered one of it’s anchors with other valuable artifacts the Company now owns. In 1996 while working in Panama Mr. McClung founded Blue Seas Explorations a Panamanian company for the purpose of acquiring Recovery Permits in the territorial waters of Panama. . Through extensive archival and local research Mr. McClung uncovered over 200 silver coins and other artifacts from the famous Almiranta San Jose (circa 1631) off the west coast of Panama.
From 2002 to 2004 Mr. McClung was the general manager/partner for Galleones Reales conducting exploration and recovery of shipwrecks in the coastal waters of Ecuador. In an effort to leverage all of his known opportunities, Mr. McClung founded Oceanic Expeditions and is serving as its Chief Operations Officer and Expedition Leader with Mr. Fuller and Mr. Van Wyck.