Jeff Hummel and Matt McCauley in front of the WWII dive-bomber they recovered from Lake Washington in 1984.

President

Matt McCauley

An alumnus of Mercer Island High School, Seattle University (BA, Journalism) and the Seattle University School of Law, Matt has four decades of experience as a business owner, SCUBA diver, local historian, and writer. A certified SCUBA diver since 1979, Matt was co-defendant in US v. Hummel, et. al. (1984) a federal civil suit filed after he and Jeff Hummel salvaged the remains of a WWII naval dive-bomber from Lake Washington, and co-managed the recovery of four more WWII-era naval combat aircraft from Lake Washington in 1987, among other wreck projects over the years.

Matt has authored two books and hundreds of periodical and online articles on local history, co-directs KirklandHistory.org—an online, nonprofit information resource—and serves in various capacities in several local historical societies.

Directors

Jeff Hummel

Jeff Hummel has been involved in marine projects since 1983; his earliest experience was recovering WWII aircraft from Lake Washington, near Seattle. In 1984, at the age of 20, Jeff was sued by the US Navy in a landmark case called US v. Hummel, et. al. Jeff organized a legal team that prevailed against the Navy in court and was awarded clear and free title to the plane. It is currently being restored and will fly again in the next year or so.

Jeff owns R/V SeaBlazer, an 80 ft. research vessel which is used for testing marine electronics and for ROV and side scan sonar operations. Jeff and his team have spent hundreds of hours honing their search and operational techniques. Jeff Hummel is one of the world’s leading experts in PC-based marine navigation systems, having both worked for Nobeltec (Acquired by Boeing in 2001) and Rose Point Navigation Systems, the US leader in commercial navigation systems. Jeff Hummel is an alumnus of Mercer Island High School and the University of Washington, where he majored in product design and also rowed on crew.

Duane Engle

Duane holds a master’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Washington and has worked for major aerospace and computing firms in the Seattle area. Duane later embarked on a second career as an airline pilot. He has enjoyed many years of recreational boating in the coastal waters of Washington, British Columbia and Alaska. He enjoys tinkering with and building all things mechanical and electrical and those skills have been employed in a number of projects in underwater exploration in the Pacific Northwest.

Lynn Hubbard

Lynn’s maritime background began with work on live-aboard scuba diving boats in the Bahamas in the late ‘80s, where she earned a 100-ton US Coast Guard Master’s License. She decided to become a maritime lawyer and attended Tulane Law School. After graduating, Lynn interned for a marine insurer in Sweden, and then moved to Seattle and practiced maritime law and litigation for a decade. More recently, Lynn has been volunteering for a variety of nonprofit boards. Lynn is interested in re-imagining cities without conventional automobiles, supporting independent film, and protecting wild spaces. (And, of course, shipwrecks!)