{"id":78510,"date":"2026-08-12T08:40:39","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T12:40:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/news\/?p=78510"},"modified":"2026-08-12T08:52:51","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T12:52:51","slug":"discovery-channels-expedition-unknown-features-utc-underwater-archaeology-research-in-jamaica","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/news\/2026\/08\/discovery-channels-expedition-unknown-features-utc-underwater-archaeology-research-in-jamaica\/","title":{"rendered":"Discovery\u00a0Channel\u2019s \u201cExpedition Unknown\u201d features UTC underwater archaeology research in Jamaica"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Andrew

Andrew J. (AJ) Van Slyke discusses historic maps with Discovery Channel host Josh Gates during filming of “Expedition Unknown” in Jamaica. Photo courtesy of Discovery Channel.<\/p><\/div>\n

Archaeologist Andrew J. (AJ) Van Slyke, a visiting lecturer at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, has spent years chasing two pieces of paper.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

One, a 1722 letter from a pirate hunter, and the other, a 1724 chart of a drowned city. This March, in the waters of Jamaica\u2019s Kingston Harbour, that paper trail finally met the seafloor.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Van Slyke and his students, Tom Laufenberg and Faith Johnson, <\/span>along with<\/span> a team of volunteers, ran the survey lines. Discovery Channel\u2019s \u201cExpedition Unknown\u201d <\/span>documented the expedition<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

*******<\/span><\/p>\n

\"UTC

AJ Van Slyke (center) poses with Tom Laufenberg (left) and Faith Johnson. Photo courtesy of AJ Van Slyke.<\/p><\/div>\n

The episode, titled \u201cSunken City of Pirates,\u201d premiered July 15 and follows the team as they investigate Port Royal, the infamous pirate city that partially sank during an earthquake in 1692. The expedition focused on locating the long-lost ships of Bartholomew \u201cBlack Bart\u201d Roberts, whose fleet disappeared after a hurricane struck the harbor in 1722.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The work is conducted under permit from the Jamaica National Heritage Trust and brings together archaeologists, students and volunteers from the United States and Jamaica. The Port Royal expedition was supported by local Jamaican partners and Discovery Channel.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Today, Port Royal is one of the world\u2019s largest submerged archaeological sites and was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2025.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While viewers watched the search unfold in a 42-minute television episode, the work had been years in the making. Many of the discoveries began at UTC.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Van Slyke, co<\/span>-founder of the Maritime Legacy Project: Jamaica, has spent years working alongside UC Foundation Associate Professor of Archaeology Morgan Smith and an international team of researchers to study Jamaica\u2019s maritime history.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Their work includes searching for Christopher Columbus\u2019 final shipwrecks in St. Ann\u2019s Bay, documenting submerged cultural artifacts.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re getting to discover and touch history for the first time and really prove a story\u2014true or false\u2014that was only written down in a couple of sentences centuries ago,\u201d Van Slyke said.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

*******<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Click here<\/a> to watch an <\/span>\u201cExpedition Unknown\u201d<\/span> teaser of the hunt for Black Bart\u2019s fleet.<\/span> Click here<\/a> to read more about Van Slyke and Smith\u2019s work on the Maritime Legacy Project: Jamaica.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

*******<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Laufenberg and Johnson arrived in Jamaica after completing UTC\u2019s Maritime Archaeological Field School, where they learned the same remote-sensing techniques used by professional underwater <\/span>archaeologists<\/span>. Before anyone entered the water, they spent days aboard the survey boat collecting sonar and marine magnetometer data across Kingston Harbour, searching for anomalies below the seafloor.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Their search was guided by two centuries-old records Van Slyke and Maritime Legacy Project co-founder Dr. Marianne Franklin had studied: a 1722 letter from pirate hunter Capt. Chaloner Ogle of HMS Swallow describing what happened to two of Roberts\u2019 captured ships after a hurricane struck Port Royal, and a 1724 chart showing where wrecks lay in the harbor.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Together, the documents narrowed the search to areas that had never been surveyed using modern remote-sensing technology.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOnly a few pirate ships have ever been found\u2014only three that have been confirmed,\u201d Van Slyke said during the episode. \u201cWhat would it mean to find the ships and identify them? It would be historic.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

UTC adjunct instructor Hunter Whitehead, an underwater archaeologist and photogrammetry specialist, documented the sites by stitching together hundreds of underwater photographs into detailed three-dimensional models. His maps gave the team an accurate digital record of the wrecks and later appeared throughout the Discovery Channel episode.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the friendships and the partnerships all coming together to pull the cart in one direction,\u201d Van Slyke said about the collaboration. \u201cThat\u2019s what makes it beautiful as we\u2019re getting to discover and touch history for the first time.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Three

Josh Marano (left), AJ Van Slyke and Josh Gates float at the surface of the water during an underwater archaeology expedition in Jamaica. Photo courtesy of Discovery Channel.<\/p><\/div>\n

*******<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/b><\/a> to watch a clip from <\/span>\u201cExpedition Unknown\u201d<\/span> of the moment the wrecks appeared on the sonar.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

*******<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Over the course of the expedition, the team surveyed roughly 21 acres over the sunken city and more than 140 acres near Salt Pan Hill.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s kind of like Easter egg hunting,\u201d said Laufenberg, <\/span>a UTC anthropology major about to begin his senior year<\/span>. \u201cYou know there\u2019s something out there and you really want to find it. Every single foot we covered was one more foot that could hold something we\u2019d spent months researching. It was almost a little bit addicting.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The wrecks were the first Laufenberg had ever discovered.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI always had this vision of sitting on a boat with a shipwreck beneath me that I was studying,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen it came across the screen, I had that sense of <\/span>\u2018I\u2019m doing it, I\u2019m really doing it,\u2019<\/span> way before I ever thought I would.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

One of those discoveries proved to be significant in an entirely different way.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The team identified the remains of HMS Aboukir, a British warship that had been blown apart in 1881 and had not been located since.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNobody had located or identified that ship since it was blown up\u2014and then to correctly identify what ship it was,\u201d Laufenberg said. \u201cIt\u2019s all part of the one large story that Port Royal has, of ships and people and their interactions with the water. Even if it wasn\u2019t exactly what we were looking for, it was still a story that deserves to be told.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While Laufenberg made discoveries from the survey boat, Johnson took to the water.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She helped document the suspected Great Ranger site, photographing and measuring features of the wreck that will help researchers continue studying it long after the expedition ended.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMy heart skipped a beat,\u201d said Johnson, <\/span>a 2025 UTC graduate with degrees in anthropology and environmental science<\/span>. \u201cOh my god, this is real. It\u2019s this tiny piece of wood in a much bigger picture. A \u2018whole is greater than the sum of its parts\u2019 kind of experience.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The experience confirmed that she had chosen the right career.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>Wow, this<\/span> is my job,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cI\u2019m practicing for the career I want to have forever.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The research continues in Chattanooga. Van Slyke\u2019s students are transcribing additional HMS Swallow logbooks\u2014the records kept aboard Capt. Ogle\u2019s British warship after his defeat of Black Bart\u2019s fleet\u2014to compare historical accounts with discoveries made in Jamaica.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, members of UTC\u2019s Shipwreck Research Club digitized decades-old excavation notes to create the most complete map yet of the Port Royal site, placing hundreds of artifacts back into their original context. The students presented that work during this year\u2019s UTC Spring Research and Arts Conference.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cScience isn\u2019t finished until it\u2019s communicated,\u201d Van Slyke said. \u201cEverything we do is for the youth. We\u2019re trying to have them see the world through different lenses and pay it forward by giving them meaningful work that\u2019s bigger than us and showing them the beauty that\u2019s inherent to an anthropological pursuit.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Faith

Faith Johnson (left), Tom Laufenberg and AJ Van Slyke surveying the sunken town of Old Harrison from a canoe rigged with survey gear on Chickamauga Lake in Chattanooga. Photo courtesy of AJ Van Slyke.<\/p><\/div>\n

*******<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/b><\/a> to watch the dive on the Great Ranger site.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

*******<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The project drew support from UTC alum Vann Cunningham, who traveled to Jamaica with the team.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been a scuba diver since 1968, my first year at the University of Chattanooga,\u201d Cunningham said. \u201cI spent more than <\/span>50<\/span> years diving shipwrecks around the world. When the opportunity arose to work with UTC\u2019s team at Port Royal, \u2018The Wickedest City in the Caribbean,\u2019 I could not pass it up.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Vann Cunningham Internship Fund<\/span> allowed UTC students to spend months transcribing 18th-century documents before the expedition, turning handwritten records into searchable data that helped narrow the survey area before the team ever entered the water. <\/span>Cunningham\u2019s<\/span> support also helped cover logistics for the fieldwork in Jamaica.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat first drew me to the project was simple,\u201d <\/span>he<\/span> said. \u201cUTC has built an underwater archaeology program that is working in places no one would expect a small undergraduate unit to reach. I wanted to see that work firsthand.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After spending time with the students and researchers in Jamaica, Cunningham said he left even more convinced the program was worth supporting.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cUTC\u2019s faculty are doing nationally significant archaeological work with limited resources, and I wanted to expand the students\u2019 direct access to those opportunities,\u201d he said. \u201cFunding support turns a competitive grant or a television production into an expedition students can actually experience.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"A

Vann Cunningham (bottom, second from right) with the Jamaica survey team in Port Royal. Photo courtesy of Vann Cunningham.<\/p><\/div>\n

*******<\/span><\/p>\n

The skills forged in Kingston Harbour traveled back home to Chattanooga.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After graduating, Johnson accepted a summer position as an interpretive park ranger at Harrison Bay State Park before beginning graduate school. During orientation, she learned that the former town of Harrison lies submerged beneath Chickamauga Lake just offshore.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMy interest was instantly piqued\u2014a whole city underwater? I just got back from surveying an underwater city in Jamaica,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cI told my bosses, \u2018This is what I went to school for, and I know the people who can help.\u2019 They loved the idea and ran with it.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In July, Van Slyke, Johnson and Laufenberg brought the same remote-sensing techniques they used in Jamaica to the submerged town of Old Harrison and the Cherokee-era community of Vann Town. Working from a canoe outfitted with survey equipment, the team began documenting roads, building foundations and other remnants hidden beneath Chickamauga Lake.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe passed over a road that goes through the whole town, and we were surrounded by building foundations,\u201d Johnson said.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Laufenberg said the Jamaica expedition sparked something bigger.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFinding two shipwrecks like that lit a fire inside of me,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m looking for many more opportunities to do it again.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He hopes other students see those opportunities as attainable.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNothing is really out of reach,\u201d Laufenberg said. \u201cYou have to put in the work, you have to ask questions, you have to really fight for it. But if you truly want it, you can achieve it.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Johnson agreed, pointing to the unglamorous parts as the most rewarding.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cStaring at a computer screen for hours,\u201d <\/span>Johnson<\/span> said, \u201cI ended<\/span> up getting to learn the goings-on of a pirate hunter and his commander. It was a great and very rewarding experience.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

*******<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The full episode\u2014\u201c<\/span>Sunken City of Pirates\u201d (<\/span><\/b>\u201cExpedition Unknown,\u201d<\/span><\/b> Season 17, Episode 4)<\/span><\/b><\/a>\u2014is streaming now on Discovery Go. Featured alongside Van Slyke are Maritime Legacy Project archaeologists Joshua Marano, Matt Hanks and <\/span>William<\/span> Wilson.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

“Expedition Unknown” photo gallery (courtesy of Discovery Channel and AJ Van Slyke)<\/h4>\n
\"UTC <\/a> <\/div> <\/div>
\"An <\/a>
Photo courtesy of Discovery Channel <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Andrew <\/a>
Photo courtesy of Discovery Channel <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Historic <\/a>
Captain Bartholomew Roberts with his ships Royal Fortune and Great Ranger on the coast of Guinea, 1722 \u2014 engraving by Benjamin Cole from Capt. Charles Johnson\u2019s A General History of the Pyrates (1724). <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Historic <\/a>
H.M.S. Aboukir at Port Royal, Jamaica, circa 1865,” photograph by Capt. F. L. Grundy, 2nd Battalion, 6th Foot. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Historic <\/a>
Budget (Jamaica) Newspaper from Saturday 09 July 1881. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Photogrammetric <\/a>
Site plan of the Great Ranger created by Legacy Archaeologists on 10 March 2026. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

Learn more<\/h4>\n

UTC Anthropology<\/a><\/p>\n

Visit UTC<\/a><\/p>\n

How to apply<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Years of research by UTC archaeologists and students culminated in a Discovery Channel expedition to search for the lost ships of Bartholomew “Black Bart” Roberts.<\/p>\n

Continue Reading <\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2000,"featured_media":78518,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_slider":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_featurette":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[119405,70,61,122493,122313,7712,64,48007,126322,661],"tags":[126051,126050,127430,127432,126053,126052,127433,99239,127431,127429,123363,127434],"class_list":{"0":"post-78510","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-academics","8":"category-college-of-arts-sciences","9":"category-education","10":"category-experiential-learning","11":"category-faculty-and-staff","12":"category-feature-story","13":"category-news","14":"category-research-academics","15":"category-sociology-anthropology-and-geography","16":"category-students","17":"tag-aj-van-slyke","18":"tag-andrew-j-van-slyke","19":"tag-faith-johnson","20":"tag-joshua-marano","21":"tag-marianne-franklin","22":"tag-maritime-legacy-project","23":"tag-matt-hanks","24":"tag-morgan-smith","25":"tag-shipwreck-research-club","26":"tag-tom-laufenberg","27":"tag-vann-cunningham","28":"tag-william-wilson","29":"entry"},"yoast_head":"\nDiscovery\u00a0Channel\u2019s \u201cExpedition Unknown\u201d features UTC underwater archaeology research in Jamaica | UTC News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Years of research by UTC archaeologists and students culminated in a Discovery Channel expedition to search for the lost ships of Bartholomew "Black Bart" Roberts.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/news\/2026\/08\/discovery-channels-expedition-unknown-features-utc-underwater-archaeology-research-in-jamaica\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Discovery\u00a0Channel\u2019s \u201cExpedition Unknown\u201d features UTC underwater archaeology research in Jamaica | UTC News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Years of research by UTC archaeologists and students culminated in a 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