Our guest speaker for October is NAC-O member Mark E Ward, VIP Expedition Leader at OceanX. He will share the emotional story—as well as recently-captured imagery—of the wreck of HMCSAthabaskan, helping solve the mystery surrounding one of the most poignant Canadian naval combat losses of the Second World War.
Biography
Mark E Ward grew up in Toronto and Ottawa where he became fascinated by space and ocean adventures. Like his father Peter Ward (NAC’s 2022 Admirals’ Medal recipient), Mark pursued a career in writing and communications with a specialty in adventure travel and space and ocean projects. He moved to Florida in the early 1990s to work on a variety undersea research projects during which time he logged hundreds of scuba dives and had the privilege of spending 40+ days living underwater in 4 different research laboratories.
In 2003, Mark coordinated an expedition for History Television to locate and explore the wreck of HMCS Athabaskan, resting at a depth of 285 off the northwest coast of France. Sunk on April 29, 1944 while she and HMCS Haida were engaged with the enemy, Athabaskan took with her 128 souls, including Mark’s grandfather Lt. Leslie Ward.
From 2001 to 2018 Mark planned and coordinated dozens of dive trips and meetings for an esteemed group of space and ocean professionals called the Sea Space Symposium (founded in 1970 by Apollo Astronaut Buzz Aldrin).
In 2012 Mark was hired by billionaire philanthropist Ray Dalio to plan and coordinate expeditions for his research vessel MV Alucia. Mark continues to plan expeditions for Mr. Dalio’s new vessel RV OceanXplorer and its operating entity OceanX.
In August of 2023, and with Royal Canadian Navy representation aboard, Mark led another expedition to survey a much wider debris field with multibeam scan and captured video footage with a remote vehicle, helping piece together what actually happened that fateful night of April 29, 1944.
Further information and menu options can be found on the 2024 Gala web page
