Robert H. Pritchett III

Robert Henry “Bobby” Pritchett III was born in Petersburg, Virginia, in 1962. His interest in history began at age nine while hunting for artifacts from the American Civil War such as Minié balls (musket balls) in local creek beds. Before entering the For-profit end underwater archaeology sector of the marine salvage industry, he spent 34 years as a successful builder and developer, managing the construction of over 1,200 houses and developing 2,000 lots across five states.^[1]

Pritchett started diving in 1981, became a diving instructor in 1983 and earned his U.S. Coast Guard Masters license in 1985. He has earned 62 different instructor certifications to teach all phases of Open-water diving, Deep diving, Cave Diving, Nitrox, Tri-Mix/Mixed Gas Diving, and Gas blending. Pritchett has taught diving courses for Professional Association of Diving Instructors, National Association of Underwater Instructors, International Association of Nitrox and Technical Divers, National Association for Cave Diving, NSS/CDS, and NASDS. He has engineered dam projects and discharge pipe work and spent thousands of hours in underwater construction doing pilings for docks. He eventually transitioned from underwater construction and cave diving to historic artifact recovery, moving to Florida and ultimately to the Dominican Republic to "follow his dream" of discovering and salvaging shipwrecks.^[1] He has since authored more than 20 books and articles on shipwrecks off the Dominican shore.^[2]

President, Anchor Research & Salvage (ARS): Founded in October 2009 to research and salvage historic shipwrecks in Dominican waters.^[3]

President, Global Marine Exploration (GME): Formed in 2011, and later acquired ARS,^[4] GME focuses on using high-tech equipment for shipwreck discovery and mapping of their artifact scatter.

• Discoveries off the Dominican Republic: When ARS & GME searched the waters of the Dominican Republic under their lease agreement issued by the Republic's Dirección de Patrimonio Cultura Subacuatico (Underwater Cultural Heritage Directorate), Pritchett's team discovered 49 colonial period and 50 post-colonial shipwrecks. Several of the colonial period wrecks were warships and historically important, but the most significant wreck with a merchant cargo was that of a ship believed to have been carrying the governor and vice-governor of Cuba, when it was lost. The vice-governor died in the wreck. The recoveries from this wreck constitute the largest cache of pewter ever discovered, and, to date, is the most important single find of 16th century pewter anywhere in the world. According to Martin Roberts, who published the definitive work on the wreck's pewter, the find “represents a kind of Rosetta Stone for mid-16th Century pewter which is being decoded using a variety of approaches.”^[5][6]
• Discoveries off Florida: While conducting magnetometer surveys off Cape Canaveral under a series of 14 exploration permits issued by State of Florida, GME discovered five colonial era shipwrecks, including one that both the Republic of France and the State of Florida have claimed in court filings is Jean Ribault's 1565 flagship, La Trinité. The find included bronze cannons and a carved marble monument bearing the French coat of arms, which is the only surviving one of five such monuments commissioned by the king of France in 1561 to mark France's ownership claims to parts of the Atlantic Coast of North America.

• Litigation by Anchor Marine Salvage and Global Marine Exploration v. Dominican Republic: In 2014, ARS/GME brought a case against the Dominican Republic for breach of contract that had been entered into October 2010, and won its case against up through that country's Supreme Court, but it was never paid and in 2025 and ARS/GME now has a pending case for denial of justice against the Dominican Republic and is currently in International ICSID Arbitration.
• Litigation by Global Marine Exploration Inc. v. The Unidentified, wrecked and (for Finders-Right Purposes) Abandoned Sailing Vessel: On November 22, 2016, because Florida was not honoring its agreement to issue a recovery permit to GME for the discovered wreckage, GME brought a case in Admiralty before United States District Court, Middle District of Florida, Orlando Division, seeking ownership of the wreckage part of which was later identified by Florida and France as the French ship Trinité. ^[7]
• Litigation by Global Marine Exploration Inc. v. the State of Florida, et al.: In 2019, GME brought suit (civil action number 001835) against Florida in Florida Circuit Court for breach of contract after they revoked GME's exploration license. The case was put on hold to resolve an issue in State administrative court, then put on hold again to resolve an issue in Federal court with France. When those issues are settled it is expected the case will go forward.^[8] French archaeological recovery project of shipwreck sites off the coast of Cape Canaveral was a commercial activity under the FSIA so as to permit federal jurisdiction in suit by salvor of French vessel that sank in 1565; Global Marine Exploration, Inc. v. Republic of France, No. 20-14728, 2022 U.S. App.^[9]
• Litigation by Global Marine Exploration Inc. v. Republic of France, et al.: In 2020 GME brought suit against France for interference with contract and collusion with the State of Florida, and after various motions, hearings and appeals, GME filed a petition for a writ of certiorari regarding case #24-10148 (pending in the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit) with the Supreme Court of the United States, docket #25-900. The court's response as to whether it will hear the case is due March 5, 2026. ^[10]