Discover stories behind the latest exhibitions, fascinating explorations into maritime science and archaeology, and the surprising details of what happens inside (and outside) a modern working museum.

James Hunter

Dr James Hunter is the inaugural Curator of RAN Maritime Archaeology at the Australian National Maritime Museum. He received his MA in historical archaeology from the University of West Florida, and holds a PhD in maritime archaeology from Flinders University, where he is an Associate Lecturer in the Department of Archaeology. James has worked in the field of maritime archaeology for nearly two decades, and during that time has participated in the investigation of shipwrecks and other archaeological sites ranging from prehistory to the modern era. He was a member of the archaeological team that investigated the American Civil War submarine H.L. Hunley, and a staff archaeologist with the U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command’s Underwater Archaeology Branch. He has been published widely and is also an accomplished archaeological illustrator whose work has been featured in a number of scholarly books and articles.

James Hunter (left) and Kieran Hosty use baseline-offset mapping to record the hull structure in South Australian's bow

22 May 2020

Bound for 'South Australian': South Australia's oldest known shipwreck found
Photograph showing archaeological remains underwater

13 Dec 2019

Rhode Island revisited: The search for Cook's Endeavour continues
James Hunter conducts a photogrammetric survey of Herald’s starboard boiler. A lighting array was used to illuminate the wreck site and resulted in imagery that was a vast improvement over photographs collected by the team in 2019. Image Irini Malliaros

01 Dec 2019

PS Herald Revisited
: The author (right) and Irini Malliaros from the Silentworld Foundation use ‘old school’ methods to obtain measurements of the Admiralty Old Pattern Long-Shanked Anchor found in the shallows at Boot Reef. Image: Julia Sumerling/Silentworld Foundation.

07 Mar 2019

An anchor’s secrets revealed
Clean Up Australia Day at the Museum, 2019. With our partners Silentworld Foundation.

04 Mar 2019

Dredged Up
The exposed breech of one of four iron cannons at shipwreck site RI 2394 (‘Kerry site’). The visible portion of the cannon is approximately one metre in length, and the photogrammetry target in the foreground measures 10 centimetres square. Image: Irini Malliaros/Silentworld Foundation© RIMAP 2018, used with permission.

10 Feb 2019

Photogrammetric recording in the search for Cook’s Endeavour
HMAS AE1 Report

18 Sep 2018

Solving Australia’s most enduring Naval mystery

18 Jan 2018

Murky water, major storms and maritime archaeology: Adventures with the Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project (2017 Field Season)

07 Sep 2017

Old Wrecks, 'Black Reefs'