Dr. Don Walsh

International Maritime Inc.

Dr. Don Walsh USN  is an oceanographer, explorer and ocean engineer. Dr. Walsh first went to sea in 1951. During his 24-year naval career he served at sea in surface ships and submarines including command of a submarine in the Pacific Fleet.  Shore duty assignments were in ocean-related research and development.  In 1960, Dr. Walsh and Jacques Piccard dove to the deepest place in the ocean in the Navy's Bathyscaph Trieste.  At the time, Walsh was the Navy commander of the Trieste.  Life Magazine said this was one of the greatest explorations of the 20th Century. At ceremonies at the White House, President Eisenhower awarded him the Legion of Merit medal.

In addition to deep ocean exploration, from 1971 to the present, he has made over 80 expeditions to the polar regions including the South and North Poles.  The “Walsh Spur” in the Antarctic is named for him. After 24 years of naval service Dr. Walsh became a dean and faculty member at the University of Southern California.  At USC he was the founding director of its Institute for Marine and Coastal Studies (IMCS), 1975-1984.  From 1976 to 1994 Dr. Walsh based his consulting business at San Pedro in the Los Angeles Harbor.  In addition, he owned the commercial inshore diving company Parker Diving Services (PDS) from 1984-1994.  Until 2018 he served as Honorary President of the Explorers Club.  In 2001 he was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) in recognition of his four decades of work in undersea engineering. In 1985, he was given the highest award of the Explorers Club, The Explorers Medal.  In 2000 he was a signer on the American Geographical Society’s globe.  And in 2010, he received the National Geographic Society’s highest recognition, the Hubbard Medal.