Josh's Blog

Hero of the Month: Captain Don Walsh

On January 23, 1960, US Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh and Swiss engineer Jacques Piccard descended to the bottom of Challenger Deep—the deepest spot of the Mariana Trench—in the Trieste bathyscaphe. The descent took almost 5 hours, at which point the Trieste touched down in a cloud of silt, roughly 35,800 feet below the surface. After 20 minutes on the bottom, Walsh and Piccard ascended back to the surface (which took 3 hours and 15 minutes). Their accomplishment has not been repeated by another manned vessel since, and their success has influenced a half-century of oceanography and deep-sea exploration.

Last week, 50 years after the Trieste and its crew completed their historic mission, Capt. Don Walsh and the children of Jacques Piccard (who died in November, 2008) came to Washington, DC to take part in a number of ceremonies and celebrations. The first was a dinner hosted by The Explorers Club’s Washington chapter on Tuesday evening at the Cosmos Club. On Wednesday afternoon, a reception was held on Capitol Hill to acknowledge H.R. 1027, a resolution passed on Jan 23, 2010 commemorating the 50th anniversary of the descent. On Wednesday night, in a private ceremony at National Geographic’s Hubbard Hall, Capt. Walsh received the Hubbard Medal, the highest honor from the National Geographic Society for “distinction in exploration, discovery, and research” and the U.S. Department of the Navy’s Distinguished Public Service Award.

On Thursday morning, the U.S. Navy welcomed a small group of guests with the Walsh and Piccard families to the Washington Navy Yard, where Capt. Walsh spoke (among others) in front of the Trieste.

After a brief lunch, Capt. Don Walsh, oceanographer and conservationist Dr. Sylvia Earle, Dr. Tim Shank of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, engineer Graham Hawkes of Hawkes Remotes, and officials from NOAA and the NSF hosted a press conference at the National Press Club to discuss the past, present and future of ocean exploration. And finally, on Thursday evening, 500 people gathered in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History to again celebrate and honor the achievements of Walsh and Piccard. In front of the supportive crowd, Capt. Walsh was given the Administrator’s Award, NOAA’s highest honor.

I attended most of the above events and had the good fortune of spending a surprising amount of it with Capt. Walsh and his family. Through it all, I was deeply impressed by Capt. Walsh’s tremendous accomplishments over the past 50 years (see this list) and deeply touched by his humility while receiving so many awards and so much recognition. He took time to answer everyone’s questions. He stayed late at every event. He took pictures with anyone who asked (including me). For all of these reasons and many, many more, Capt. Don Walsh, USN (ret) is my Hero of the Month.

Posted by ExplorerJosh on 04/19 at 07:17 PM

1. Had to be one of the most fascinating events ever Thankyou for sharing your life with us.

   Posted by Michelle on 04/20 at 12:23 AM

2. Hi Josh,
   I’m only sorry Jacques Piccard missed sharing the honors himself in person by such a brief moment in time. I hope he got a chance to see ‘Blue Planet’. It seems like he would have enjoyed it as much as myself. That’s the one I found as fascinating and fulfilling as the promise your stuff offered. I wonder why it took so long to acknowledge them. But I suppose they had plenty of renown in their time.
   Happy For Them,
   Francis

   Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 04/20 at 11:17 AM

3. Oh yes Josh,
   I forgot to say thanks for the pic. Looking good kiddo. Always enjoy seeing you.
   Francis

   Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 04/20 at 11:22 AM

4. 4-20-10
   TUESDAY

   JOSH-

   GOOD OF YOU TO SHARE THIS EXPERIENCE WITH ONE OF THE WORLD’S TOP OCEANOGRAPHERS.  NICE PHOTO OF THE BOTH OF YOU.  TOO BAD US FANS COULDN’T SHARE YOUR TALK AT THE EXPLORERS CLUB! 

   NANCY FAULKNER

   Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 04/20 at 12:17 PM

5. Hi JOSH…i think..it was a lucky camera to get a good capture of you both personalities..and thanks for sharing with us JOSH:)

   Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 04/21 at 12:46 AM

6. Good grief, that is a long, long list of accomplishments.  Anyone would be accomplished to do even an eighth of what he’s done!

   Nice pic of you both!

   Posted by xtina on 04/22 at 11:02 AM

7. Nice pic! I couldn’t let noticing: Do you never shave? Don’t get me wrong but this isn’t a thing we see working around here. This is an exigency from society. How do you get it? It’s cool, anyway. I remember my bro, Eduardo. He is like that. I hope you don’t get upset.

   :[]

   Posted by Sophydiah on 04/22 at 12:04 PM

8. Thank you so much for sharing with us, Josh.  Wonderful picture of you with Captain Walsh; what a fascinating man.

   Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 04/23 at 12:07 AM

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