Tom Oertling is a lecturer in the Maritime Studies Program at Texas A&M University at Galveston. He received a BS from Tulane University in Anthropology in 1977, his MA from the Nautical Archaeology program at Texas A&M University in College Station in 1984, and has 30 years of experience in the field. He has partnered with the A&M's Institute of Nautical Archaeology on numerous projects, most recently in the excavation of the Denbigh, a Civil War blockade runner at the entrance to Galveston Bay, and has extensive experience throughout participated on projects in the U.S., the Caribbean, Canada, Spain and Turkey. Mr. Oertling oversees all aspects of archaeological conservation in the Galveston Archaeological Laboratory (GARL) and he teaches Introduction to Archaeology, Nautical Archaeology of the Americas, Texas Maritime Cultural History and the Elissa Sail Training Course.