APOLLONIA ON MY MIND
The memoir of a paraplegic ocean scientist
Nicholas C. Flemming | 2021
Paperback ISBN: 9789464260328
Hardback ISBN: 9789464260335
Imprint: Sidestone Press | Format: 182x257mm | 494 pp.
Honor Frost Foundation General Publication 2 | Series: Honor Frost Foundation General Publication
Language: English | 34 illus. (bw) | 145 illus. (fc)
Keywords: marine archaeology; marine technology; diving; ocean modelling; seabed prehistory; auto-biography
The ocean conceals secrets, ancient, modern, and future. Nic Flemming’s memoir recounts the life of a pioneer in ocean science. Each chapter describes a thread that structured his work: underwater cities, submerged Ice Age caverns dripping with stalactites, the limits to ocean exploitation, ocean climate change, prehistoric settlements on the continental shelf, ocean law, and safe scientific diving. Flemming is paralysed from the chest down and has used a wheelchair for the past 52 years; one chapter assesses how he has continued to work in rough conditions and at sea, visiting 60 countries since his accident.
Flemming’s early experience with the Royal Marines Special Boat Service provided the foundation for a scientific research career under water. Intrigued by a report of a sunken city seen from a helicopter, he set out to map the submerged Greek city at Apollonia, near Benghazi, in 1958-59, as a Cambridge undergraduate. Doctoral research on the cause of submergence and uplift of hundreds of coastal Mediterranean ruins was followed by adventures in now-submerged caves from the Ice Ages when the sea level was lower.
In 1965, as industry awakened to the potential of seabed exploitation, Flemming journeyed around the world to assess marine technology and forecast future developments for UK industries. This led to participation in the UN Committee on the Law of the Sea and in the design of a Global Ocean Observing System.
Flemming later turned to academic research around submerged stratified prehistoric settlements. Advances in seabed mapping now enable marine archaeologists to study and plot numerous sites in the context of the Ice Age terrestrial landscape.
This is a multi-disciplinary adventure story that argues that different skills and fields can interact creatively with surprising results. It will be enjoyed by all those interested in the development of underwater archaeology, climate science, and ocean exploration.
Dr. Nicholas C. Flemming
Nic Flemming was employed by the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, and the European Office of the Global Ocean Observing System (EuroGOOS). He learned to dive breathing pure oxygen in the Royal Marines Special Boat Service in 1956. During study for an undergraduate degree at Cambridge University, followed by a PhD research project, Nic used his military diving experience and the skills of flying light aircraft to improve scientific research under water by diving and submersibles. He joined the National Institute of Oceanography. He has published more than 300 scientific and technical articles and several books, as selected below. From 1996 to 2001 he was Director of the European Global Ocean Observing System. From 2009 to 2013 he was a UK delegate to Submerged Prehistoric Archaeology and Landscapes of the Continental Shelf (SPLASHCOS) and edited one of the final books from that Project. Nic has been a member of many national British government bodies, international bodies and voluntary organizations.