By Emma Bouthillette 

Staff Writer

Sitting nearly 10,000 feet deep in the ocean rest the remains of an Israeli submarine DAKAR that was lost more than 40 years ago, but never forgotten. 

Until 10 years ago, 69 families never knew what happened to loved ones who crewed the ship when communication was lost while navigating the Mediterranean Sea. But thanks to David Jourdan and his company Nauticos, which specializes in deep-ocean searches, remnants of the 287-foot submarine were found in 1999. 

Ten years later, Jourdan, 54, and a Cape Porpoise resident, has documented the search in his soon-to-be-released book “Never Forgotten: The Search and Discovery of Israel’s Lost Submarine DAKAR.” It details coordinating efforts with the U.S. Navy, as well as firsthand accounts from surviving family members. 

“This search was rewarding because of the surviving families looking for closure,” Jourdan said. “They were very involved in ongoing efforts – to achieve that goal and get their appreciation.”

While DAKAR is the focus of Jourdan’s book and a rewarding effort, Jourdan said searching for sunken ships is just part of his day job. 

“It’s exciting, but there’s a lot of work just like any other job with paperwork and phone calls. Being on a ship is kind of like a moving office. The excitement is doing something unique and the thrill of discovering and solving a mystery,” Jourdan said. 

The disappearance of an Israeli submarine may not be something most people know about or remember, but the tragedy of the Titanic is notable, and Jourdan had a hand in the live broadcast recovering a 20-ton piece from the sunken ship in the northern Atlantic. 

He’s also discovered a missing Japanese submarine that had been carrying two tons of gold to Germany occupied France during World War II. At nearly 17,000 feet under water, it is the deepest wreck Jourdan has discovered and gold sitting at the bottom with other remains. 

“The gold is difficult to salvage because of legal issues and the rights to the money,” Jourdan said. 

The submarine DAKAR imploded at a depth of 650 feet and the debris scattered across the ocean floor. A year after finding DAKAR, the team returned, and recovered the conning tower and a uniform preserved in a dry cleaning bag. The tower now stands as a memorial to the crew, and the uniform was returned to the surviving family. 

“It’s interesting what will survive deep in the ocean. With very little oxygen, very cold waters, with not much of a current and if it is not something an organism will consume it will last a very long time,” Jourdan said, adding he has discovered a pair of boots, side by side, where they were when the person occupying them died. 

Searching the ocean floor for wrecks is not something he dreamed about as a child he said – he actually wanted to be an astronaut.

“I’m exploring a different kind of frontier. We have not yet mapped more than 5 percent of the ocean floor whereas we have mapped the backside of the moon and even Mars. The ocean represents 99.8 percent of the biosphere – where things live – so it is a profound ignorance we have,” Jourdan said. 

His particular interest in submarines stemmed from his studies at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., where he worked on similar ships. He continued his studies to earn a master’s in applied physics at John Hopkins University in Baltimore.

Jourdan is still investigating the whereabouts of missing vessels, including continuing a failed mission in 2006 to find Amelia Earhart’s airplane, Electra.

“It was our second search for the Electra. Hopefully there will be another search soon, and hopefully it will be the last,” Jourdan said. 

He’s also working on a project that would use cold, deep ocean waters as a renewable source of energy. 

“The idea is to use the difference in temperature as it is brought up to drive an engine and make energy,” Jourdan said. “It is something we really could use, and it works, but it’s expensive to lay the pipes initially.” 

Between searching for missing ships, divining to locate the long disappeared plane and the mystery of what happened to Earhart that day and determining the feasibility of cold water energy, Jourdan published a book to share with readers what a search for a submarine is like and how it impacts the families involved. 

Jourdan has a reading scheduled with his fellow Rotarians May 7 and a public reading at 2 p.m., June 14, at the Louis T. Graves Memorial Library on Maine Street in Kennebunkport. 

“Never Forgotten: The Search and Discovery of Israel’s Lost Submarine DAKAR,” hits shelves May 4 and may be purchased at local and national bookstores for $34.95. 

Staff writer Emma Bouthillette can be reached at 282-4337 ext. 237.