Susan Langley, Maryland’s state underwater archaeologist, has spent more than three decades studying our underwater history. “I’ve been so lucky to be on great projects and to have visited the most interesting places that I might not have seen otherwise,” Langley said. Photo by Nicholas Zachar/NOAA

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Susan Langley lectures on maritime history.

From the thousands of miles of waterways that crisscross Maryland to the murky depths of the Chesapeake Bay, Dr. Susan Langley knows an underwater museum waits to be discovered. There, she excavates the past, carefully studying each site and artifact, piecing together stories that time and tide have sought to erase.

For more than three decades, Langley has served as Maryland’s State Underwater Archaeologist at the Maryland Historical Trust, headquartered in Crownsville.

The agency’s mission is to preserve and protect the state’s historical and cultural heritage. Maryland is one of a handful of states with a dedicated maritime archaeology program. This discipline combines the classic methods of terrestrial archaeology with marine science.

A passionate advocate of conservation, Langley sees shipwrecks as living time capsules as well as evolving ecosystems that tell new stories with each passing tide.

“I find an object, like a shoe, and I think about who wore these,” she said in an interview with the Beacon. “What was their life like? Where are their descendants now? That’s the humanity in the archaeology.”

Family’s connection to the ocean

Langley grew up on the Canadian side of the Great Lakes in a history-loving family that had a personal connection to the sea. Her great-grandfather and his brothers were boat builders in Nova Scotia, and their tragic deaths in a hurricane perhaps explain why she feels she has “saltwater in her blood,” she said.

Langley’s family loved to travel, and her first introduction to archaeology was in the American Southwest.

“I had an uncle in New Mexico whose home was on an active archaeological site. I was enthralled by the dig and seeing what they discovered.”

One specific childhood memory sealed her fate: “In the 1960s, my dad would bring home copies of old National Geographic magazines. On one cover, I saw a pair of hands, a flashlight on one wrist, in deep water, lifting an urn.”

That photograph of divers excavating an ancient shipwreck off the Yucatan Peninsula sparked a lifelong fascination.

“I always knew I wanted to be an archaeologist. Now I knew I could be one underwater,” she said.

Langley followed a path of rigorous academic training, specializing in anthropology, archaeology and maritime history. Before arriving in Maryland, she worked internationally, conducting excavations in Canada, Thailand and the Caribbean.

Working underwater

Langley regards shipwrecks as “historical snapshots” that provide unique insight into the past: its culture, economy, trade and technological advancements. She’s an underwater time traveler, navigating from prehistoric sites of Indigenous people to colonial settlements to the War of 1812 to 20th-century wartime relics.

While traditional archaeologists work with sun-bleached ruins and other underwater specialists work in the crystal-clear waters of tropical islands, Langley faces the cloudy waters of the bay, where visibility can be as poor as a few inches. Langley describes it as “archeology by Braille.”

Each dive is a slow, meticulous and tactile process. “You can’t always see what you’re touching, so you have to feel your way through history.”

Despite the challenges, Langley and her team have documented hundreds of sites. Among the most well-known projects is her work at Mallows Bay, Charles County, home to the famous “Ghost Fleet.” This collection of nearly 200 abandoned World War I-era vessels is the largest ship graveyard in the Western Hemisphere.

The decades have miraculously transformed the ships into artificial reefs that now serve as diverse wildlife habitats. Langley was instrumental in getting Mallows Bay designated as a National Marine Sanctuary, the second of its kind in the continental U.S.

Langley also played a key role in researching the Levin J. Marvel, a passenger schooner that sank during Hurricane Connie in 1955 and claimed the lives of 14 people. This tragedy led to the National Boating Safety Act (Bonner Act), which “saved many lives since,” she noted.

Water environments can preserve organic materials better than on land, allowing for new insights into societies of the near and distant past. New skills developed for new technology mean there is always more to learn in studying Maryland’s rich maritime history.

Though she has been an experienced diver for 40 years, Langley often uses noninvasive methods like electronic remote sensing to investigate in challenging aquatic environments. For instance, sonar mapping uses sound waves to create detailed images of underwater landscapes.

Beyond the bay, Langley has investigated countless other famed sites such as Fort McHenry, where she helped locate 1,300 pieces of ordnance, and Pemberton Hall near Salisbury to study the remains of an 18th-century wharf, the oldest bulkhead wharf in the United States.

“I’ve been so lucky to be on great projects and visit the most interesting places that I might not have seen otherwise,” she said.

Wherever she goes and whatever she does, Langley combines a meticulous work ethic with a keen investigative mind and a sense of humor. She emphasizes the need for thorough documentation; otherwise, she said, “you’re just a treasure hunter.”

Langley revels in the diversity of places, people and disciplines she encounters in her work. This may include collaborations with historians, marine biologists, government agencies and even, yes, National Geographic staff.

“Like other people of my generation, I used to watch ‘The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau,’” she said. “But now I’m most interested in his wife, Simone, who was an early role model for women in the field. She was really the first female aquanaut.”

Tending to the next generation

Langley’s excitement about her job, or what she refers to as the “wow factor,” has not dimmed over time.

She is a passionate educator, lately serving as an adjunct professor at St. Mary’s College. She loves bringing history to life in lectures for students and scholars in Maryland and around the world.

She is also an avid textile historian and an apiarist, even serving as the beekeeper for Government House in Annapolis.

Not one to rest on her laurels, Langley has a pet project she would like to focus on: “One of the sites I did for my doctorate was a prototype for a World War II site where the premise was to build aircraft carriers out of ice [and wood pulp]. It was never realized, but the remnants are still in a lake in Canada. When I finally find time, I want to write a book about it.”

Whether exploring the depths of the Potomac River, tending to bees or lecturing on pirates, Langley brings abundant curiosity to every aspect of her work. By sharing the joy of discovering history, she hopes to inspire a new crop of underwater archaeologists.

“Recently I asked a friend of mine, ‘Where are all the kind of people we used to look up to?’ My friend laughed, ‘We are those people now.’”