Nöbetçi Eczaneler
By Mark ‘Crowley’ Russell
Renowned technical diver and wreck-hunter Captain Joe Mazraani has died off the coast of Cape Cod during an expedition to identify a lost Atlantic steam ship.
Mazraani, a 48-year-old criminal defence attorney from New Jersey, was diving from his expedition vessel DV Tenacious on the eastern edge of Georges Bank, an underwater plateau which extends approximately 200 miles (320km) off the North American coast, when he reportedly suffered a medical emergency.
His dive team were able to pull him back on board Tenacious where they performed CPR, but were unable to revive him.
The team was attempting to explore and identify a ship they had named ‘The Big Engine Steamer’, which they had discovered previously during a search for Le Lyonnais, a steam ship sunk in 1865 whose story is documented by Mazraani’s wife, Jennifer Sellitti, in her recently published book The Adriatic Affair.
Sellitti, a New Jersey Public Defender, said in a statement posted on Facebook that ‘while we are choosing to keep the details private, all indications point to a medical emergency,’ adding that ‘we currently have no reason to suspect diver error or equipment failure.’
Mazraani was born in Lebanon and spent most of his youth by the Mediterranean coast before his family emigrated to the US when he was aged 15.
He was first certified to dive in the 1990s and became fascinated with diving the wrecks off the northeastern coast of America.
Mazraani formed his company Atlantic Wreck Salvage and has used his boat DV Tenacious to locate and explore a number of lost wrecks in the North Atlantic, including the German submarine U-550, sunk by US battleships off the coast of Nantucket in 1944.
He is also known for his expeditions to the SS Andrea Doria, RMS Lusitania, and HMHS Britannic, sister-ship to Titanic and whose ship’s bell Mazraani is credited with finding during a 2019 expedition.
Some of Mazraani’s adventures have been chronicled in the books Where Divers Dare: The Hunt for the Last U-boat, and Dangerous Shallows, In Search of the Ghost Ships of Cape Cod.
In a tribute posted on social media, Sellitti spoke about the ‘profound sadness and an indescribable sense of loss’ at her husband’s death.
‘Joe Mazraani was larger than life. He was kind, compassionate, and generous. A mentor and a student, a friend, brother, son, and partner,’ she said.
‘Whether motoring aboard the D/V Tenacious, diving into deep and dangerous water, or defending his clients in court, Joe demanded the best of everyone around him. Sometimes he demanded it grumpily—but he always demanded by example.
‘I loved Joe fiercely, and he loved me back just the same. We were partners in everything—especially this. Some will say exploration like this is not worth the risk. If viewed in isolation, perhaps it isn’t. But this wasn’t just a dive. It was our way of life.
‘Joe understood better than anyone that life offers no guarantees. He lived every moment fully, without compromise. He did not want to die doing what he loved—none of us do. He wanted to survive it, to grow old doing it. But when you live at the edge, sometimes the edge pushes back.
‘This loss is still too raw for us to make any decisions about the future of D/V Tenacious. For now, we’re keeping this page and the website open—because they chronicle not just Joe, but our crew and our adventures over the last decade. And, though we don’t yet know exactly how, this space will be part of how we carry forward Joe’s work and legacy.
‘The photo below is one of the last taken of Joe. It’s him on the bow of D/V Tenacious, his happiest place. It is important to remember that this is exactly where he wanted to be: 200 miles from shore; the ocean smooth as glass; and people he loved right out there with him.’
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