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The Explorers

There’s not much of the earth that remains incognito—no source of the Nile left to find, no highest peak to climb for the first time, no pole that hasn’t been reached. But there are still discoveries to be made. A handful of Delawareans have dedicated their lives to some of the most interesting.

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When Vince Capone answers the phone, he hopes it’s a call to drop what he’s doing and set off on an underwater archeological expedition. He shares a common bond with Ric Gillespie, who tracks down lost aircraft, and Peter Hess, who has a passion for locating Revolutionary War shipwrecks.

These Delawareans are active members of the Explorers Club, an international society of living and long-gone great adventurers. The Explorers Club, headquartered in New York, is the world’s preeminent organization of men and women who have conquered the earth’s major landmarks or researchers who have completed challenging field expeditions in the name of science. Each of these three guys has notched a unique discovery that qualifies him to be in the league of club members such as Robert Peary, first to reach the North Pole; Sir Edmund Hillary, first to summit Mt. Everest; and astronaut Neil Armstrong, first man to walk on the moon.

Capone, a business owner from Hockessin, is a modern explorer who searches in a different way for different things. He’s a high-tech guy who is frequently called upon to use side-scanning sonar to help find historic ships and other important objects at the bottom of the sea. “With these devices, we can explore for things much more efficiently,” Capone says. “We can now take on projects that would not have been considered feasible with submarines or other devices.”

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