'Always look on the bright side of life'
ABOUT RORY
Rory Golden was the first Irish diver to visit the site of RMS TITANIC. He was Dive Safety Operations Manager on the Operation Titanic 2000 Expedition that recovered 800 artifacts from nearly 4,000 metres, using Russian MIR submersibles.
On this first dive he spotted and recovered the main ship’s wheel, buried under debris. A memorial plaque from Cobh, (Queenstown) Cork, Titanic's last port of call, was left on the bridge of the ship. Returning in August 2005, and making a second dive, he featured in a BBC documentary, " A Journey to Remember " leaving two memorial plaques from Belfast alongside this one.
MUSIC and MEDIA
As MD of Virgin Records Ireland for 15 years, he promoted such artists as David Gray, The Verve, Phil Collins, The Chemical Brothers, Meat Loaf, Van Morrison and... Monty Python! He started his Diving, Marine and Search & Rescue supplies company, Flagship Scubadiving Ltd, in 1999, upon leaving the music industry after 25 years. Rory was an ambassador for Titanic 100 Cobh 2012 commemoration events, and was the main guest speaker in Belfast City Hall for the City Council on the 100th anniversary of the sinking on April 15th, 2012.
He is a regular contributor to BBC and RTE broadcasting authorities, on TV and radio, and has written numerous articles about the the world's most famous shipwreck, TITANIC.
DIVING
He has been diving since 1976, as instructor, commercial diver, technical diver, shop owner, service technician, boat operator, and former P.R.O. for The Irish Underwater Council. He also set up Ireland’s first inland dive centre in a flooded slate quarry in Portroe, Tipperary. Having dived all over the world, his favourite diving location is on the west coast of Ireland, in Connemara.
EXPLORING
A member of the Explorers Club of New York, he has climbed Mont Blanc and Kilimanjaro, and made a tandem freefall parachute jump from 13,500 feet for the children’s charity, ISPCC. He has discovered lost wrecks around Ireland, and was a co-founder and vice president of the Irish Underwater Archaeology Research Team in 1985. He is a regular hiker, diver, and occasional skier. In March 2013 he was a member of the Bezos Expeditions F-1 Engine Recovery Team which salvaged five Apollo F-1 rocket engines from 4200 metres in the North Atlantic. One of these engines was from Apollo 11 which launched man to the moon in 1969. The team received the Explorers Club Citation of Merit in March 2014.
