Background
Meide was born in Jacksonville, Florida, and raised in the nearby coastal town of Atlantic Beach.
Meide was born in Jacksonville, Florida, and raised in the nearby coastal town of Atlantic Beach.
He earned Bachelor and Master of Arts degrees in Anthropology with a focus in underwater archaeology in 1993 and 2001 from Florida State University, where he studied under George R. Fischer, and undertook Doctor of Philosophy studies in Historical Archaeology at the College of William and Mary starting the following year.
Meide has participated in a wide array of shipwreck and maritime archaeological projects across the United States., especially in Florida, and throughout the Caribbean and Ireland. From 1995 to 1997 he participated in the search for, discovery, and total excavation of Louisiana Salle"s shipwreck, Louisiana Belle, lost in 1686. In 1999 he directed the Dog Island Shipwreck Project, a comprehensive maritime survey of the waters around a barrier island off the coast of Franklin County, Florida, and between 2004 and 2006 he directed the Achill Island Maritime Archaeology Project off the coast of County Mayo, Ireland.
Since taking over as Director of LAMP in 2006, he has directed the First Coast Maritime Archaeology Project, a state-funded research and educational program focusing on shipwrecks and other maritime archaeological resources in the offshore and inland waters of Northeast Florida.
In 2009, during this project, Meide discovered the "Storm Wreck," a ship from the final fleet to evacuate British troops and Loyalist refugees from Charleston at the end of the Revolutionary War, which wrecked trying to enter Saint Augustine on 31 December 1782. He has led the ongoing archaeological excavation of this shipwreck site each summer thereafter.
On July 10, 2014, the Saint Augustine Lighthouse & Museum announced at a press conference that Meide would lead an expedition to search for the lost French fleet of Jean Ribault, wrecked in 1565. The search area was located in Canaveral National Seashore waters, and was carried out in partnership with the National Park Service, the State of Florida, National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration" General’ s Office of Ocean Exploration, the Center for Historical Archaeology, and the Institute of Maritime History.
Chuck Meide has served on the Board of the Institute of Maritime History since 2005, and was named Vice President in 2009.
