Celebrated shipwreck explorer dies while diving on wreck off Cape Cod, crew says

Mark Price, Miami Herald on Aug 4, 2025

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

MIAMI — A shipwreck explorer with numerous discoveries to his credit has died while on a wreck off Cape Cod, according to his crew.

Capt. Joe Mazraani died Tuesday, July 29, “in a diving related incident,” the Diving Vessel Tenacious reported in an Aug. 1 Facebook post.

“While we are choosing to keep the details private, we currently have no reason to suspect diver error or equipment failure. All indications point to a medical emergency,” crew member Jenn Sellitti wrote.

“Of course, the full investigation is ongoing. The incident occurred approximately 200 miles offshore, on the eastern edge of Georges Bank, during a dive to a shipwreck the team called The Big Engine Steamer.”

He was pulled aboard the Tenacious but efforts to revive him were not successful, the New Bedford Guide reports.

The investigation is being handled by the New Bedford Police Department, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

A lawyer by trade, Mazraani immigrated from Lebanon to the U.S. at 15 and turned his “obsession” with exploring shipwrecks into a New Jersey-based diving operation, Atlantic Wreck Salvage, the company reports on his website.

His death comes just two weeks after it was announced the crew discovered a key navigational instrument, a gyro compass, from the wreck of the Andrea Doria, which sank in a 1956 collision.

Mazraani is also credited with finding the much sought-after ship’s bell from the HMHS Britannic, a sister ship of the Titanic that was sunk by a German mine in 1916.

“Joe Mazraani was larger than life,” Sellitti wrote on behalf of Atlantic Wreck Salvage.

“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.”

The future of the Diving Vessel Tenacious remains to be determined, she said.