Years on Job: 11 When he was a kid, Chris Southerly wanted to
try scuba divingbut the mountains of Virginia, where he grew up,
offered few opportunities. So Southerly learned to dive in grad
school, and now it's how he makes his living: As an underwater
archaeologist for North Carolina's Department of Cultural
Resources, Southerly is currently excavating the infamous pirate
Blackbeard's flagship, Queen Anne's Revenge, near Beaufort
Inlet, N.C. When he's not diving to the wreck, he's examining
artifacts from the ship to figure out how they fit into people's
lives. "An artifact is a tangible connection to our history," he
says. "It's one thing to read about it in a book. It's a whole
other experience to hold it in your hand knowing that you're the
first person to see or touch this object in nearly three
centuries." Full Face Mask "In many cases the waters we're
working in have zero visibility," Southerly says. To communicate
with fellow divers and the surface crew, he uses scuba gear with
a full face mask. Unli