NauticalVows

Home || About Capt. Chiljean || Photo Album || Q & A || Contact || Links

>>About Capt. Chiljean

When Captain Chiljean isn’t solemnizing marriages in Massachusetts, he is in command of the Research Vessel Atlantis, owned and operated by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution of Falmouth, Massachusetts. The Atlantis is the mother ship to the Deep Submergence Submarine “Alvin”, the mini-submarine perhaps most famous for discovering the “Titanic” in 1986. Captain Chiljean was on board Atlantis II when “Alvin” made those historic dives. In 2005, Captain Chiljean commanded the Atlantis to the South Pacific, visiting Easter Island (2000 miles off the coast of Chile), Tahiti, Seattle, and through the Panama Canal to Woods Hole. In 2006, the Captain took Atlantis from Woods Hole to St. George's, Bermuda to conduct the "Alvin" recertification trials, then visited the Ports of Key West and Galveston, before transiting back through the Panama Canal, then on to San Diego. During the past several months Atlantis and Alvin have been investigating the deep sea hydrothermal vents 500 miles off the coast of  Mexico in the Eastern Pacific Ocean.

Click here to view photos of his recent travels.

Captain Chiljean graduated from the State University of New York Maritime College in 1969, with a B.S. in Meteorology and Oceanography. It was at this time that he started going to sea. He has sailed on Oil Tankers and Container Vessels before coming over to Oceanographic Research Ships. He received his Unlimited Tonnage Master Mariner License from the Coast Guard in 1986 and has sailed as Captain on Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution vessels for the past 20 years.

Along with his commission as a Massachusetts Justice of the Peace, he is also a Licensed Real Estate Broker, and a Notary Public. He is a member of the Boston Marine Society and the Massachusetts Justice of the Peace Association.

He resides in Bridgewater, Massachusetts with his lovely wife Nancy and daughter Kristine.