The Adventurers
From left: Mike deGruy, Andrew Wight and James Cameron
The film world mourns the loss of two of their own, renowned filmmaker Michael deGruy and Australian writer-producer Andrew Wight. Both men were known for their love of, and documentation of, the ocean. They died on February 4, 2012 in a helicopter crash in Jaspers Brush, New South Wales, Australia. They were working together on a James Cameron feature film and were due to continue the work in Papua New Guinea.
Mike and Andrew, known as Wighty, had much in common, but primarily their love of the oceans of the world. Both shared their love through filmmaking and conservation efforts, bringing the undersea world into focus through vivid imagery and storytelling.
Mike deGruy
Mike was born in Alabama, on December 29, 1951. From his early years, the ocean fascinated him, and his journey to become one of the world’s leading underwater documentarian is filled with adventure.
He dived under the ice at both poles, visited all the continents, became a submersible pilot, made multiple dives in different kinds of submersibles, filmed the hydrothermal vents in both the Atlantic and the Pacific and, as noted on his website, “had more meals on the Titanic, now resting at 12,500 feet deep, than did the doomed passengers.”
His life’s path took him to Hawaii where he enrolled in PhD program at the University of Hawaii (UH) in Marine Biology. Not one to turn down opportunity, when a job opened up at the Mid-Pacific Marine Lab in the Marshall Islands, he jumped at it. Living in Enewetak, he spent thousands of hours in the water, fueling his passion and curiosity for the ocean and the creatures that live in it.
Just before it was time for him to return to Hawaii to continue his studies, while swimming with a friend, he was attacked by a Gray Reef shark and narrowly escaped with his life. Although he lost partial use of his arm, it didn’t slow him down.
When he returned to Hawaii, and back to school, another opportunity presented itself to him and some fellow graduate students. The owner of Nautilus Exercise equipment asked them to go to Palau in the Western Caroline Islands to find and bring back some Nautilus. At the last minute, he asked them to document their trip and handed them a video camera. From that moment on, Mike was hooked.
During the ensuing years, he travelled extensively, shooting primarily for the BBC, PBS and National Geographic. According to the New York Times, Mike “filmed killer whales snatching sea lion pups off the beaches of Patagonia; lobsters migrating in the Bahamas; tiger sharks feeding on albatross in Hawaii; hydrothermal vents deep in the Atlantic and the Pacific; and the diversity of cephalopods like squid, cuttlefish and octopi.”
Not content with simply shooting the films, he began producing them as well. This led to hosting the films and to the winning of many awards including BAFTA and EMMYs.
Cameron commented that Mike was “one of the ocean’s warriors — a man who spoke for the wonders of the sea as a biologist, filmmaker and submersible pilot, and who spoke against those who would destroy the sea’s web of life.”
Mike was actively involved with the Santa Barbara Middle School that both his children attend. Brian McWilliams from SBMS, in a note to students and parents said, “Mike had an incredible sense of adventure, wicked sense of humor, and the knack for telling stories that became larger than life. Michael’s contributions to our community and planet were only eclipsed by his love for his wife Mimi, and his children Frances and Max.”
“Mike and Andrew were like family to me.
They were my deep-sea brothers – true explorers who did extraordinary things and went places no human being has been.
They died doing exactly what they loved most, heading out to sea on a new and personally challenging expedition, having fun in the way they defined it for themselves, which was hardship and toil to achieve something never done before.
They were passionate storytellers who lived by the explorer’s code of humor, empathy, optimism, and courage.
Their deaths are a tremendous loss for the world of underwater exploration, conservations and filmmaking.”
- James Cameron
Andrew Wight
In a strange stroke of fate, Wighty’s death came exactly one year from the release of the film that he is best known for, last year’s award winning, 3D feature film Sanctum, produced by James Cameron.
Cameron said of Wighty, “Andrew was kind and loyal, full of life and a sense of fun, and above all, a careful planner who stressed safety to everyone on his team every single day. It is cruelly ironic that he died flying a helicopter, which was second nature to him like driving a car would be to most people.”
Born in 1959, Andrew grew up on the family farm “Tarqua” near Harrow in Western Victoria. While at boarding school, and encouraged by his chemistry teacher, he began exploring the nearby Byaduk Caves network of lava caves. This led to the Pannikin Plain Cave Diving Expedition into Australia’s remote south-west in 1988, where flash floods turned the expedition into a life-or-death adventure. Andrew produced the award-winning documentary of this expedition called Nullarbor Dreaming, which launched his career as an international film-maker.
According to the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival’s release, “Andrew loved the oceans and was actively involved in marine conservation. He loved flying and was a member of the Royal Flying Doctor Service who helped people in need, and he has always been a farmer and helping the farming community.”
He is survived by his wife Monica and son, Ted.
