Bart Malone April 02, 1946 - December 03, 2017

[manni-yunk]

Obituary for Bartholomew P. Malone at Gardner Funeral Home, Runnemede


Many of you knew Bart. Bart was one of the most enthusiastic divers I have ever met. The NE dive community, his family and friends are all mourning the loss of what one of the NE Dive community elite recently called "our biggest cheerleader". He did not have a big online forum presence but a quick search of his name and you will see all of the projects, video's, articles, historic references, Doria expeditions, etc that he was involved in.


I consider myself lucky to have known Bart and honored to have dove with him on my boat and others over the last several years.

Bart has diving friends from around the world so I thought posting his Obituary here would be appropriate.

 

[imagixx]

Bart was one of our divers who advanced our RMS Republic project. He will be missed.

 

[Saniflush]

Sorry for your loss. Could you fill in some of the blanks about him for us new folks?

 

[manni-yunk]

Sorry for your loss. Could you fill in some of the blanks about him for us new folks?

Bart was a frequent guest speaker at many NE dive clubs, association meetings and shows. Here are a few links that tell a little about him:

Malone, Bart - Boston Sea Rovers

Bart Malone has been diving for 54 years and diving shipwrecks for 41 of them. He is Senior Curator and Board Member at The Museum of New Jersey Maritime History in Beach Haven, NJ. He speaks at and is involved with the Cape May Maritime Museum and Education Center in Cape May, NJ as well as The New Jersey Shipwreck Museum in Wall, NJ. In addition to diving wrecks along the East Coast of the United States, Bart has traveled to Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, The Orkney Islands, The Scilly Isles, and the Great Lakes to pursue his obsession. He has dived a multitude of shipwrecks, including WW I and WW II wrecks, the Andrea Doria, the Empress of Ireland, the USS Monitor, the Princess Sophia, German U-boats, and some of Billy Mitchell’s wrecks.


Bart was one of the early SEEKER guys and an avid Andrea Doria diver with close to 200 Doria Dives:

Alert Diver | Remembering the Andrea Doria



A few random searches produces this as well:



Bart was one of the early adopters to "mixed gasses" and was involved in NJ's first location where trimix and Nitrox was sold called the "Gas Station".

Into The Deep


There are literally hundreds of references to Bart with searches which shows the extent and scope of his influence. Bart was not a "prototypical Tech Diver" from today's configuration standards and one look at him on the boat and in the water and you knew it, but what he did worked for him for over 50 years. I have never met anyone so enthusiastic about diving. If I sent out an invite for a trip, Bart was the first to want to jump on. Many divers evolve into "Wreck snobs" and only want to go on certain trips as the get more experience but not Bart. Bart would go on any trip, any day and find some sort of a "Bartifact" that he would take home to display.

Bart will be missed by many in the NE dive community. He used to joke around with my wife and I and tell us that we should "adopt" him (even though he was 30 years older than we are), and now with his passing, we wish we had. Bart was a great person, a great representative of divers and a great friend to many.

 

[Saniflush]

Wow. What a great tribute. Thank you for sharing.

 

[shoredivr]

Thank you for posting. RIP to one of the NE's finest.

 

[cburgert]

Thank you for posting this tribute.

 

[BDIVER1351]

I dove with Bart a few times back in the early 1970's off of Captain George Hoffmans boat Sea Lion out of Brielle, NJ. I was a new diver then and Bart was already recognized as one of the best wreck divers on the East Coast. -He was usually the first guy in to set the hook on the wreck. I didn't know Bart personally but wish I did. RIP Bart.

 

[Stephanie Harmon]

There was a time when I was able to connect with Bart. Such a great man!

 

[Mike Lev]

Wow I just saw this.Spoke with him awhile ago.I talked with him many times about his dives on the Doria and other wrecks.He was a great guy.Never been to his place.He had a room full of wreck items.RIP Bart.