Each year, close to one-third of first-year biology students express an interest in marine biology. While many study marine ecology, few take to the water as readily as a seal, or in this case, a SEAL (the Navy’s SEa, Air, and Land special forces).

Nick Jeremiah ’94 completed his Basic Underwater Demolition SEAL (BUD\S) training and joined the Navy’s SEAL Team Three in California in 1999. He has been deployed in the Middle East and the Pacific.

Nick came to Wittenberg because of its marine program, including a semester-long course at Duke University’s marine lab in Beaufort, N.C., and the summer semester on San Salvador, the Bahamas.

While at Wittenberg, he signed up for scuba, a course taught by Wittenberg Adjunct Instructor Ed Porter, himself a Vietnam veteran Navy SEAL. Each year Nick joined Porter’s spring-break trip diving in the Florida Keys. Nick quickly learned the flora and fauna of the oceans, and he became at home in the water. His favorite diving experiences all involved sharks. These experiences were valuable for him and helped prepare him for later work, including his Navy training.

After graduating from Wittenberg, Nick worked at the Maritime Aquarium in Connecticut giving tours, cleaning tanks and feeding fish. After a few seasons of this, he moved south to Florida to work as a scuba divemaster, photographer, and, in his spare time, a biologist. He even spent a week in Bimini studying lemon sharks with the University of Miami. 

Personally, I have known Nick since I first came to teach at Wittenberg in 1990, and I took scuba with him in Wittenberg’s pool a year later. Two of my most memorable scuba dives were with Nick. In 1992, Nick took the Comparative Communities course developed by Ron deLanglade, professor of biology, which I co-teach. On one dive in French Bay, San Salvador Island, Nick, Ron and I were swimming in turbid water in a groove between two coral reefs when out of the mirk swam two six-foot long tarpons just an arm’s reach away. We all thought, “sharks!” but unlike Nick, my desire was to move away, not toward them. 

I had the pleasure of diving again with Nick in 1997. Here the student turned teacher. Nick was instructing me as I worked on an advanced diving certification. Nick led me down to a wreck in 120 feet of water off Key Largo, showing me fish, corals and sponges that I did not know, and teaching me to work at that great depth. He later gave me a copy of his species list of all the fish he has seen in Florida for my own studies.

Nick’s eye for detail and identification led to a graduate school application and acceptance. He chose to delay it for a little adventure. Where else but in the SEALs can you get paid to scuba dive and skydive? But that fun comes at a price. Of the 124 men who started with Nick, only 21 graduated. There are long runs in the sand often carrying logs or boats, night swims in the ocean, and many trips through a multiple-headed shower that ensures all of your activities are cold and wet. In one exercise, the divers float and bob for 10 minutes, swim 100 yards, retrieve their dive mask in nine feet of water, and float another 10 minutes, all with their hands tied behind their back and feet tied together.   

Even now, Nick still spends much of his time in the ocean. He said that the views of fish are less interesting because much of a SEAL’s work is at night or in low-visibility water. However, he still sees an occasional shark, and the night ocean is full of glowing, bioluminescent animals. His biology background may make his swims more interesting, but it is his general education that has helped him in his leadership roles.

Nick recently received his own platoon and promotion to lieutenant (O-3), an advancement he credits in part to Wittenberg. Eventually, Nick plans to return to graduate school and complete formal studies in marine science. In the meantime, he expects to stay active swimming and traveling. 

I consider myself fortunate to have had Nick in my classes, to have dived with him and to have learned from him. It pleases me that he completed this extremely difficult training for the Navy. And it gives me another answer to the often-asked question, “What can I do with a biology major?”

—Tim Lewis, associate professor of biology and department chair