The July speaker is
Amy Borgens, Ph.D.
State Marine Archeologist
Texas Historical Commission
presenting
Dangerous Waters: World War II U-boat Losses in the Gulf of Mexico and Texas
During World War II, German submarine warfare was expansive, spreading throughout not only the Atlantic Ocean but also into the Gulf of Mexico. Germany focused on disrupting the supply of oil exported from Texas and Louisiana with a fleet of more than 20 U-boats operating in the region. Seventy ships were attacked in the Gulf of Mexico, resulting in the loss of 56 vessels off Louisiana, Texas, and Florida. This presentation overviews U-boat warfare in the Gulf of Mexico and its casualties, specifically two shipwrecks in Texas: Oaxaca and John Worthington.
Amy Borgens is the State Marine Archeologist at the Texas Historical Commission (THC). She joined the THC in 2010 after working for six years in underwater and terrestrial cultural resources management. She graduated with a B.A. in Fine Arts from Purdue University and earned an M.A. from the Nautical Archaeology Program at Texas A&M University in 2004. She completed a Ph.D. in the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies at Texas State University in December 2025.
Dr. Borgens has been associated with notable Texas shipwreck projects, including La Belle (1686), USS Westfield (1863), and Will-o-the-Wisp (1865). In addition, she assisted in the excavation of Oklahoma’s only shipwreck archeological site, Heroine (1838), and the investigations of early 19th-century shipwrecks at depths exceeding 4,000 ft. in the Gulf of Mexico (the Mardi Gras and Monterrey Shipwreck Projects). Collectively, she has worked on sites dating from the Byzantine Period to the mid-20th century in Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas, Canada, Turkey, the Gulf, and the Falkland Islands. As an author or coauthor, she has produced more than 50 reports, articles, and chapters in peer-reviewed journals and industry publications, including (as an author and co-editor) La Belle: The Archeology of a 17th Century Ship of New World Colonization, recipient of the 2017 Keith Muckelroy Award.
Photos provided by Amy Borgen,
The next regular meeting will be held on our usual schedule, the third Tuesday of the month at 7pm at Casa Chapala's Austin location, 9041 Research Blvd., Suite 100 (Hwy 183 and Burnet Rd.) Meetings are held on the third Tuesday of each month, except June and December. They are free and open to the public. For those who wish to come early, we gather around 5:45 PM for dinner, drinks, and fellowship. The short business meeting starts at 7:00 PM, followed by the guest speaker's presentation.
Tuesdays 10am, ongoing Labwork for Joyful Horse materials. Sort and label pre-contact artifacts (lots of lithics!) to create teaching kits available for loan to area educators. THC Wheless Lab, 2801 Wheless Lane, Austin 78723. Send us a message from the Contact page for more details or to RSVP.
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Wondering what our programs are like? View the list of speakers and topics we've had since 2006. Or watch a few of our pandemic-era programs on our YouTube channel.
