Mary Lou Cannon Visits Marine Science Station’s Berry L. Cannon Memorial Wet Laboratory & Marine Museum

Today Mary Lou Cannon, wife to Navy’s Sea Lab Aquanaut Berry L. Cannon made a special trip from her home in California to visit the Citrus County Schools Marine Science Station’s Berry L. Cannon Memorial Wet Laboratory and Marine Museum named in her husband’s honor.

The Museum and Wet Laboratory includes living marine displays and a learning exhibit about Aquanaut Cannon’s work on the Navy’s Sea Labs II and III.

Aquanaut Cannon was born in Citrus County and became a civilian electronic engineer.  His life was tragically cut short when he died while working on the ocean floor the first day of the Navy’s Sea Lab III project off San Clemente Island, off the California coast, on Feb. 17, 1969. Cannon, who was 33 years old at the time of his death, was a veteran of the Navy’s Man-in-the-Sea program, an extensive and projected program to determine man’s ability to live and work in the ocean.

Mrs. Cannon met with MSS Coordinator Earnie Olsen, his staff and delegates from the School District.  Mrs. Cannon donated some additional memorabilia of Aquanaut Cannon’s, including some patches from his uniform.

Barry L. Cannon Memorial Wet Laboratory Marine Museum (now named ‘Berry L. Cannon Memorial Aquarium‘)

“This museum was named for the outstanding career of Barry L. Cannon, a civilian electronic engineer, whose life was cut short when he met death while working on the ocean floor the first day of the Navy’s Sea Lab III project off San Clemente Island, off the California coast, on Feb. 17, 1969. Cannon, who was 33 years old at the time of his death, was a veteran of the Navy’s Man-in-the-Sea program, an extensive and projected program to determine man’s ability to live and work in the ocean. Cannon also was a participating aquanaut during the Sea Lab II experiment conducted in 1965, La Jolla, Calif. CA Cannon was on active duty in the Navy from 1953 to 1957, attended the University of Nevada and received his BS Degree in electronics engineering from the University of Florida in 1962. He had been with the Navy Laboratory in Panama City since 1963.” (Excerpt from the Orlando Sentinel, written June 17^th, 1970.)

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