The popular National Geographic series “Drain the Oceans,” created by Jim’s friend and colleague Crispin Sadler and others from Mallinson Sadler Productions in the UK, first aired as specials; Crispin was introduced to Jim by National Geographic to talk about Titanic. This led to Jim’s role as an advisor, and his appearance in the special “Drain the Titanic.” Following that, Jim, after leaving NOAA, became series advisor after National Geographic Television commissioned the first of what would be six seasons and a number of specials, with Jim also frequently appearing in a number of episodes.
These included “Gulf of Mexico,” “Ultimate Battleships,” “Mysteries of the China Seas,” “Sunken War Ships,” “Secrets of D-Day,” “Secrets of New York City,” “Killer U-Boats,” “Buried Secrets of the Gold Rush,” “Secrets of the Civil War,” “Lost Nukes of the Cold War,” “Secrets of the Spanish Armada,” “Pacific War Megawrecks,” “Disasters at Sea,” “America’s Last Slave Ship,” “The “Pirate Ships of the Caribbean,” “Atomic Ghost Fleet,” “The American Revolution,” “Raiders of the Civil War,” “The Last Wrecks of WWII,” “Chicago,” “The Wild West,” “The Battle for the Black Swan,” “Hollywood,” “The First Americans,” “Venice’s Lost Empire,” Hurricane Apocalypse,” “The Mississippi River,” “Alaska,” and “Myth of the Pacific Pirate.” Jim was proud to be a member of the team when four of those documentaries won Gold and Silver medals at the New York Film Festival.
