Stephen R. Gagin is an insurance agent and an author of two adventure novels. Gagin was an officer in the U.S. Navy, where he specialized in and eventually taught diving and salvage. He served on several salvage ships and shore installations, where he recovered aircraft and towed ships. He retired from the Navy in 1985 and became an insurance agent. In 2001, Gagin joined the crew of the Russian Research Vessel Akademik Mistislav Keldysh to dive to the wreckage of the R.M.S. Titanic.