The Sponsor's Story — Never Never Quit
Why This Directory Exists
This directory was built and sponsored by Tony Webb — U.S. Navy veteran and holder of U.S. Patent Design D-736,947 for the world's first movable underwater hotel operating under its own propulsion systems.
It is not here to tell his story. It is here because of his story. Because someone who spent 50 years pioneering new industries, absorbing genuine loss and genuine setback, chose to use what he learned to create opportunity for others — for Alaskans, for Caribbean islanders, and for their children's children.
The history below is offered as evidence. Evidence that industries can be pioneered by ordinary people. Evidence that setbacks are not endings. Evidence that a gift of prosperity is worth more than any personal monument.
Without the beloved pain there would have been no gain. It's a physics thing.
USS Glover AGFF-1 — 1975–1979
Exxon Office Systems — 1981–1984
American Gateway, Ltd. — Alaska 1991
Electronic Cottage — The Librarian — 1990
Ferrari Motorsports County Club — 1999
Honda CBR 600 — Need for Speed
Still Moving Forward — Havana
Documented Timeline
1975 — 1979
U.S. Navy — Quartermaster, USS Glover AGFF-1 & USS Sylvania
Four years of service. Quartermaster performing helmsman duties when the ship required its best — alongside replenishment was the first duty. Navigation by celestial sighting and mathematical geometry before GPS existed. The foundation of every navigational instinct that followed.
1979 — 1981
Yacht Navigation — ICW Georgia & South Carolina
After the Navy, assisted with large yacht navigation along the Intracoastal Waterway. No GPS. Charts and pencil. Celestial sightings at dawn and dusk. Mathematical geometry to determine course, speed, and direction. Real navigation. Real seamanship.
1981 — 1984
Exxon Office Systems — Youngest Agency Owner in the USA
Founded and operated an Exxon Office Systems agency. Recognized as the youngest agency owner in the country. The first pioneered industry.
1990
Electronic Cottage, Inc. — The Librarian
Co-founded Electronic Cottage, Inc. with John Adamson. Built The Librarian — one of the earliest multimedia information search engines integrating Internet, Intranet, and Extranet databases responding in text, audio, and pictures simultaneously. Customers included the Pentagon's Strategic Defense Command, Samsung, KSL Television, and Senator Orrin Hatch. Confirmed in Washington Technology, 1994.
Beta tested three years at the U.S. Senate Recording Studio — making television fully searchable down to the spoken word. Monitoring video, close captioning linked to frames. Then it crashed. The U.S. Senate was the birth of that technology. John Adamson believed in this before almost anyone did.
Beta tested three years at the U.S. Senate Recording Studio — making television fully searchable down to the spoken word. Monitoring video, close captioning linked to frames. Then it crashed. The U.S. Senate was the birth of that technology. John Adamson believed in this before almost anyone did.
1991
American Gateway, Ltd. — Incorporated in Alaska
Incorporated American Gateway, Ltd., an Alaska Corporation. Published CD-ROM tourism disks — vibrant pictures, audio, and interactive content — under the campaign “You Can Fit Alaska Into The Palm of Your Hand — Thanks to the Greatest Marketing Campaign in the History of Alaska Tourism.” Industry experts projected 25 million CD-ROM drives in use by 1995. FAX-on-Demand: 1-800-AK-TO-USA. The platform was real. Documented in the WAYBACK Machine.
1999
eSpaceTickets.com — Ferrari Motorsports County Club
Created eSpaceTickets.com to give ordinary people access to emerging Space Tourism. Buzz Aldrin had suggested a USA lottery program to fly civilians to the ISS.
Also in 1999 — a father and son adventure that led to planning the Ferrari Motorsports County Club — a racetrack designed for Atlanta-area Ferrari owners and local participants alike. Approved by Planning and Zoning. Twenty-four hours to secure a $25,000 deposit on the land option. One call at the final minute came through — then the land was awarded to another group. Tony Webb knew exactly what his attorney had warned him about. He had just found out.
John Adamson was killed in a vehicle accident in 1999. Tony did not yet know.
Also in 1999 — a father and son adventure that led to planning the Ferrari Motorsports County Club — a racetrack designed for Atlanta-area Ferrari owners and local participants alike. Approved by Planning and Zoning. Twenty-four hours to secure a $25,000 deposit on the land option. One call at the final minute came through — then the land was awarded to another group. Tony Webb knew exactly what his attorney had warned him about. He had just found out.
John Adamson was killed in a vehicle accident in 1999. Tony did not yet know.
1999 — 2002
International Space Tourism Lottery — Red Crescent — EBU Approval
A 28-page report on the International Space Tourism Lottery came back as a definitive NO. Reading it again weeks later, one needle emerged — the Red Crescent, the world's first legal internet lottery, founded on the principle of people helping people. Tony found the technology company and built the legal gaming framework. By November 2002, the European Broadcast Union approved the International Space Tourism Lottery — designed to fund fledgling Space Tourism rocket companies and send a winner of a global reality TV broadcast to the ISS on the $30M Russian Soyuz third seat. 750 million weekly viewers. The mission was real and approved.
2002
Learning of John Adamson's Death
Upon achieving the EBU approval, Tony called John Adamson's partner in Vancouver to share the news. He was told John had died several years earlier — gone since 1999. Tony had not known. He called to tell John they had succeeded. That was a rough day. John is remembered here.
February 1, 2003
STS-107 Columbia — The Space Tourism Chapter Ends
The Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated over Texas and Louisiana on re-entry. The International Space Tourism Lottery had held approval for the next Soyuz seat — the lottery winner's seat. After Columbia, one by one the partners vanished. Another industry pioneered. Another setback absorbed. Quit or persevere.
2010 — 2011
Outer Space to Inner Space — Sailed to Key West
In 2010 Inner Space Tourism began evolving. In 2011 Tony sailed to Key West and lived aboard his sailboat — a spaceship on a new journey. Cramped quarters. Exposure to the elements. No front door. Survival instincts developed daily. Navy training that never leaves a man. In 2012 a direct lightning strike at anchor — alarms, smoke check, flooding check, radio to U.S. Coast Guard. Alive. Still building.
September 2015
U.S. Patent Design D-736,947 Awarded — Underwater Hotel Movable Under Its Own Propulsion
Planet Ocean Underwater Hotels, LLC articles filed and Patent Design D-736,947 awarded. The world's first patented movable underwater hotel operating under its own propulsion systems. Solo owned. Solo funded. Solo created. Built to give back as a Gift of Prosperity to 15 Caribbean island nations and Alaska.
December 2015
COP21 — Paris Climate Accords — Opening Day Presentation
A 90-second presentation to world leaders on opening day. World leaders holding smartphones to read the Fox News and Daily Mail story. Then came thousands of comments from people around the world saying they wanted this experience. Those messages made quitting impossible.
2022
UAE Government Partnership Established
Dubai Government Economic Development & Tourism Authority partnership established. Tony Webb — UAE ID — Occupation: Partner. The global gift now has global backing.
2025 — 2026
Claude. Grok. ChatGPT. — The Gift Delivered
Three AI systems helping one man deliver a global gift to 15 Caribbean island nations, Alaska, and 50 nations of the world. Without them the timeline does not work. The reach does not happen. HireAnAlaskan.com is part of that gift — built for the children's children of Alaska and the Caribbean to have new prosperities.
