Dive group for Great Lakes archeological wreck surveys

[CAPTAIN SINBAD]

Folks: Can anyone please provide some guidance as to how we can go about doing this?

I am thinking about getting a handful of divers together who would be interested in doing archeological surveys of some of the Great Lakes shipwrecks. By archeological surveys I mean diving as a team, taking measurements and finally developing a detailed wreck-chart like this one:

Amazon.com : USS Oriskany (Deck Plan) 3D Scuba Diving Laminated Ship Wreck Map : Wall Maps : Office Products

I have had the chance to dive with BAREG (Battle of the Atlantic Research and Expedition Group) and they are doing some great work on Atlantic wrecks. I was wondering how many people would be interested in forming a dive-club / group that is willing to do at least one wreck survey a year and print out and release one wreck map annually of a Great Lakes wreck that we mutually agree upon. If anyone is interested can we please see a show of hands?

Also, how do we go about arranging a course in wreck-survey techniques for the group? Are there any organizations that we can approach with this? Our work would/should go a long way in developing local dive businesses, so if there are any dive business that we could approach for help I would love to hear from them too.

All thoughts and ideas welcome!

 

[Jared0425]

It depends on how deep you are willing to go, what lake you want, and the type of shipwreck to do it. Many of Lake Huron's wrecks have been in highly detailed drawings from Bob McGreevy. Lake Erie would probably be your best bet. Many intact wrecks that are "shallower" (90-180ft) have not been thoroughly examined or drawn. Plus you have many types of wrecks to choose from, from schooners to 400ft long freighters including whalebacks and canallers. As much as I dislike them, the DNR or NOAA tbnms may be able to help.

 

[00wabbit]

There is a group called MAST that does this in Ohio and the Indy dive club in Indianapolis has a group called IDCMAPS that is trying to get into doing some mapping. They were supposed to do one last year but got blown out. Maybe you can contact them and see what's going on.

 

[dab]

This may be more than your looking for, but worth checking out:

Home

 

[CAPTAIN SINBAD]

It depends on how deep you are willing to go, what lake you want, and the type of shipwreck to do it. Many of Lake Huron's wrecks have been in highly detailed drawings from Bob McGreevy. Lake Erie would probably be your best bet. Many intact wrecks that are "shallower" (90-180ft) have not been thoroughly examined or drawn. Plus you have many types of wrecks to choose from, from schooners to 400ft long freighters including whalebacks and canallers. As much as I dislike them, the DNR or NOAA tbnms may be able to help.

Thanks so much for the information. I was looking for wrecks in the 130 and above and I have no preference for which lake. I am based in DC area so Lake Ontario and Erie and Huron are closer but I am open to traveling.

 

[Jared0425]

Erie has the poorest visibility in the lakes for most part of the year. Early spring is the best, but in my limited experience with the lake, below 80-90ft it clears up a bit, but it is dark. Some of the schooners in the NY and PA area are intact. As mentioned above, the group out of OH is committed to doing what you are describing. The NOAA sanctuary up in Alpena runs archeological and mapping classes and seminars. Good luck

 

[BoneCrusher]

A few years ago a group of us from Bruno's Dive shop (Now Great Lakes Diver, Inc) did these for Art-To-Media in Lake Huron.

* Regina
* Mary Alice B
* Sport Tug

It took us a good summer to gather all the data needed to make these basic cards/maps. Here is a link to them:

Art to Media Great Lakes Dive Maps - Product Catalog

 

[CAPTAIN SINBAD]

A few years ago a group of us from Bruno's Dive shop (Now Great Lakes Diver, Inc) did these for Art-To-Media in Lake Huron.

* Regina
* Mary Alice B
* Sport Tug

It took us a good summer to gather all the data needed to make these basic cards/maps. Here is a link to them:

Art to Media Great Lakes Dive Maps - Product Catalog

Awesome! Would you guys like to do another map next year?

 

[BoneCrusher]

It was always intended to do more. It was a bunch of work to get those three done. We had a lot of diver activity on the dive boat that season, so we were out pretty much every weekend and we would gather data for Art to Media. We also picked the three smallest/easiest to gather data on wrecks in order to make sure we could get them published. Would be fun to do again, but finding a boat/owner willing to take out their boat every weekend and commit the time can be difficult. Other wrecks I would like to see done were the Col A.B. Williams, New York, and Northstar, however those three will require significantly more time to gather data in order to map.

 

[CAPTAIN SINBAD]

How many dives do you think would be needed? Instead of doing them every week, do you think it would help if you guys charter a boat for a whole week and dive back to back?