Underwater Archaeological Society of Chicago
Meeting Minutes 27 April 2011
General
- Approximately 40 members and guests met at 6:30 on the 8th floor of the Helix Building, 310 S. Racine at Jackson.
- New Members: Robert Hughes & Julienne Schiebe, Brad Joseph, Dennis Jaskoviak
- Guests: Phil Bencomo and Nick Cizek reporting for WBEZ, Derek Ware, Guyette Robertson, Roger Barski
- Tonights meeting was run by Don Doherty, with refreshments provided by Chuck and Margo Miller
- Guest Speaker -- Brendon Baillod, "How to Research & Search for Lost Shipwrecks" - See below for full details.
Board and Committee Reports
- President - Don Doherty
- President Elect - Dean Nolan
- Secretary - John Bell provided copies of the minutes from the last meeting, which were approved.
- Treasurer – Bob Gadbois reported on the state of UASC finances.
- Several new members joined at tonight's meeting. Sam Frank has also renewed his membership recently.
- Contact Bob for further details
- Membership – Rosters were provided by Scott Reimer.
- Members from 2010 who have not yet renewed their memberships have been removed from the printed and ( Members only ) electronic mailing lists..
- Steering Committee – Don Doherty reported on the results of the steering committee meeting
- Minutes are available, and may be placed on the web.
- Field Work:
- We are developing a standard report format
- Safety issues were discussed.
- Working on developing a standard liability release for boat owners and UASC
- We want to help new members develop their skills, but we are not a training organization.
- We need to develop survey tools and to inventory what we have.
- Working on reviewing and updating UASC policies and procedures for dive site surveys.
- Survey Coordinator - John Gerty
- Brian Abbott is still penciled in to do sector scanning Car Ferry #2, Material Service,Flora Hill, The Mac, ( Wells Burt, Illinois / Holly Barge? ), tentatively on June 1st and 2nd.
- Car Ferry Number 2 - John and Ruth Loftus project leaders
- Jim Jarecki, John Gerty, and John Bell met recntly at the Loftuses to discuss plans for the summer of 2011
- The site will be sidescanned by John Bell and sector scanned by Brian Abbot.
- A steel cable will be stretched down the centerline, as a pernament fixed line to which to attach tapes and take measurements.
- A PVC reference frame has been constructed by John Gerty, to be attached to the steel centerline and moved along in 5-foot steps for photo and drawn survey documentation.
- This project is a NAS 2 project for John Loftu, Jim Jarecki, and John Bell. ( John Gerty having already completed this requrement. )
- Flora Hill - Michael Angelo Gagliardi project leader.
- Photo Mosaic 1000 jpegs --> 90 jpegs ( groups of 10 )
- Need to redo two of the quadrants, on a smaller boat.
- Sidescanning the Wrecks of Lower Lake Michigan - John Bell project leader
- This is a new project to side scan as many local wrecks as possible, using John's new Humminbird 898 side scan sonar.
- Order of survey will be:
- (1) Wrecks at known locations, including those of particular interest such as the Car Ferry #2, Material Service Barge, Flora Hill, Mac, Illinois / Holly Barge, Rotarian, Wells Burt, the Bucaneer, and others nearby that can be done on the same trip.
- (2) Wrecks for which reasonably good coordinates are known, but which John has not yet personally confirmed those coordinates.
- (3) Searching for wrecks for which unreliable, vague, or no coordinates are known.
- With any luck it would be nice to put together a document of at least 20 scans by the end of the summer, to be presented and published in time for Our World Underwater. The expected format is loose-leaf three-ring bound pages, to allow for expansion in future years.
- Safety - Chet Childs
- CPR course was held April 6th - 8 or 9 members, new recommended procedures for infant/children
- Safety policies were discussed at the Steering Committee meeting.
- Web Site - Jack Bolous
- Working on giving individuals the ability to modify selected sections and other behind-the-scenes infrastructure improvements
- Looking to see if there is a better template available.
- Send any information or suggestions to
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- Working on giving individuals the ability to modify selected sections and other behind-the-scenes infrastructure improvements
- – Claire Gadbois reported on the Illinois Council of Skin and Scuba Divers:
- Underwater Park: Bob Foster, project manager for Northerly Island, Margo Miller, Mike Wilbert and some invited representatives will be having a meeting in the beginning of May to go over Mike Wilbert’s work plan. There will then be a meeting with the divers some time in May and the walk-through on May 28th. There will be safety boats during the dives around Northerly Island.
- Requires underwater pictures of the terrain around Northerly Island.
- See Margo or Chuck Miller for more information
- Adopt a Beach Program - Margo - Observe how the beach changes over repeated visits over the course of a summer.
- July 31 ( Sunday )- Jim Haigh Memorial Dive
- October 2 ( Sunday ) - Pumpkin Carving Dive at , run by Pam Romund and the Tritons.
- October 9 ( Sunday ) - International Beach Cleanup - Blackwell Forest Preserve, 10:00 a.m.
- October 22 ( Saturday ) - President's night at Sawa's. One trip lined up already.
- Still petitioning to keep the Coast Guard helicopter in Waukegan.
- Underwater Park: Bob Foster, project manager for Northerly Island, Margo Miller, Mike Wilbert and some invited representatives will be having a meeting in the beginning of May to go over Mike Wilbert’s work plan. There will then be a meeting with the divers some time in May and the walk-through on May 28th. There will be safety boats during the dives around Northerly Island.
- DiveHeart Liason - Gene Hasiak
- This Sunday May 1, Splash into Summer fundraiser - $25 in advance, $30 at door - Ballydoyle Pub and Restaurant in Downers Grove.
- Tom has raffle tickets.
- Check the for info on upcoming events.
- Other
- Cris Kohl contacted by IN DNR to serve on their steering committee regarding the shipwrecks in IN waters.
- Exact scope of the project to be determined.
- NOAA funding.
- Meeting on Monday.
- Cris Kohl contacted by IN DNR to serve on their steering committee regarding the shipwrecks in IN waters.
Underwater Archaeology
- Working on some opportunities for ( new ) members to improve their underwater archaeological skills:
- Field Survey Workshop at May Meeting
- Haigh Quarry Practice Dive - Saturday June 4th, 2 weeks after the May meeting.
Recent and New Business
- Visit with Touring Archaeologists
- We received an e-mail from ""
- A group of 11 international U/W archaeologists from South and Central Asia ( Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka ) requested to meet with us.
- Several officers and members gave them a presentation, including Don Doherty, Jim Jarecki, Dan Kasberger, and John Gerty, and met with them for a few hours to exchange ideas.
- John Gerty gave them a hands-on presntation of the 12th Street Beach wreck.
- Met on April 4th in offices at Wabash and ??
- Jim followed up with a few of them via corespondance.
- OTHER: Miscellaneous new business items should be brought up – briefly – now.
- June 11th, Indiana Dunes State Park,Indiana State Dunes Centennial: 100th anniversary of the J. D. Marshall sinking. Jim Jarecki will be doing a presentation, and would like for others to also present, possibly with the Shipwreck Detectives project. Jim could use some help.
- Mike Brutlag - Door County trip planned for Sept 3rd - 7th, Labor Day weekend.
- Speakers are always needed.
- THANKS to Chuck and Margo Miller for providing tonight's refreshments.
- Sign up for meeting refreshments - Dan Kasberger Refreshments coordinator.
NEXT MEETING: Wednesday May 25, 2011
Refreshments to be provided by ?.
Speaker: - Jack Scott - Illustration Techniques
Guest Speaker -- Brendon Baillod, "How to Research & Search for Lost Shipwrecks"
Our special guest presenter this month is Brendon Baillod, one of the western Great Lakes best-known, respected authorities on maritime history and shipwrecks. Come and learn about methodology he has used successfully to research and find lost ships. He'll describe techniques for planning a search grid for a lost shipwreck, the 10 steps that need to be completed for successful research, and how to use available resources to find out what you need to know. Brendan's talk, extracted from his 3-part lecture series at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, will have lots of interesting, useful information for all UASC members -- IT IS A MUST SEE for anyone interested in shipwreck research!
Brendon Baillod has been conducting original research into historic Great Lakes shipwrecks for over 20 years. He is the current president of the Wisconsin Underwater Archeology Association, a trustee of the Wisconsin Maritime Museum, and a director-at-large of the Association for Great Lakes Maritime History. Brendon is a founder of the Great Lakes Shipwreck Research Foundation, which hosts Milwaukee's Ghost Ships Festival, and is a frequent consultant on Great Lakes shipwrecks. He has appeared as a subject matter expert on the History Channel, Discovery Channel and Science Channel, and was the recipient of the Association for Great Lakes Maritime History's 2008 "Award for Historic Interpretation." Brendon is the author of "Fathoms Deep But Not Forgotten: Wisconsin's Lost Ships," a comprehensive guide to the historic shipwrecks of Wisconsin and has published more than 50 articles and stories in regional magazines and journals.
- Ghost Ships in March next year.
- Teaching courses at UW Milwaukee on ( researching ) shipwrecks.
- "Great Lakes Shipwrecks - Searching and Researching"
- About 8000 shipwrecks with remains on the Great Lakes. About 1500 remain undiscovered. Odds of finding one ( with a side scan ) are pretty good. ( Ask Jerry Guyer. )
- 50 Undiscovered Deep Wrecks in SE Wisconsin Waters. See Brendon's book as a database.
- 33 Identified wrecks in SE WI waters.
- Klein side scan sonar - $50K used.
- Challenges to locating historic shipwrecks - equipment, weather, opportunity costs, travel / logistics, regulation, plitics and egos, management plan, and discretion.
- Techniques:
- Find a wreck that has already been found - fisherman snags, charted obstructions, etc.
- Mow the lawn in an area of known high wreck density. ( Dave Trotter in the old days. )
- Research a specific wreck, create a search grid for it, and search for it. ( MSRA )
- Search grid - ( box ) area defining the best guess of the likely location of the target. May be discontinuous and/or have "probability zones."
- Possible Research resources:
- primary and secondary sources
- newspaper microfilm
- customs house or USLSS Wreck reports. ( Life saving stations. )
- insurance reports
- court records
- wreck lists in old marine registers
- wreck accounts in local / regional history books
- Obstructions on charts
- fisherman report
- diver reports
- wreck accounts in modern books
- psychics
- wishful thinking.
- Factor Analysis in locating Historic Shipwrecks
- last known position
- known or probable course
- "Course Lines" on old charts are the straight-line paths between major ports.
- time/distance analysis
- debris scatter
- weather, wind, and wave conditions
- visibility
- curent
- depth of water
- vessel characteristics
- credibility of informaiton.
- GPS and Loran didn't exist as recently as 1974.
- 3 Case Studies
- Questions:
- How do you identify ships?
- Careful measurements. Look for metal, which may have patent numbers. Construction details.
- How do you identify ships?
Other Business
The meeting was adjourned at approximately 9:00, after which a number of members retired to for further discussions and socializing.