On Saturday, March 10th 2012, the Underwater Archaeology Society of Chicago (UASC) hosted Brendon Baillod of the Wisconsin Underwater Archaeology Association (WUAA) for an all day workshop held at the University of Illinois at Chicago campus.
Among the 18 participants, the majority were from the UASC. Conducted at one of the computer labs in the SEL Bldg. on the UIC campus, the day was spent exploring the vast historical library and data base accumulated by Brendon over the last 20 years. Many excellent examples were shown of reference catalogs, books and personal aggregations published to document the proud and vibrant maritime history of wooden sailing vessels and steel hulled steamers upon the Great Lakes.
Although the era of commercial sailing ships on the Great Lakes has ended, thousands of shipwrecks from the 19th and 20th centuries remain submerged on the bottom of the Great Lakes. Hundreds have been found and identified so far. However, there remains thousands more shipwrecks yet to be found from research data bases, historical compendiums and microfiche newspaper listings and stories.
