Underwater Archaeological Society of Chicago
Meeting Minutes 8 September 2011
General
- Approximately 30 members and guests met at 6:30 on the 8th floor of the Helix Building, 310 S. Racine at Jackson.
- New Members:
- Guests: Bud Brain, Tom Palmosano,
- Guest Speaker - Valerie Van Heest - Thomas Hume - See below for full details.
- Tonight's meeting was run by Don Doherty, with refreshments provided by Pot Luck
Board and Committee Reports
- President - Don Doherty
- Welcome
- Need a new President-Elect / Vice President
- Secretary - John Bell provided copies of the minutes from the last meeting, which were approved.
- Treasurer – Bob Gadbois could not be here tonight.
- 2 new members, paid P.O. box, paid honorarium
- Contact Bob for further details
- Membership – Rosters were provided by Scott Reimer. A few new members have been added since last month.
- Steering Committee –The Steering Committee met online this month.
- We need more coordination of our dive program.
- We may set up a chat area on the web site for discussing and coordinating dives.
- We need more coordination of our dive program.
- Survey Coordinator - John Gerty
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- See field work reports below
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- Safety - Chet Childs
- Nothing to report at this time.
- Web Site - Jack Bolous
- There is now a members-only area. We will be setting up accounts and adding content soon.
- Jack will be adding some material provided by Gene regarding the Shipwreck Detectives presentations.
- Send any information or suggestions to
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
- –Chuck Miller reported on the Illinois Council of Skin and Scuba Divers:
- Oct 2 Pumpkin Carving Dive - Run by Tritons. Free pumpkins provided by Tina Haigh.
- Oct 9 International Beach Cleanup. Diveheart will underwrite insurance. Event will be co-hosted with Diveheart. Blackwell Forest Preserve in Warrenville.
- Oct 22 President Night's Dinner at Sawa's. Applications available now, due Sept 15th. $23 in advance, $25 at the door. Grand prize raffle for trip to Divi Resort in Bonaire. At least 100 prizes for the raffle.
- Helicopter is not going anywhere this year or next. Margo thanks everyone who participated in the petition.
- DiveHeart Liaison - Gene Hasiak
- Mermet Springs trip was a great event.
- High school pools are now available for buddy training.
- Luau - Downers Grove American Legion Post, $35, November 12th.
- Diveheart was represented at Special Olympics
- Check the for info on upcoming events.
- Other
Upcoming
- Fundraiser Sept 20 at 7:00 P.M. to benefit the Chicago Maritime Festival
- The Weather Mark, 1503 S. Michigan Avenue, Chicago. $40 ticket includes drinks, hor d'oevres, and live music.
- Shipwreck Detectives
- Sept 29 - Library in Knox IN
- Sept 28 - Another local library in IN
- WUAA
- Fall Business Meeting and Conference Saturday October 15th
- NAS training on Friday October 14th
- See articles on UASC web site for full details
Fieldwork / Underwater Archaeology
- Car Ferry Number 2
- Sector Scanning - Preparation was done, but scanning got blown off the lake.
- Reference grid development - Most tags have been placed, and progress is being made collecting measurements between them. Participants include John & Ruth Loftus, John Bell, Don Doherty, Jim Jarecki, Tony Kiefer, Mark Engelsman, Jerry Boldenow, Eric Vaandering, Jackie Rae, Scott Reimer, and Jack Bolous.
- Unknown Zion Steamer - Don Doherty
- Looking for a couple of schooners on John Loftuses boat.
- Northerly Island
- Chet Childs and Sam Frank have examined 3/5 of the wall.
- New date Saturday Sept 24th, rain date Sunday Sept 25th
- Contact Chuck and Margo Miller if you would like to participate.
- There will be free parking and boat launches for everyone volunteering for this project.
- Project Synopsis: Chicago Park District is looking at expanding Northerly Island into the lake in the form of a lagoon surrounded by a series of new islands. ICSSD is supporting the project by surveying the current conditions of the site, for the purposes of developing the proposal and acquiring funding. If the project is completed, there may be SCUBA diving available in the central lagoon area.
- Rotarian - Kieth Pearson
- There are chunks of photo mosaic, lots of video, history.
- No drawing yet.
- Daylong workshop on shipwreck research by Brendon Baillod.
- 15 people expressed an interest in attending this workshop
- Great Lakes Naval Memorial Museum
- Program developing ROVs
- Contact made by Mike Fiedler
- Workshop would involve a hands-on production of an ROV
- Mark Gleason
- $750 / day / group = $75 per person for a group of 10
- Show of hands expressed interest.
- Burnham Harbor Cleanup next Saturday September 17th. Contact Scuba Emporium.
Other Business
- OTHER: Miscellaneous new business items should be brought up – briefly – now.
- Speakers are always needed.
- THANKS to Pot Luck for providing tonight's refreshments.
- Sign up for meeting refreshments - Dan Kasberger Refreshments coordinator.
- Sept -
NEXT MEETING: TBD
Refreshments to be provided by TBD
Speaker: - TBD
Guest Speaker -- Valerie Van Heest
Founder of UASC. Speaking on the Thomas Hume.
- Tonight is the 151st anniversary of the loss of the Lady Elgin.
- Five Sections, e.g. 5 wreck sites.
- Discovered and now owned by Harry Zych.
- Wells Burt
- Found by A & T Recovery
- First major project of UASC
- CAtherine B Singles manual for preservation of freshwater artifacts.
- Mike ? preserved metal artifacts, stored wood in PEG.
- UASC still has artifacts preserved from the W.B.
- Thomas Hume
- ~150 feet deep.
- Built and used in Manitowoc
- Thomas Hume and Charles Hackley were business partners who build side-by-side mansions.
- Practriced vertical integration - The owned the land, forest , saw mills, lumber boats, etc.
- May 21, 1891, The TH left Chicago empty heading north to Muskegon, never to be seen again.
- A&T Recovery found the wreck while searching for airplanes.
- They gave access to Bud Brain and Tom P, who invested hundreds of man-dives exploring and surveying the wreck.
- Pat Labadie's web site has collection of maritime photographs.
- Tom and Bud and ( Jeff? ) called MSRA
- Lakeshore Museum Center - Hackley Hume Homes
- Originally there were many artifacts on the TH, including personal items.
- Project: Unsolved Mysteries, The Shipwreck Thomas Hume
- UW Investigation
- Positively Identify Wreck
- Learn About Lumber Shipment
- ?
- ?
- Public Even on 120th Anniversary
- Documentary Film
- Museum Esxhibit
- Curiculum Guide
- Book
- UW Investigation
- Elected to document artifacts instead of the dimensions of the structure.
- Charters were starting to go out, numbers were starting to become known, wanted to document artifacts while they were still there.
- IL Hisztoric Preservation Agency
- Wanted to bring to the surface a few artifacts that would be best analyzed on the surface, and to prevent pilfereing.
- Joe Phillippe, IL State Archaeologist, replied "We believe that the artifacts should be left in place for future study."
- Nice video
- New "Certificate of Enrollment" every time the ship changed hands.
- 3-masted empty vessel
- TH was originally 2-masted, but at least one report indicates a third mast was later added.
- Taffrail Log - Speedometer device.
- Google - Boot info, google patents.
- 1880 Census - Wilbur Grover lived in IN.
- Wreck found on St. Joseph Course, about halfway across the lake.
- Students did a compute animation.
- Museum presentation - showed artifacts from Alvin Clark collection and eBay representative of TH artifacts.
- Where did the artifacts go? Tom answers:
- Commercial dive charters have been going out, ~ 22 miles out.
- 60% of artifacts are missing, including plates and larger items.
- skiff is turned and broken.
- There are some artifacts still left.
- The Rouse Simmons accompanied the TH, and turned back that day.
Other Business
The meeting was adjourned at approximately 9:00, after which a number of members retired to for further discussions and socializing.