Underwater Archaeological Society of Chicago
Meeting Minutes
19 November 2008
General
- Approximately 35 members met at 6:30 at the 8th floor of the Helix Building, 310 S. Racine at Jackson.
- Tonight's meeting was run by Joan Forsberg, with food provided by John Gerty, with wine by Hank Fiene
Board and Committee Reports
- Secretary - John Bell provided copies of the minutes from the last meeting, which were approved.
- Membership – Scott Reimer provided updated membership lists.
- Treasury – Bob Gadbois reported on the state of UASC finances. Contact Bob for further information.
- ICSSD – Claire Gadbois reported on the Illinois Council of Skin and Scuba Divers:
- Feb 19 - Club Appreciation Night
- Feb 20-22 - Our Wold Underwater - Volunteers needed
- March 8/ or 15 - Underwater Competition
- July 18 - Jim Haigh Memorial Dive at Haigh Quarry
- Sept 19 - International Beach Clean Up
- Oct 4 - Pumpkin Carving Dive at Haigh Quarry
- Oct 10 - President's Night
- Nov 3 - ICSSD Budget Meeting
- Newsletter – Cris Kohl - The November/December newsletter will be mailed next week when the election results are available. Material for future newsletters is appreciated.
- Website – Brian Hopkins and John Bell will be working on updating the web site. Any feedback will be welcome. Members are particularly urged to visit the development test site and provide feedback..
- Other:
Old Business
- Scuba Tour -- Navy Pier, Nov. 15-16, 2008. A "Try Scuba" type of thing, attracts 20,000 people.
New Business
- 2009 Officer Elections - Run by Jim Jarecki
- President - Joan Forsberg
- Vice-President - Dean Nolan
- Treasurer - Bob Gadbois
- Secretary - John Bell .
- The Buccaneer Project - Project update by Bob Rushman
- Sinking postponed to 2009, hopefully in the Spring
- Boarded up to keep animals, etc. out over the winter
- Decked, thanks to Hank Fiene's donation of tongue and groove plywood.
- Needs to be sealed
- Target date end of April, beginning of May ?
- Thanks to all who have helped with the cleanup so far.
- Lots of work already done, but LOTS OF HELP STILL NEEDED!
- Contact John Bell if you would like to be added to the Buccaneer project mailing list.
- The Tim Early Foundation has agreed to match donations up to $1000 - Forms available tonight or from Joan.
- Claire Yashar will be surveying the ship - Contact Claire if you want to help.
- Chicago Shipwrecks DVD - Ruth Loftus
- Discussion this month about the cost, how much to sell them for, and how to use them for membership incentives.
- Eight popular dive sites will be covered with pictures, history, etc. ( See below for list. )
- Bob Gadbois to do the production work.
- Don Doherty to write the intro and conclusion
- Michael Angelo to provide the cover art.
- Eight wrecks, to be prepared by:
- Wells Burt - Cris Kohl
- Rotarian & St. Marys - Keith Pearson
- Material Service - Jim Jarecki
- The Straits of Mackinac - Chet Childs
- Subchaser - Tony Kiefer
- Tacoma - John Loftus
- Wings of the Wind - Joan Forsberg - Presented at the October meeting as a sample.
- Contact Ruth if you have materials to contribute.
- Materials need to be delivered to Bob Gadbois by the end of October to have the finished product ready in time for Our World Underwater and the Chicago Maritime Festival.
- Some sections are done, but not quite all yet.
- UASC shirts
- Jim presented a sample image of a dark blue shirt with a white logo and lettering.
- $25 for all sizes up to XL, $27 for larger sizes.
- Hank Fiene showed some T-Shirt designs, still under development.
- Chicago “Maritime Trail” - Joan Forsberg.
- Joan showed a flyer with sample trail markers
- Howard Openlander has done some research.
- Tomorrow night a visit to DePaul, to see a presentation on the history of Lincoln Park and discuss with some people who may be interested in supporting the maritime trail project.
- UASC / LOUP Holiday Party Saturday December 6th at the Burnham Yacht Club. Contact Lynn Funkhouser to RSVP
- NEXT UASC MEETING: 6:30 P.M. on Wednesday JANUARY 28th.. Speaker: ???, Refreshments: Bob & Claire Gadbois
- NOTE THAT THERE IS NO MEETING IN DECEMBER. ( Other than the Holiday Party. )
- Suggestions are always welcome for future guest speakers.
- Shipwreck Survey Projects - See Below
- New Year's Eve Party at the Bell's Dec 31st starting at 8:00. Watch for e-mail to the UASC Member's list.
Shipwreck Survey Projects
- Buccaneer - To be scuttled in 2009 in ??’ - Project Leader: Bob Rushman.
- Material Service - Sank on July 29, 1936 in 38’ - Project Leader: Jim J./John L./Tony K.
- Photographers recently dove on the Material Service and collected info to complete the project.
- Barge No. 2 - Sank on Sept. 29, 1906 in 40’ - Project Leader: John Loftus
- Project may be nearing completion.
- The Straits of Mackinac - Scuttled on April 10, 2003 in 78’ - Project Leader:Needed
Guest Speaker
- Jim and Pat Stayer are longtime Great Lakes historians, authors, and videographers. For more
than two decades they also ran a scuba charter boat out of their home port of Lexington, Michigan,
and they were instrumental in locating many shipwrecks (e.g. the Checotah, New York, Mary
Alice B., Canisteo, the Ghost Fleet of the St. Clair River wrecks of the Yakima, Aztec, and Province
in Lake Huron, the R. H. Rae in Lake Ontario) and establishing Michigan’s Sanilac Shores
Underwater Preserve. Recently retired teachers, they have been producing high definition
underwater video presentations about Great Lakes and saltwater topics, and they are longtime
presenters at major scuba shows. Pat is a member of the Women Divers Hall of Fame.
Other Business
- The meeting was adjourned at approximately 9:00, after which a number of members retired to Ricobene's for further discussions and socializing.