Underwater Archaeological Society of Chicago
Meeting Minutes 26 October 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:
- Guests: Teddy Montoya, Ben Long
- Guest Speaker -UASC Project Reports- See below for full details.
- Tonight's meeting was run by Don Doherty, with refreshments provided by Teddy Montoyo and others
Board and Committee Reports
- President - Don Doherty
- Welcome
- November meeting the 30th.
- Secretary - John Bell provided copies of the minutes from the last meeting, which were approved.
- Treasurer – Bob Gadbois reported the status of the treasury
- Contact Bob for further details
- Nomination of 2012 Officers
- Nominating Committee: Jim Jarecki, Joan Forsberg recommend:
- President: John Bell
- Vice President: Bob Rushman
- Treasurer: Bob Gadbois
- Secretary: John Gerty
- Other Nominations still accepted from now until the elections - Contact Jim Jarecki
- Nominating Committee: Jim Jarecki, Joan Forsberg recommend:
- Membership – Rosters were provided by Scott Reimer at the last meeting. No new changes.
- Renewal notices for 2012 are available tonight and will be mailed after tonight's meeting.
- 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
- Jack is working on some new features, to be ready by the next meeting.
- Send any information or suggestions to
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- –Chuck Miller reported on the Illinois Council of Skin and Scuba Divers:
- Oct 2 - Pumpkin Carving Dive - Run by Tritons. Excellent day, lots of good food. Bob Rushman won best carving for a shark eating a fish eating a diver.
- Oct 15 - International Beach Cleanup. Co-hosted with Diveheart. Blackwell Forest Preserve in Warrenville.
- Oct 22 President Night's Dinner at Sawa's.
- Scott Reimer - Diver of the Year
- Dan & Cindy Howard - Humanitarians of the Year
- CASA - Club of the Year
- Collections for Toys for Tots
- Signup sheets available for working the ICSSD booth and the OWU show at large.
- DiveHeart Liaison - Gene Hasiak
- Luau - Downers Grove American Legion Post, $35, November 12th. Raffle, silent auction.
- Two weeks ago in Elgin, Ruth Magnus and Mike Brutlag as instructors
- Cozumel trip coming up, all-inclusive.
- Check the for info on upcoming events.
Recent Events
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- Fall Business Meeting and Conference Saturday October 15th - Milwaukee, Discovery World
- Great Facility - Several ships including the Denis O Sullivan, displays, aquarium with a walk-through, etc.
- Kieth Meverden, Tamara Thompson, Dave Thompson, Kimm Stabelfeldt, The Meteor - a whaleback,
- NAS training on Friday October 14th - Milwaukee, Discovery World
- See articles on UASC web site for full details
- Fall Business Meeting and Conference Saturday October 15th - Milwaukee, Discovery World
- Shipwreck Detectives
- Sept 29 - Library in Knox IN - bumped to a date TBD
- Sept 28 -Knox Public Library, IN, 5:00 P.M to 7 P.M.
Upcoming Events
- UASC / Holiday Party - Dec ???
- Nothing set up yet. Scott Reimer looking into it. Dec 9th maybe?
- Hopefully Burnham Harbor Yacht Club
- - Feb 17-19 2012
- This is an excellent show for UASC members to attend. Pay special attention to the shipwreck room.
- UASC will have a booth, and will be looking for volunteers to help man it.
- Watch also for several UASC members to make presentations. More info should appear on our Facebook page.
- - Feb 25, 2012
- UASC will also have a booth at this festival, and possibly some speakers
- Focus of this show is all things Chicago Maritime, of which shipwrecks play a part. A true "festival" of song and dance.
- - April 13-14, 2012
- This festival is held in South Milwaukee, and focuses exclusively on shipwrecks, mostly in the Great Lakes, mostly Lake Michigan.
- UASC will have a booth and probably some presenters.
- Requests: Presenter for 5th Grade Class
- looking for a presenter
- - Group of Ships captains running tugs, freighters, etc. on the great lakes. Looking for a program for the springtime. Pete Chval is the contact.
Fieldwork / Underwater Archaeology
- Sidescan Sonar - John Bell
- Progress report of recent activities since the June meeting
- Nice overlap of two passes from the Illinois / Holly Barge scans
- Preliminary scans of the Tacoma, Louisville, and Jim's Rocks
- Reference tagging on the Car Ferry Number two continues.
- 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.
- The grid of reference points lines up very nicely with the sidescan images.
- More measurements are needed around the bow area and some amidships.
- Measurements need to be taken to features once the reference grid is completed.
- Hoping to use the site for a classroom / training ground once the reference grid system is well established.
- Progress report of recent activities since the June meeting
- Car Ferry Number 2 - John Loftus
- One of the most-dived wrecks of the group, but we still discover new things on every dive.
- Tony Kiefer's pictures of explosion sites.
- Images of screw jacks taken by John Gerty, from a museum in Manistee.
- Sector Scanning - Preparation was done, but scanning got blown off the lake.
- Reference tag system - see above.
- Valerie's Wreck - Don Doherty
- Several UASC members have surveyed the site over the last two years.
- Michael Angelo is working on a photo mosaic.
- 2500 images extracted from a video, reduced to a few hundred.
- Lots of artifacts - Dating to the 1920s and 1930s.
- Zion Schooners - Tony Kiefer
- Originally in Dale Bennet's book.
- Near the Zion subchaser.
- Two schooners, one on top of theaother
- Actually a single wreck, not two.
- Wood lath cargo. Not deliberately scuttled.
- Approximately 20 feet wide.
- Three artifacts of a very interesting shape.
- Complete from bow to stern.
- In 15 feet of water.
- Single cylinder steam engine. 1870s?
- Rudder is in place.
- Lots of interesting artifacts - mechanics wrench, etc.
- Jim Jarecki - Identification of the wreck.
- We know the size, cargo, type ( steamer )
- Identified as the Solon H. Johnson
- Jim has the history of the Coast Guard response to the sinking.
- Jim has lots of research references.
- Cargo helped a lot in the identification.
- Silver Spray - Greg Lane
- Built as Bloomer Girl, 1894
- Wrecked on Morgan Shoal in Hyde Park, Chicago
- Steam, Propeller, Wood, Passenger & Package
- Official No. 3679
- 109.2 feet long ( x width x height. )
- Lost in July 1914
- Greg gives free swimming tours every Sunday at 10:00 a.m.
- Boiler, Firebox, Debris Field, Drive shaft, Propeller, other parts.
- Propose to do a survey of the wreck site. - Locate identify and catalog all artifacts, uw photos, drawings history, . . .
- New marina being built at 31st street --> Increasing Traffic.
- Park District proposal to develop in this area.
- Need to protect this shipwreck site to prevent destruction by development.
- Potential Allies - U of Chicago, MSI, Hyde Park Historical Society, Preservation Society
- Desmond ? - Images of shipwreck artifacts discovered off Indiana Beach
Other Business
- OTHER: Miscellaneous new business items should be brought up – briefly – now.
- Speakers are always needed.
- THANKS to Teddy Montoya, Ruth Magnus, Mike Brutlag, and others for providing tonight's refreshments.
- Chuck Miller looking for volunteers for Our World Underwater - ICSSD and the show.
- Bob Gadbois to give a LadyElgin presentation at the Civil War Museum in Racine on Dec 9th.
- Oct 12 - Joan spoke at Shpwreck Tales of Chicago. Mather Lifeways, Senior Group.
- Nov 2 - 5 DEMA. Dive Equipment Manufacturers Association - Joan and Bill attending.
- Sign up for meeting refreshments - Dan Kasberger Refreshments coordinator.
- Nov -
NEXT MEETING: Elections
- Slate of Officers recommended by the Nominating Commitee:
- President: John Bell
- Vice President: Bob Rushman
- Treasurer: Bob Gadbois
- Secretary: John Gerty.
- Additional nominations accepted up until the actual vote. Contact Jim Jarecki to make additional nominations.
- Refreshments to be provided by TBD
- Speaker: - TBD
Guest Speaker -- Various UASC Project Leaders
- The focus of this month's meeting was the underwater archaeology field reports described above.
Other Business
The meeting was adjourned at approximately 9:00, after which a number of members retired to for further discussions and socializing.