Waukesha County Divers Association

Underwater Archaeologist at May Meeting

Sat, 19 Apr 2008 10:21:02 -0500

Please join the Waukesha County Divers Association in welcoming Keith Meverden, the Wisconsin Underwater Archaeologist to our monthly meeting on Wednesday, May 7th at 7 p.m.

Meverden, who has been the state's Underwater Archaeologist since April 2004, oversees the Wisconsin Historical Society's maritime Preservation and Archaeology Program.

Meverden will discuss the work done during the busy 2007 field season including the creation of photo mosaics of the SS WISCONSIN and several coasting schooners. Meverden will also discuss the plans for the 2008 field work season.

Meverden is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin. He received his Master's degree in Maritime History and Nautical Archaeology from East Carolina University. A licensed Coast Guard Captain, Meverden has worked on projects in Wisconsin, North Carolina, and the Virgin Islands. Meverden has also worked with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on the Civil War ironclad, USS Monitor.

With more an 860 miles of Great Lakes shoreline, the State of Wisconsin has more than 700 historic shipwrecks in Lake Michigan and Lake Superior. In addition to that, Wisconsin has several hundred prehistoric and historic sites submerged in state lakes and rivers. Wisconsin leads all other Great Lakes states with the number of shipwrecks listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Currently, 28 Wisconsin shipwrecks are included on the National Register. With the help of volunteers, the Wisconsin Historical Society maintains permanent mooring buoys on 23 shipwrecks and historic sites in Lake Michigan and Lake Superior.

The Waukesha County Divers Association meets at 7 p.m. May 7 in the Waukesha County Courthouse, 515 W. Moreland Blvd., Waukesha. Please join us for another exciting and entertaining evening.

Author Enthralls Club

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 10:01:13 -0500

(This report by WCDA News editor Peter Kastella appeared in the May 2008 edition. This monthly newsletter is free to members of the Waukesha County Divers Association, containing information on club activity as well as articles of interest to Wisconsin divers.)

Author and adventurer, award winning photographer and 2008 Our World Underwater Award Recipient, Cris Kohl entertained the WCDA with his tales of 36 years of diving in the Great Lakes. "What we have here is unique," said Kohl. "We have the best preserved shipwrecks in the world, without a doubt," he said, "many of which are reachable by sport divers."

Kohl and his wife Joan Forsberg, the current President of the Underwater Archaeological Society of Chicago, spoke to a full room of members and guests at the April meeting of the WCDA.

With 685 different wrecks in his log book, Kohl examined three to four of his favorite shipwreck dives in each of the five Great Lakes, beginning with Lake Ontario and ending with Lake Michigan. Kohl said there is a minimum of 6,000 shipwrecks in the Great Lakes, of which, two-thirds are yet to be found. The largest of the lakes, Superior, has the most famous shipwreck, the EDMUND FITZGERALD, he said, but it also has the fewest shipwrecks of all the lakes.

The ships that sailed the Great Lakes were workhorses, said Kohl, built to haul cargo and passengers. Few were adorned with ornate figureheads, according to Kohl. Only 18 ships with figureheads have been found in the Great Lakes, he said, making them unique wrecks.

Some of Kohl's favorite Lake Michigan wrecks include the ROUSE SIMMONS, the famous "Christmas Tree" ship. In nearly 170' of water, the ROUSE SIMMONS is not reachable by the average sport diver.

One wreck that is reachable, said Kohl, is that of the SANDUSKY. In 81' of water in the Straits of Mackinac, the SANDUSKY is one of the best preserved schooners in the Great Lakes, said Kohl.

In the Chicago area, Kohl's home, two of the most popular shipwrecks are the schooner WELLS BURT, which sank in 1883 and the ferry STRAITS of MACKINAC, which was scuttled in 2003.

As with many Midwest divers, Wisconsin's Door County is one of Kohl's favorite dive destinations. Of the many wrecks on either side of the peninsula, the steamer FRANK O'CONNOR, and the schooners E.R. WILLIAMS and OCEAN WAVE are among his favorites.

"We may not have warm waters and pretty fish," said Kohl, "but we have the best shipwrecks in the world."

Even with all the great shipwrecks he has visited, Kohl said if he had not joined a dive club when he started diving in 1972, he may have "hung up" his C-card and used it only during trips to the Caribbean. Kohl credits the members of the Kent Divers Association for keeping him diving by sparking his interest in shipwrecks. Kohl feels so strongly about the importance of clubs to sport diving that he has devoted a full chapter to the subject in his book The Great Lakes Diving Guide, 2nd edition.

With eleven books to his credit, Kohl's most recent publications are Shipwrecks At Death's Door, 2006 and The Great Lakes Diving Guide, 2nd edition, 2007. He and his wife Joan are currently working on six new tomes. He expects his next book, which will be about shipwrecks in Lake Michigan, to be completed in about two years.

Author Cris Kohl To Speak at April 2 Meeting

Fri, 7 Mar 2008 08:13:55 -0600

Please join the Waukesha County Divers Association in welcoming award winning diver, author, photographer and historian Cris Kohl to our monthly meeting on Wednesday, April 2 at 7 p.m.

Cris Kohl is the author of eleven books including the two-volume set The 100 Best Great Lakes Shipwrecks, TITANIC The Great Lakes Connection, and Shipwrecks at Death’s Door.

Now in its second edition, Kohl’s book, The Great Lakes Diving Guide, is considered the most comprehensive reference book ever published on Great Lakes diving.

Kohl has spent 33 years visiting hundreds of shipwrecks in all five of the Great Lakes and in three oceans. Kohl is a prize-winning photographer, contributor to magazines such as Skin Diver, Immersed and Rodale’s Scuba Diving and has appeared on the Discovery Channel and the History Channel. Most recently, Kohl was named the 2008 Our World Underwater Award Recipient.

The Waukesha County Divers Association meets at 7 p.m. April 2 in the Waukesha County Courthouse, 515 W. Moreland Blvd., Waukesha. Please join us for this exciting and entertaining evening. As always, guests are welcome at our monthly meetings.

(For a printable version of this notice in PDF format, click here.)

February Meeting Canceled

Tue, 5 Feb 2008 19:39:20 -0600

The February 6 meeting has been canceled due to a winter storm hitting Wisconsin. The WCDA will meet again on Wednesday, March 5th. Happy shoveling!

December Meeting Notes, Election Results

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 21:09:23 -0600

The WCDA held its annual election of officers at the December 5 meeting. Serving for 2008 will be:

President: Bob Kodanko
Vice President: Bob Hassert
Treasurer: Bill King
Secretary: Pete Kastella
Board Member at Large: Lon Kramer

The club also voted on and approved the budget for 2008.

Members are reminded that the Christmas Party is coming up on January 5th. Please get your payment and auction/raffle items in soon. We already have some great items lined up for this year’s party:

A signed copy of Cris Kohl’s “Great Lakes Diving Guide”
A programmable thermostat
A bottle of Chivas Regal scotch
An Irish coffee liqueur gift basket with cups
2 three day passes to Our World Underwater on February 15-17, a $160 value
A Poseidon gear bag

Mike Wolf announced that the Badger State Dive Club plans to hold their annual ice dive in February at the quarry in Menomonee Park. They’ll have the pavilion rented and a roaring fire to warm you up. The exact date and time have not yet been determined.

Pete Kastella pointed out that the Ghost Ships Festival date has been set and will take place on March 7th and 8th. This year will feature a talk by Clive Cussler’s National Underwater and Marine Agency (NUMA) on locating and raising the Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley. See the festival website for more information. A presentation on the newly discovered Fireboat 23 wreck will also be featured.

Dive coordinator Blake Ewing suggests, in ominous tones, that members come to the January 2nd meeting with some suggestions about dives they’d like to do in 2008. We’re trying to line up a speaker for the January meeting, Tom Fredricks of MrBottles.com.

Keep watching this site for the location of the January 2nd meeting.

November Meeting Notes

Wed, 7 Nov 2007 20:59:59 -0600

Sheri Koch would greatly appreciate it if members could get their Christmas Party auction and raffle items to her by the December meeting to aid her planning. All members are encouraged to donate an item to help raise funds and offset the cost of the party. Pete Kastella drafted letters that could be used to solicit donations from area businesses; email Pete if you’d like a copy.

In addition to last month’s nominations, Eric Perea accepted a nomination to serve as Vice President for 2008. The nominations closed as follows:

President: Bob Kodanko and Blake Ewing
Vice President: Bob Hassert and Eric Perea
Treasurer: Bill King
Secretary: Pete Kastella
Board Member at Large: Lon Kramer and Dave Ruske

Elections will be held at the December 5th meeting of the WCDA. Members who cannot be present should email Secretary Pete Kastella for an absentee ballot. Ballots should be sealed in an envelope marked “Ballot,” then mailed to Pete in a second envelope with your name and return address on the outside.

The December 5th meeting of the WCDA will be in a different room than usual: room 355/359 on the third floor of the Waukesha County Courthouse. A room at a local Gander Mountain store is being considered for the club’s January 2nd meeting. Watch for details in next month’s meeting notes.