Lake Michigan Classic Diving Organization

Living on the Great Lakes is always an adventure.

150 Year Old Shipwreck Margaret Muir Found off Algoma, Wisconsin Algoma, Wisconsin - Friday, July 19, 2024 Maritime historians from the Wisconsin Underwater Archeology Association have located the remains of the historic schooner Margaret A. Muir off Algoma, Wisconsin as the result of a deliberate search. The team,

If you have been waiting for the summer edition of the LMCDO newsletter we are delaying it until we can announce when the Recreational Standard Dress Diving Class will be held. Once a date is set we will get it included in the newsletter.

Unfortunately the search for a site for a dive event has not been successful. Our criteria is pretty specific in order to offer a safe and enjoyable experience. Every one we have checked out has excelled in one regard and really really sucked in another. The search continues.

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Discovery of the Historic Great Lakes Schooner Trinidad Discovery of the Historic Great Lakes Schooner Trinidad On July 15th, 2023, Wisconsin Maritime Historians Brendon Baillod and Bob Jaeck located the intact remains of the 156 year old schooner Trinidad in nearly 300 feet of water off Algoma, Wisconsin as

DESCO just completed a new Mk V. it is not the usual Mk V helmet. This is a bubble shell Mk V. More info available on the DESCO FB page.

Question: Where was the birthplace of mixed gas (Helium) diving and when was it?

Answer: Lake Michigan off Door County Wisconsin in August/September 1925.

The first open water dives using Helium as a breathing gas for commercial purposes were made in the summer of 1925 to investigate the sinking of the SS Lakeland in 1924.

Go to doorcountynewspapers.org and find the archived copy of the Friday September 11, 1925 issue of the Door County Advocate. A really cool photo of the dive team.

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Yesterday Christian and I went to scout potential dive sites with Trevor Pinkalla and Nate Leff. It was a beautiful day day with bright Sun, warm temp, and no wind. Trevor and Nate are MKE Fire Department rescue divers. They volunteered to do some dives to check depth and bottom conditions. We require four things in a dive site.

Accessibility. It takes a lot of gear to dive standard dress and you need a substantial air compressor.

Depth. You have to get divers into water deep enough quickly. The gear is heavy and will tire the diver fast.

Firm Bottom. If the bottom is soft or silted it makes walking difficult. Silt also gets churned up and kills visibility.

Visibility. If the water is turbid before a diver enters the visibility will not improve, even on the cleanest and hardest bottom.

Our first stop was at Grant Park. We thought about Oak Creek next to the yacht club but we saw a goose standing right where we thought would be deep water. No sense putting a diver in to check.

We went over by the beach. It is sand and stone washed up by the lake. It was firm and clean. There is a large parking lot where the trailer and air compressor could be staged. Nate and Trevor got geared up to see what conditions were like. Visibility was very good. The bottom remained firm as far out as they went. Everything looked great until they were off shore over 100 feet and still had their heads and shoulders above water. As I said above the beach material is deposited by the lake usually during heavy storms. The beaches on the shore in Milwaukee County gently slope to deeper water. This won't work. The site ticked all the boxes but the most important one. Being able to get divers into the water to a useable depth quickly.

Our next stop was Bender Park just down the shore from Grant Park. We expected beach conditions to be about the same. What we wanted to see is if it would be possible to dive in the artificial cove where the boat ramps are located. Not good. Trevor and Nate did try the beach and found what we expected. Gently shoaling sand and stone.

As an afterthought we went into Racine County to check out the beach at Shoop Park/Golf Course. This site is just below Wind Point. Access to the site was terrible. The road that ran to the beach ended abruptly with a drop off. A foot path skirted it. There are three old concrete piers extending out from shore. We walked out on them and the seagulls had about painted them white. The bottom appeared to have more field stone on the bottom than sand & gravel. Water clarity was great. After checking all three we went back to the center one as we saw what looked like a deep area with a sand bottom. Trevor suited up and jumped in. What we guessed was six to eight feet deep turned out to be four feet deep.

The search continues. There is some urgency now as Trevor wants to hold a RSDD class in Milwaukee in the fall. He was trained to be an instructor by Greg Davis. Trevor is also a certified PADI scuba instructor. If we can't find a site he may find a pool to hold the class in but that's not ideal as it eliminates the open water part of the training. It is possible that to complete the class the open water part could still be held at Discovery World.

After we left Grant Park it was a few miles down the road to Bender Park. Milwaukee County Parks has a boat ramp in the park and we were checking out places we might dive near the ramp. The cove the boat ramp is in collects sand and currently there are signs warning boaters of shallow water when exiting the cove. South Milwaukee Yacht Club was dredging their channel while we were there. The jetty at Bender Park has bee rip rapped so water access from there would be problematic. There is a concrete pier next to the ramps that a tie up dock is connected to. The boating season has not begun yet so the docks were not installed. We think we can dive in the cove north of the ramps and stay out of the boat channel from the north dock. Again there is a nice sand & stone beach to the north of the boat launch where we may be able to have divers walk into the lake. This site will also get surveyed by divers.

Yesterday Trevor Pinkalla, Christian and I went to scout some potential dive sites. It was a blustery day with winds gusting significantly. The night before we had thunderstorms. Our first stop was Grant Park in the southeast corner of Milwaukee County. South Milwaukee Yacht Club sits on the south bank of Oak Creek. The creek mouth gets choked with sand On the other side of the creek mouth there is a concrete jetty. On a calm day it may be possible to walk into Lake Michigan from this beach or the one on the north side of the creek. we need to determine how quickly the beach tapers off to deeper water. On the north side of the creek there is a long public beach constantly being renewed with sand and pulverized rocks. It makes for very good bottom for walking on. These spots are open to the lake so conditions can't be counted on to be good. On the north bank of the creek is an old boat launching ramp. If the creek is deep enough there we could dive in that spot. The next step is to get divers in the water. That will happen next month when it is warmer and calmer. Next post is on Bender Park a few miles south.

VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES AVAILABLE - Another way you can help us preserve our state's WWII and maritime heritage is by joining our USS COBIA Decking Crew!

The crew meets once or twice a month during the warmer months to work on replacing and repairing USS COBIA's decking. You can volunteer once or keep coming back for more fun! No prior experience is required - we will train you!

Interested in learning more? Fill out a volunteer interest form on our website: https://bit.ly/3RozhP4

[image description: three images of volunteers working. Text: "Join Our Decking Crew! Help us replace and repair USS COBIA's deck! Anyone can volunteer with us and get hands-on experience working on a WWII submarine! Work parties scheduled throughout Spring/Summer 2024." The WMM logo is in the lower center.]

We are wrapping up our preparations for the Ghost Ships Festival in Manitowoc. We will be running a slide show on a monitor depicting diving records made here. The slide show will start with two photos of the SS Lakeland. Her sinking prompted the first use of Helium as a breathing gas in a practical application (outside a laboratory or chamber) and ushered in mixed gas diving. The montage continues through Max Nohl's 420 record dive, Jack Browne's 550 foot dive, and Fred Roberts 380 foot dive on air.
On the table we will have Air Hat 336 which was owned by local commercial diver and member of the Wisconsin Marine Historical Society Peter Scotland with his divers telephone. Also on the table will be the pressure gauge from the DESCO Wet Tank. This gauge indicated the 550 foot simulated depth Jack Browne reached in 1945. It also showed a simulated depth of 380 feet on air for the Air Master test dive made by Fred Roberts in 1955. Next to the gauge is a DESCO Air Master regulator and Fred Roberts book, Basic Scuba.

Navy Underwater Construction Teams, the Seabees, celebrate 50th anniversary of 1974 establishment Their mission: sub-surface construction missions actually dates back to World War II.

When we started down this rabbit hole we did not know exactly what we would find. One thing we did not expect was a breastplate bottom strap cracked in four places. The bottom strap will need to be replaced. A few of the studs are crap and will need to go bye bye too. As I was putting stuff away this morning and looking at the breastplate I began to think that since we were going that far we should just take everything off the shell and tin it. It would look much nicer than it does now. We already have a bonnet shell mostly cut out and already tinned that we could use. Unless we make the breastplate prettier we would likely need to take the bonnet shell and drag it behind a truck on a gravel road to make it match. As it is the breastplate/bonnet combo would look like a zit on a supermodel. As they say in for a penny, in for a pound. We want to make 1769 the best she can be. When the team is finished she will be the prettiest 114 year old at the rally.

More photos as promised.

Today we held the workshop to disassemble AJMS 4LC 1769. We had ten attendees who took the helmet down to bare bonnet and breastplate. Next it was off the soldering to remove the castings and ductwork from the bonnet shell, and pull the breastplate studs out. Once we finished with 1769 Christian set up a Copper sheet in the mandrel and let everyone try pounding out a breastplate shell. In the time allotted they got the shell formed almost to where the neck hole would be cut. They were all eager to try everything but I think they were a bit surprised by the physicality of some of the processes.

We did find the repair work will be more extensive than first thought. The breastplate bottom strap is cracked in three places and will need replacement. A couple of the studs are not good. Whoever drilled the guard holes in the bases to 1/4" managed to break through the inner wall of the bases in a few so those holes will need to be brazed shut. The others we can plug and re drill.

More photos in another post

Spent a good part of today getting ready for the workshop tomorrow. We will start with a short orientation covering what we plan to do and a safety lecture. The office will open at 8am so participants can come anytime after then. The meeting will begin at 9am. We will take a break at about 10:30 and finish up at Noon.

The definition of "Captain". Ship and crew before self. A brave and honorable man.

FEBRUARY 2024: We will be celebrating our very own 28 Manitowoc-built submarines and USS COBIA with the 28 Days, 28 Boats (+1) Drydock Campaign!

This campaign includes a special prize drawing with all donated proceeds going towards the drydocking of USS COBIA. You’ll have a chance to win your choice of a USS COBIA swag package OR one ticket for a below decks ceremonial engine start experience aboard USS COBIA on Saturday, May 4, 2024!

Watch for daily posts all throughout the next month!

[image description: COBIA's engines. Text: "28 Days, 28 Boats +1 USS COBIA Drydock Campaign, February 1-29, 2024. Enter To Win!" The WMM logo is in the lower right corner.]

From all of us at DESCO, DESCO Machining, AJMS, and LMCDO we wish all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, and wonderful Holiday season.

It’s Official! Wisconsin’s Ghost Ships Festival is back. Last held in 2017, the Ghost Ships Festival was Wisconsin’s premier event for Great Lakes diving, maritime history and underwater archeology enthusiasts.

The Wisconsin Underwater Archeology Association in conjunction with the new Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary, the Wisconsin Historical Society’s Maritime Archeology Program and the Wisconsin Maritime Museum are proud to sponsor Ghost Ships 2024!

The event will be held Friday, March 1st and Saturday, March 2nd at the Inn on Maritime Bay in Manitowoc, Wisconsin and will feature speakers and workshops devoted to:

• Recent shipwreck discoveries
• Techniques for documenting historic shipwreck sites
• 3D Photogrammetry
• Remote Sensing Technology
• Great Lakes Shipwreck Diving
• Great Lakes Maritime History

The event will include vendor booths and displays offering interactive 3D shipwreck exploration experiences, technology demonstrations as well as books and merchandise. Sponsorship opportunities are available for interested businesses and organizations.

The event will be open to the public. Stay tuned for information on booking room reservations, pre-registration, vendor booth reservations and sponsorship opportunities at www.wuaa.org.

𝐆𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐒𝐡𝐢𝐩𝐬 𝐅𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐥 𝐂𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐕𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐫𝐬

𝑾𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒐 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑮𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝑺𝒉𝒊𝒑𝒔 𝑭𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒂𝒍 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆? We're looking for volunteers to help us at the fest on Friday, March 1st and Saturday, March 2nd. Volunteers will be asked to work for 4 hours in exchange for free admission.
We are looking for help in the following areas:

𝐑𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 / 𝐇𝐨𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐤
𝐅𝐚𝐜𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐒𝐞𝐭𝐮𝐩 / 𝐖𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐬
𝐀/𝐕 𝐓𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥
𝐌𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐒𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬

We are looking to recruit approximately 15 volunteers.
If you're interested, please contact Brendon Baillod at [email protected]