Great Lakes Shipwreck Festival

Our 2019 show continues with the team of Cindy & Mike Lynch and Chris Roth teaming up to explore some the Thumb Area previously discovered but mostly forgotten shipwrecks.

The modern-day visibility has revealed how our shipwrecks are in a constant state of change (sometimes drastically.) We also found that sometimes, shipwrecks are actually constructed different, then originally thought. The fabulous visibility has also allowed broken up shipwrecks to be documented, in ways that it was never thought possible, before. Join us, while we explore the Tug Fred Lee and see the dramatic changes that have taken place, over time. We are able to correct the documentation, on the Schooner Arcturus and then take a close look at the Steamer Iron Chief.

Whitefish Bay, Michigan in Lake Superior is notorious for ships colliding especially around the point where the lake narrows towards the Soo St. Marie locks.  The weather has its own unpredictable microclimate and the fog comes out of nowhere.  Whitefish Point sand dune sticks far out and ships need to navigate around it and into the narrow channel.  The things that go bump in the night and sometimes during the day end up sinking – there are beautiful erie old wooden steamers preserved on the bottom of Whitefish Bay.  Explore these shipwrecks with Capt. Jitka Hanakova and her team.

Decoding Diving the Dive Tables presented by James Mott is an enlightened look at the history and evolution of dive tables over the last 100 years. Starting with the Haldane model through Navy tables to the popular certification agencies tables. The program will review the constantly changing array of dive computers starting with the most primitive from the 1960’s to the current generation of computers for sport diving and the more complex technical dive computers. James will also touch on the current trend in certification where the diver depends on computers without understanding the logic behind tables and the technical reasons behind limiting time and depth.

Discovered by CLUE member Tom Kowalczk on August 28, 2015, the fuel barge Argo quickly made national news when it was announced by the U.S. Coast Guard to be leaking oil and was considered by NOAA to be the Great Lakes’ top environmental threat.  This is the story of how an east coast barge sank in Lake Erie in 1937 while carrying a hazardous cargo, how it was discovered by accident, and how it was eventually made safe by the efforts of the USCG. 

Normally shipwreck searches involve the open water or library. Ric Mixter knew an approximate location of a shipwreck through a series of unique photographs that showed the final voyage of the Edward Skeele. He turned to the internet to help him locate the debris field of where the ship lies today and he uncovered more than he bargained for. Ric will share the connection of the Skeele to the Christmas Tree Ship, the collision and loss of the Viator and a newly located German U-Boat.

The Amazing Sunken WWII Planes North PNG’s The north side of Papau New Guinea was the location of some of the fiercest battles of the South Pacific. Join Jim and Pat Stayer as they dive 6 different WWII plane wrecks. The program highlights a couple of American B-25s with their incredible stories; one in the jungle and one in crocodile infested waters. They dove on Japanese Petes, a Zero, and a Kate. The program also includes an Australia’s Catalina 

Mark Your Calendars for March 2nd 2019. The Great Lakes Shipwreck Festival Returns to Washtenaw Community College.