Posted by Craig Rich on October 02, 19101 at 13:20:24:
In Reply to: Re: Chicora posted by Tim on September 24, 19101 at 15:13:32:
Well, I've been waiting for this to hit the group!
As you might imagine we're being a little vague regarding depth until we complete our ROV survey of the site. Yes, it's "close" to 300 feet.
Personally, I'm about 90% sure it's the Chicora. Valerie Olson van Heest is about 99.5% sure. Others fall in between somewhere, so you can see we're pretty sure. We wouldn't have gone public after 4 months of silence if we weren't. Our drop camera video was fairly revealing. We have construction drawings and numerous match-ups were made. The next step is to put an ROV on site to further document what's there. The state of Michigan is especially interested in producing a video "inventory" to make prosecution a little easier if any theft occurs over the coming years.
Following the ROV exploration, we will be releasing the facts regarding the depth and location.
At this time, we are planning to present our findings at the Southwest Michigan Underwater Preserve's springtime event "Evening Beneath The Inland Seas", at the "Ghost Ships Festival" in Milwaukee, and other venues to which we may be invited (let me know if you're interested).
It was a great search. For the past 4 years we confined our search to the Preserve area. This year was different. SWMUP board member Jan Miller deserves much of the credit. He compiled computer models using USCG and NOAA weather data from 106 years ago to plot a probable search area. Four days later, Dave Trotter's side scan sonar ran right over the wreck. For those of you who need to know, it was May 25, 2001 at 3:00PM. Others on the boat that day included Jan Miller, Lewis Spencer, Larry Mims and me. It was a lot of fun!
Stay tuned for further details.....
Craig Rich
Southwest Michigan Underwater Preserve &
Chicora Preservation Society
http://www.macatawa/org~crich/chicora.htm
(yes, I know I need to update the web site!)