Posted by Jim Jarecki on February 02, 1999 at 03:22:15:
In Reply to: "New" Discovery posted by Skip Simons on February 01, 1999 at 12:45:39:
The Unidentified Submerged Object (USO) has been known about for at least 6 or 7 years now. It is in the news again because there will soon be a major reconstruction of the area around the turning basin at the confluence of the Chicago River and Lake Michigan. This construction work will endanger this object so the State of Illinois, Dept. of Natural Resources has requested the assistance of the Underwater Archaeological Society of Chicago to relocate the object to a better protected location. The plan is to relocate the USO this next spring to a sheltered location in the Lake. The UASC will buoy the site so it can be visited by all interested divers. The USO is a wooden football shaped vessel, 31' long with a 10' beam. There is 1 hatch that is less than 2'x2'. Inside the object there are wood supports and near each end there are bulkheads. There is a pipe that runs through the object lengthwise and extends a little less than a foot at each end. On the bottom there are 2 runners or skids that appear to be for providing a stable base for the object to rest on. We originally suspected that it could be a naval paravane but historians and archaeologists with the US Navy insist that it was not used or built by the Navy. We have determined many other things that this isn't but we are running out of guesses as to what the object is. I hope to get photos, drawings, and possibly video of the object up on our web site, but it may be a couple weeks before I get this done. The UASC can be found on the web at www.businessform.com/uaschome.htm
The walls of the Turning Basin were not completed until around 1940 and due to the objects proximity to the walls, I suspect that the object ended up in it's current location sometime after 1940 although it looks as though it could possibly be older than that. It is our hope that someone who knew what this object was used for will see the news coverage and let us know what it is. I will post again to this news group when we have images available on the web.
-Jim Jarecki
: I understand there has been a wooden "vessel" of some discription found near the mouth of the Chicago river.
: It is supposed to be near the lock entrance. I do not know if that is on the lake or river side. Does anyone have updated info on the discovery? There was
: some details given on a radio show that indicated a hatch was recently discovered. Who is diving or working on the
: salvage and any other details or live web site information would be appreciated.
: This is a great web site to whoever is doing the work - Great job!
: Skip!