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From: shipwrecked@chartermi.net
Category: Shipwreck Research
Date: 05 Jan 2007
Time: 16:36:21
Remote Name: 24.247.253.106
Craig is doing a fine job of representing MSRA in these posts. I will just chime in with one thing that should be added. I don't know of a mooring that is completely permanent. Our tech dive team installed what we all thought was a permanent mooring on the AA5- chain on the bottom, hose over the line and a 5 gallon buoy submerged a few feet with only a painter trailing to the surface so it was not a hazard to other boats. After one winter it was gone. Weather, another boater, another diver? We don't know what caused it to come off. (Although there is not much a grapple can damage on the AA5, it is particularly hard to anchor into or near due to its severe angle). Yes our divers have put moorings on the SS Michigan and Hennepin, and left them there, but will they be there in April? The problem with all this is that each wreck needs to be visited in April by divers familiar with the wreck, who are prepared with mooring materials and ready to waste a tank of high cost tri-mix, and high cost gas to motor out there in order to install yet another mooring. With four newly discovered deep wrecks, there is simply not the time, money or supplies to get out to all four each April/May. If we had a local tech charter operator over here (who could at least cover his expenses with paying customers) and whose business depended on providing wrecks in good condition, then things here might be different. In reality there are only a small handful of tech divers over here and no official tech charter operators. Even though you are not local, you might be one of the few charters willing to do this, but could you feasibly schedule 2 or 3 trips over here each spring to do this, when you have wrecks in your neighborhood and the whole of Lake Michigan to choose from? It’s a dilemma we need to deal with. Maybe we should just let it be and not care. We are talking things over here.
It's interesting-- our best supporters, both cheering us and our major funders are the over 60 seniors who will never set foot in the water, but who have a love for the stories of these ships gone missing. It’s scary, but in the not-too-distant future, those of us on the MSRA board will join that group ourselves. We want to have done the right thing by all: divers, historians and our senior supporters. We are trying-and appreciate your input.