Madeira and Hesper Monitoring Project
July 16 - 17, 2011
Madeira Pilot House
Photo by Tamera Tompsen
Madeira Stern
Photo by Tamera Tompson
With this project we will be Monitoring the conditions of each shipwreck through visual observation
drawings and also using both still and video photography.
We will be cruising, sleeping, eating and diving from the R/V Preservation for this Project.
NOTE: The $20.00 charge for the project is for the split costs of food for the project. The main project is FREE!
SPECIAL NOTE:
The Visibility has changed substantially since the flooding occurred at
the end of June. Please stay tuned to the GLSPS website and or watch
for any additional emails if you registered for this project.
The Madeira and Hesper have been underwater for a very
long time. Mother nature has done a great job preserving them but she
has also taken a toll on them as well. As divers we dive on these
shipwrecks and will eventually cause wear from divers diving them year
after year.
This is were the GLSPS comes into play. With the joint
effort of the Minnesota Historical Society (MHS) and the Department of
Natural Resources (DNR) the GLSPS tries to help stabilize and preserve
these shipwrecks from further deterioration. We work closely with the
MHS, DNR and sometimes the Cities that are near these shipwrecks, to
gain access through special permitting to perform the underwater work we
do to preserve the shipwrecks.
Before we can do any of this, we need to document and
Monitor each shipwrecks deterioration characteristics. We then will
write a proposal / plan as to how we are going to do this. We present
it to the GLSPS Board of Directors. If the Board approves the plan, we go to work and
implement the plan to the DNR MHS to obtain a permit to work on the shipwreck to help preserve it for years to come and
for future divers to be able to see close to what we saw when we first
dived the shipwreck.
Here is your chance to dive the Madeira and Hesper aboard the R/V Preservation and have fun with a little research as well!
I will see you on the Project.
Corey Daniel
Project Leader
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Madeira and Hesper Monitoring Project
July 16 - 17, 2011
Closing Report
Madeira/Hesper Monitoring Project 2011 photos
July 20, 2011
Sent out a final email to inform the crew what we are required to do to monitor both the Hesper and the Madeira.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Bob Olson started Cruising the R/V Preservation up to Silver Bay Marina with Helen Wright as crew. This was done to provide the attendees of the project a better transportation option either of choosing to cruise up theshore aboard the boat or connect with the boat and crew in Silver Bay Marina. The Cruise can take up to 8 hours to transport /cruise the vessel to Silver Bay. This way all the divers would be fresh the next morning to dive all day.
Friday, July 15, 2011
The R/V Preservation arrived at 5:00 PM at Silver Bay. Attendees of the project started to arrive at 6:30 PM and loaded their equipment. The last two, Corey and Steve Daniel , arrived late after a great cruise aboard the"Sundew". I will post again if opportunity arises.
Saturday, July 16. 2011
First day of Project. We woke up at 7:00 AM and prepared breakfast,performed a boat briefing and cruised south to the Madeira to perform the Monitoring duties of the project. Diving started about 10:00 AM. The predive briefing was given then the plan and dive profile. Bail out bottles were prepared and surface supplied O2 was dropped down to 15 feet for safety stop. The first team of divers duties were to scout out damaged areas that might be hazardous to divers and took pictures.
We dove three great dives, surveying different areas of the wreck. A bath tub was located(with the reference from Randy Flacksbarth dive with Todd Olson), intact porthole spotted and details/sketches configured of mid section along hillside. One interesting detail noticed is the fact that the stern section is literally coming apart. Two different areas were observed-steel plates are shifting, rust is pushing, and storms are helping,rivets are popping out. I found a few of them on the fantail side towards the bottom.
The sun was shining, lake was flat and a great time was had by all. We then cruised the boat by the lighthouse for pics and we motored back to Silver Bay Marina. We then had dinner at local restaurant in Silver Bay.
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Woke up to very thick fog, had another great breakfast, and cruise the boat to the Hesper buoy. Now keep in mind that you couldn't see past the bow of the boat and there was a fishing contest going on, so lots of boat traffic you couldn't see! We dove two long dives and scanned the wreck. She's still there and not much has changed, but still great dives. We had watched Ken Merryman's video on how wooden ships were built before the dive so it was fun to see how the wreck exposed this first hand.
I want to thank everyone who helped on this project. Bob Olson for Operating the boat, Helen Wright for deciphering the diver sketches and meals,Steve Daniel for sketches, pics, and good dive buddy, Randy Flacksbarth for pictures above and below the water line, and Jack Decker, who traveled all the way from Iowa to help us out. Personally I think Jack will be joining us on a lot more future projects.
Great Project! A good time was had by all attendees
See you next time.
Corey Daniel
Project Leader