Alger Underwater Preserve report (August 27th and 28th)

[schultz]

During the weekend of August 27th and 28th, nine divers from the Hoofer's SCUBA club embarked on yet another road adventure to the Alger Underwater Preserve. The weekend consisted of camping and diving, and although the nightly rains were heavy at times, it did not deter us from enjoying some excellent diving.

With water temps in the mid 60's for the first 30 feet, it made diving lake Superior extremely warm in a drysuit, and better suited for those diving wet. The majority of the shipwrecks in the preserve are in waters no more than 60 feet deep. This makes for an excellent opportunity for newer divers to literally get their feet wet in the realm of shipwreck diving.

Our first wreck was the Bermuda. A merchant schooner of 394 tons, she was launched at Oswego, NY, in 1860, and sunk with no loss of life in October of 1870. Although this wreck lies in only 30 feet of water, it is protected from ice and wave damage. The result is an intact 145 foot schooner sitting upright and waiting for visitors. For those newly certified wreck specialists, it made for some really easy penetrations with the 40 foot vis.

The second wreck of the day was the Manhattan. She was a wooden bulk freight steamer of 1,545 tons, 252 feet in length, launched in 1887 at Wyandotte, Michigan, and sunk Oct. 26, 1903. The ship was caught in a gale and seeking shelter in the East Channel when her wheel chains broke and she went up on a reef. Soon thereafter a fire broke out in the ship's galley at it wasn't long before she was a sheet of flame. Her crew escaped to safety and she now rests in 20-40 foot depths off the east shore of Grand Island. This wreck is scattered in three main sections, but it gives one great insight in how they built such massive boats out of nothing but wood. The wooden beams on this boat are wider than my shoulders.

Day two presented a little less rainfall that the night before, and with our team freshly rested, we decided to hit the Smith Moore. This wreck is a 260-foot three masted steamer which sank July 13, 1889. Bound from Marquette with her holds filled with iron ore, the freighter was running in a dense fog when she was rammed by the similarly sized steamer James Pickands. The Pickands never stopped and, though she remained afloat for some time, the Moore was fatally damaged. After the fog lifted, her distress signals brought the freighter M M Drake to her assistance. The Moores's crew was taken off and the steamer herself taken in tow, but she sank on her approach to Munising. Today she rests on a slope with her stern at 70 feet and her bow at about 100 feet. Unfortunately, the currents that day made navigating the wreck a little problematic. Although the currents were not all that strong, they did manage to reduce visibility to about 10-15 feet.

Our final wreck of the weekend was the Steven M. Selvick. This was a steel tug of 70 gross tons, 71 feet in length and 19 feet beam was intentionally sunk off Trout Point in May of 1996 for the Alger Underwater Preserve. Some wonder why deliberately put a wreck in a preserve. In this instance, the Selvick was one of the last remaining single-screw tugs still on the lake, and from a historical perspective, she helped build the massive Mackinac Bridge. Today the Selvick lies in approximately 60 feet of water and is 1600 yards east of Grand Island's Trout Point. With 40 foot vis, this wreck was truly a fun site, again with many penetration opportunities for those certified to do so.

[WIdiver_Paul]

/ Begs the question, "Who, from Hoofers?"

[schultz]

It doesn't really "beg the question", it may however "raise the question" in your mind, but I knew what you meant. Begging the question is a logical term used for describing a type of fallacy occurring in deductive reasoning in which the truth of the conclusion is assumed by the premises. For more information consult the definition provided by the . You might even like the example they provide.

Now back to our regularly scheduled response....

While I'm not certain of the exact number there are somewhere between 7 and 10 people with wreck diving specialties currently in the club, with some others interested in getting wreck certified possibly next year. That's the cool thing about Hoofer SCUBA.  If there are enough people interested in a particular specialty, chances are there is a class that the club can form to get those people certified. Granted some of us are STILL trying to get the muck-diver specialty happening.

On this particular trip there were three divers that had wreck certifications. If you're interested in finding specifically who currently holds a wreck specialty, you can always show up to one of the socials and ask around. Socials are Thursday nights starting at about 8:00 on the Memorial Union Terrace in Madison. Look for the dive flag and pull up a chair.