7 July 2005 Ocean Wave, Sevastopol
(July 07, 2005)
After two attempts over two weeks foiled by heavy seas, the team got a break this morning and reached the Ocean Wave site with waves less than one foot. With help from local divers, the mooring installation went quickly and smoothly.
Keith briefs the group on the installation
The morning began with a briefing at the Sawyer Park launch in Sturgeon Bay, were Keith explained the technique of installing the three screw anchors and mooring chain. Following a quick ride to the wreck site, Keith, Ethan, and Tami made the first dive and installed the first anchor approximately 40 feet off the wreck’s starboard side. As the Keith and Ethan began their ascent to the surface, Bob Berg and Bill Becker arrived on the bottom with the second screw anchor. Ten minutes later, Bob B. and Bill began their ascent while Dave Townsend and Bob LaViolette arrived and installed the third and final screw anchor.
Ethan and Keith screw in the first anchor
Once everyone was safely back aboard the boats, the mooring chain, with buoys attached, was lowered the 110 feet to the lake bottom where the anchors were installed. The final step of attaching the mooring chain to the anchors was accomplished by Mike Stauber and Eugene Quever, who ensured everything was tied with safety wire to make sure none of the shackles work loose.
Mike Stauber and Eugene Quever attach the mooring chain to the anchors
The mooring chain is lowered to the bottom
Special thanks goes to local divers Dave Townsend, Bill Becker, Mike Stauber, Eugene Quever, Bob Berg, Bob LaViolette, Jon Van Harpen, and WHS volunteer Ethan Brodsky. When two attempts by WHS divers were foiled by windy conditions, Bob Berg organized the group who took charge of getting the mooring installed. Thanks everyone!
It was imperative that a permanent mooring was installed as soon as possible on the Ocean Wave, which is one of the most important and fragile archaeological sites currently in Wisconsin. Due to the fragile nature of the wreck, private moorings attached to the wreckage threatened to collapse the intact bow section, which is one of the most intact scows in all of the Great Lakes. Given the rarity of scows in the archaeological record on the lake bottom, much new information on Great Lakes scows will be gained from the Ocean Wave.
When visiting the Ocean Wave, please do not displace artifacts. Besides being illegal, moving artifacts destroys much information that can be learned from that artifact, and leaving them in place for other divers to discover makes for a much more rewarding dive than simply viewing a pile of broken artifacts heaped in one conspicuous place.
The Ocean Wave is Wisconsin's nineteenth shipwreck with a WHS-sponsored mooring bouy. A list of all mooring bouys can be found at the Maritime Trails web site.
WHS photos by Tamara Thomsen
