9 August 2005 Tennie & Laura, Port Washington
(August 09, 2005)
ROV launched from the stern of R/V
Neeskay
Today Tom Milbrath, Bob Jaeck, Tamara Thomsen, and Keith Meverden joined Rob Paddock of the University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee’s Great Lakes WATER Institute aboard the R/V
Neeskay to survey the scow schooner
Tennie & Laura. The
Tennie & Laura lies in 325 ft of water off Port Washington, which is too deep for SCUBA divers to accurately survey Great Lakes shipwrecks. Deployed by crane from the R/V
Neeskay, an ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle), piloted by Rob, will send video images through an umbilical that connects the ROV to the
Neeskay, which can be viewed from the comfort of the Neeskay’s onboard laboratory. Unlike SCUBA divers, an ROV has an unlimited bottom time, capable of spending hours, rather than minutes, on the lake bottom. Details of ship construction, artifacts, and general wreck condition can be examined and documented with an unlimited amount of time.
The Tennie & Laura was lost in a 1903 storm that overwhelmed and capsized aging scow. The two crewmembers, Captain Sather and Mate Morbach, rode in a small yawl attached to the overturned Tennie and Laura for one and a half hours in the raging storm before discovery by the passing steamer Covell. A line was thrown to Morbach, but fatigue and hypothermia caused Morbach to lose the line and disappear beneath the waves. Captain Sather, unable to rescue Morbach, caught the line, and wrapping it several times about his arm, was hauled to safety aboard the Covell. The Tennie & Laura was rediscovered in 1999 during the search for the fish tug Linda E.
Depth sounder shows the
Tennie & LauraOn its descent to lake bottom, the ROV lost power 150 feet beneath the surface. Hauled back aboard the Neeskay, the ROV could not be resurrected despite Rob’s efforts. On the return trip to Milwaukee, Rob discovered a broken wire in the umbilical that tethers the ROV to the research vessel. The team will return to the Tennie & Laura tomorrow for another try.
Rob and Keith monitor the ROV's descent
WHS photos by Tamara Thomsen
