Our special guest this month is Jan Miller. Jan, who has served as president of the Michigan Shipwreck Research Associates. This team of professionals has a mission to preserve Michigan's submerged maritime history. Jan's job is all about using modern science and technology to help locate the many missing ghost ships that remain lost in the Great Lakes. Jan collects historical data that can be applied to modern day search theory for defining probable search field coordinates and search pattern designs.

        Jan has worked in cooperation with the United States Coast Guard-R&D center and N.O.A.A.'s Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory to create computer modeling of wind, wave, current and shipwreck debris trajectories, which are applied to historical shipwreck scenarios.

        In challenging governmental agencies to apply current technology in new and creative ways to discover and document shipwrecks, Jan has also worked in cooperation with the University of Michigan's Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering Laboratory.

        There was a time when I was considered a thorn-in-the-flesh to many of these agencies! A handful of our club members and I spearheaded an aggressive campaign to stop the government from creating an underwater preserve off the Lake Michigan shore in southwest Michigan.

        They were shocked to find any opposition to their plans! At the time, to save their plan, they sent Ken Potts, who was then curator at the Michigan Maritime Museum in South Haven. He wanted to learn what our problem was and to do his best to sell the idea of the underwater preserve.

        Our primary fear was that whenever the government labels anything historic, the first thing they print up is a bunch of 'no metal detecting' signs! Mr. Potts assured us that our shallow water use of metal detectors would not be a problem. He even told us, at that time, a diver using a metal detector around a shipwreck to look for old coins would not be a problem. Well, we all know that part has changed!

        I have had a long history of helping law enforcement in any way that I can. Back when my metal detecting sales were conducted in my father's R.V. parts and accessories store at Curtis Trailer Sales in Plainwell, we donated a late model 19-foot travel trailer to the Allegan Sheriff Department's dive team. The trailer gave the divers a place to change into their gear, as well as to store and transport their tanks, etc.

        On one practice dive, they hauled the rig over to the Saugatuck area and did some training dives at Pier Cove. Pier Cove is part of Michigan history, if there ever was one. After the Great Chicago fire of 1871, the vast Allegan Forest was clear cut and much of the timber was shipped out of Pier Cove to sawmills and used in the rebuilding of that great city.

        One of the divers discovered a sturdy metal antique chair that was clearly from one of the great three- masted lumber hookers that called on that port. The deputy loaded the old chair into the dive team trailer and hauled it back to the sheriff's department. Somehow the D.N.R. found out about the chair and pressed charges against the Sheriff Department! The D.N.R. wanted the divers to return the chair and pay a fine. Finally, a deal was worked out to the satisfaction of everyone and the chair was donated to the museum.

        My problem with passing restrictive laws protecting these shipwrecks was the same for Civil War sites; why leave these treasures deteriorating where almost nobody can enjoy them? Well, maybe I am maturing because I have changed my view on the shipwrecks. I even startled myself one day when Jan and I were talking shipwreck talk. Recently, the team thought they had discovered the Chicora, but they were mistaken. The story of the ghost ship Chicora has captured my interest like no other. During our chat I blurted out, "I hope you never find her!"

        Jan told me that he understood how I felt. When you speak your heart make sure it's to a friend! Anyone else may have taken a swing at me! Locating any of these fascinating ghost ships will expose them to looters. You can pass a law, but you can never stop the truly lawless.

        I talked to a diver, just this last week, who was involved with stripping lumber off these old wrecks and selling it for a tidy profit to a company called Shipwreck Furniture! The company would ask the diver if he knew which wreck it was from. If he didn't know, the buyer would have him point out the location on a map. "Oh, that is the R.J. Hackett" the buyer would say, then a fancy brass tag would be made (stating the ship's name, when she was built and the year she went down) to mount on the furniture. This man told me without fear or shame, "If I'm on a wreck and see something I want, I'm going to take it."

        I really started feeling differently about treasure hunters stripping these wrecks when someone gave me several cases of old treasure hunting magazines. These magazines dated back to my early days of detecting in the 1960's.

        Nearly every month they had articles about wreck divers from around America, but most were from the Great Lakes. Along with the stories were pictures of the many items removed from the ships they had stripped. Politically correct speech is nothing new! Back at this time, these items were 'salvaged' from the wreck instead of the proper word, "stolen."

        I have been trying to think back to the time when I first became interested in shipwrecks and treasure. I have been blessed by the timeline God gave me to reside on His earth. The real blessing is to have shared this time with you, my friends. Many times I have said that I was born a 100 years too late, but the truth is I have been very fortunate. I spent my childhood growing up before Hollywood had become completely broken and had fallen into complete degeneration. I remember coming home from school, tossing together a peanut butter sandwich and a glass of Ovaltine in time for the channel 8 Early Show. I loved to watch the Tarzan movies with Johnny Weissmuller and James Garner as Maverick. We had so many great adventure shows to watch! But, one of my all time favorites was the original Treasure Island!

        If names like Billy Bones, Jim Hawkins, Blind Pew, Ben Gunn and Long John Silver don't conjure up great memories, you need to rent a movie! I guess that is where my love of ships started. I remember seeing large ships from a distance during my many visits to Florida. My grandfather would take my brother and me out fishing in the Gulf of Mexico aboard the 60-foot Captain Diebold and that was always a thrill!

        My first up-close and personal experience with a large ore carrier was in the early 70's. I had purchased a Toyota Corolla from a retired school teacher. It was a nice little car and she hated to part with it. It had a lot of miles on it and it left a stream of blue-grey smoke behind me whereever I went. One day I decided to rebuild the engine. Once I had the engine down to the short block and the bell housing unbolted, my neighbor and I lifted the engine out with our arms!

        This was the first engine that I had rebuilt and it was really a lot of fun. The results were so good that I decided to patch up a couple rust holes and give it a new paint job. Then I found a trailer hitch for it and I towed a tiny tear drop trailer to Sault Saint Marie. As I think back on it, this trip was pretty adventurous!

        We pulled into a campground in the middle of the night and went to bed without even unhooking the trailer. The bed was in the rear of the trailer and just above it was a bunk bed. We had the bunk bed hinged down from the ceiling and we were using it for extra storage space. I knew that we were just a few feet from the Saint Mary's River. What I didn't know was that they ran the freighters down this river all night long.

        The campground was located on the banks of a narrow part of the river and I wish it was still there. After we went to sleep, two ships passed in the river and the captains must have been friends because they gave each other a master salute. What is that? Imagine the loudest big truck horn that you have ever heard and then multiply that by 50! A master salute is three long blasts followed by two short blasts. I love to hear the ship horns, but this was my first exposure! I popped up like I had been shot from a cannon and I hit my head hard on the upper bunk which knocked me out cold!

        I had a very dear friend who was a ship's captain for Inland Steel. His name was John Glomstead and his last vessel was the Wilfred Sykes. He had the neatest job in the world with much of the winter off. That is how we met. I was working in my fathers RV business and John and his wife purchased a beautiful Avion travel trailer from me. Every few years he would upgrade --- I was his only salesman! If John came in and I wasn't there --- he would come back later.

        One day John made me an offer that makes me tear up when I think about it today.

        "Al, if you can get some time off, you could come aboard at Burn's Harbor, Indiana, and then we will make a run to Duluth, then down to Cleveland, before returning to Burn's Harbor."

        The sad part is that my father could not spare his sales manager at that time of year, so I said no. Do you know that that is about the only way you can take a tour like that . . . to be invited by the Captain! A chance of a lifetime and I blew it!

        Over the years, Deb and I have amassed a library of books about Great Lakes Shipping. I have enjoyed researching many wrecks from my armchair. One that always fascinated me was the story of Captain Herman Schuenemann's 127 foot three-masted lumber hooker the 'Rouse Simmons.'

        I shared that story with you in one of our December newsletters and also posted the story on my web site. A lady named Rochelle Pennington discovered my research and story and asked my permission to use some of my material in a book she had been writing about "The Christmas Tree Ship." I said, "Of course!" and the material was used in her book. That and other information gathered by Rochelle was also used in the Weather Channel's Storm Stories holiday special "THE CHRISTMAS TREE SHIP."

        In one of my books about Wisconsin's shipwrecks, the author mentions one of the popular close-to-shore dives. He talks about a wreck that is only 20 feet deep. The ship is the 'Sebastopol' which sank in 1856. When she sank, the ship was only one year old and she carried 600 tons of pre Civil War store goods. In the author's description of the wreck he says, "What will be found is a lot of wreckage and general homestead cargo. There are areas here where there are stacks of items. It looks like the cargo was in barrels and the barrels have just fallen apart."

So, as you can see, I am excited about this month's program and I hope you are also looking forward to it as well!

        Our last meeting was on voting day for the Michigan presidential primaries and our regular meeting room was set up for voting. The community center arranged for us to use the basement which worked out fine. I had never been in the lower level before and I was impressed how nice they had it finished. When the old Angle Steel office was donated to the city of Plainwell, there was much opposition to the renovation of the building, but a few brave souls had a vision and worked to make their dream come true. What a blessing this has been to the whole community!

        The only thing we lacked were treats for the club before "Knapp" time. We had about 60 people present and Billy Knapp was the only one to bring in something... and it was one box of cookies! After feeding the multitude, Billy sent out his disciples to gather dozens of boxes of leftovers! ( Not really --- a play on one of my favorite Bible stories.) The truth is we need more of you good friends to pitch in with snacks. Many clubs appoint different members to do this each month, but we have always left this to volunteers.

        Winners of the 2007 Perfect attendance award were: Charlie Turner, Billy Knapp, Dan Clark, John Neuman, Mike Burghuis, Gene Carruthers, Deb Wittkowski, Alex Ignatiades, Jim Arnsman, Rick Burch, Connie Herkel, John Dudley, Ron Davis, Mike Walker, Martin Koziel, Jerry Lipscomb, and Linda Sherwood.

        Many of our members cannot make it to every meeting, but we have so many faithful members! Thank you all!

50/50 winners were Ron Davis and Shirley Brainard.

Silver dollar winners were Alex Ignatiades and Billy Knapp.

The winner of the Fish Bowl (Silver Cache) would have been Ed Kaminski, had he been there. We missed you, Ed!

JEWELRY FINDS

1.Antique Copper Turquoise Ring                                                       By: Mike Walker

2. Part of Antique Necklace                                                                  By: John Dudley

3. Antique American Indian Ring                                                               By: Shawano

4. Victorian Pin Flower Design                                                     By: John Assenmacher

 5. Silver Ring                                                                                        By: Ron Osborn

6. 10-K Lady's Ring                                                                                By: Keith Payne

Keith Payne was our winner with a lovely white gold ring with what I think is a faceted amber setting.

1. 1941 Mercury Dime                                                                             By: Bruce Wood

2. 1850 U.S. Large Cent                                                                          By: Mike Walker

3. 1890 Indian Head Cent                                                                        By: Jake Kudary

4. 1864 U.S. 2 Cent Piece                                                                 By: John Assenmacher

5. 1942 Mercury Dime                                                                                 By: Ron Jenner

        John Assenmacher was our winner with his 1864 2¢ piece. It was a close contest! John's coin edged out Mike Walker's 1850 Large Cent by only three votes! Great coins, guys!

1. 1951-53 Ford Truck Key                                                                  By: Deb Wittkowski

2. Civil War Button                                                                                  By: Jake Kudary

3. Ketchup Bottle Clip                                                                              By: Mike Walker

4. 1800's Pocket Watch                                                                    By: John Assenmacher

    A quick peek at the tally sheet reminded me that it was that small, lead, ketchup bottle clip that had so many of us scratching our heads. What could this thing be for? When it was announced the winner, Linda Sherwood told us that it was a table cloth weight!

    Sure enough you can pick up a bag of them at the Dollar Store! How many Civil War Buttons can you get in a bag at the Dollar Store? Now, don't get the wrong idea, this worked out just as it should have. The amount of Civil War Era buttons that cross our Find of the Month table is surprisingly high, where this is the first lead ketchup bottle I have seen which makes it most unusual. I guess my point is maybe these very cool old military buttons should be in a different category. What do you think?

1. Myrtle Burl Tree Carved Box                                                              By: Deb Wittkowski

2. Birthstone Ring Snow Bank Find                                                                By: Rick Burch

3. 1864 2¢ Piece (Christmas Gift)                                                                  By: Mike Walker

4. 1933 A&P World's Fair Token                                                                   By: John Dudley

        Big John! Big Bad John Dudley was our winner with his Atlantic & Pacfic Tea Company token! Good job, John! John isn't bad really, that is from a 60's song. Our John is like Rush Limbaugh in one way, he is a harmless, loveable, fuzzball!

1. Gent's Custom 18-K Gold Ring                                                         By: John Assenmacher

2. Tiny 14-K Gold Ring                                                                                     By: Ron Jenner

3. 1785 Nova Constellation Copper                                                              By: Charles Turner

4. 1838 Large Cent                                                                                         By: Tom Osborne

5. 1874 Indian Head Cent                                                                                 By: Mike Walker

6. 1892 Canada Large Cent                                                                           By: Greg Stonerock

7. Winchester Fishing Reel                                                                             By: Jerry Lipscomb

8. Old South Bend Reel                                                                                 By: Deb Wittkowski

9. Mason Jar Time Capsule                                                                                      By: Shawano

        We divided the entries into categories and decided a winner in each one. Then we voted for an overall winner for the top Find of the Year. The winner in the jewelry group was John Assenmacher's custom made 18-K ring.

        The winner in the coin group was Charles Turner's 1785 Colonial Copper.

        The winner in our most unusual group was the 1930's Time Capsule entered by Shawano.

        The overall winner for Find of the Year was John Assenmacher's custom 18-K ring! It is an 18-K ring with yellow gold decorative rods weighing 21.9 grams and containing three round-cut diamonds with an approximate total carat weight of 3/4 ct. The color and clarity is H-1. The appraised value is $3,850!

        I wanted to write about Shawano's time capsule, but I forgot to bring the newspaper article home to where I finish up the newsletter. So you will have to tune in next month . . it's quite a story.

        You can all be proud of your entries! A special congratulations to John Assenmacher for the Find of the Year winning entry!

MY FAVORITE GHOST SHIP

    For the business of shipping on the Great Lakes, one thing that has changed very little is preparing a vessel for winter lay-up. From the early steamships of the 1800's, to the giant freighters of today, winterizing a large vessel is a big and very important job.

    Taking good care of their fleet was very important to the Graham and Morton Transportation Company. This old and trusted steamship line had an excellent safety record spanning decades, going back to its beginning in the mid- 1800's. Most of the G&M steamers, though modern for their day, had been the slow and awkward side wheelers. Their newest vessel, the Chicora, was a sturdy propeller driven ship capable of speeds up to 16 knots.

    The Chicora was launched on June 25, 1892 by the Detroit Drydock Company, and she was designed to be extra heavy duty with one thing in mind, 'extending the Lake Michigan shipping season into a year around business.' The Chicora was built with a heavy beam and strong framing timbers capable of pushing though Lake Michigan pack-ice without problems. Even so, shipping on the Great Lakes had proven to be a very risky business, especially in the winter months!

    With a history that documents the loss of scores of ships, at the cost of hundreds of lives, and millions of dollars, insurance costs had become too high to run the Chicora during the winter as originally planned.

    In 1894, after the vessel had been prepared for winter lay-up, and with only the winter watchman on duty, Milwaukee shippers asked that the Chicora be pressed into service once again. This request came to the G&M owners late in December. The shippers were looking to ship a cargo of bagged winter flour. The large shipment was to be loaded in Milwaukee, then freighted to the Benton Harbor dock.

    To make the crossing more profitable, and to further justify taking the ship out of lay-up, regular freight customers as far away as Kalamazoo were informed of mid-winter voyage. Like a campfire story told again and again, the story of the Chicora's fateful voyage and her final cargo has been glamorized to a point, where I'm not sure the exact truth is known. In addition to the tons of bagged flour, some have claimed she carried everything from barrels Milwaukee whisky and beer, to even a shipment of $50,000.00 in gold coins. However, I must point out that the historians and the actual known records say, "not so."

    After G&M workers removed the protective coverings from the pilot house windows and the huge fresh air intake-vent openings, other members of the crew readied her massive steam engine for the winter run. All of the hard work of her earlier winterizing had to be undone.

    Steam pipes that had been opened and drained, now had to be closed and refilled. Her huge twin Scotch boilers which were also drained for winter, and her coal bunker, were refilled. Fittings were cleaned of the heavy protective grease that was used for storage, and all oil reservoirs refilled. Huge bearing caps for the crankshaft and propeller shafts were removed so the the giant bronze bearings could be flooded with fresh oil to avoid scoring at start up. All of this was hard work for the engineer and his crew. Hard but important work that had to be done, and done right, to assure the safe operation of the engine. Engine failure during a January trip could spell disaster!

    Firemen stoke the Chicora's Twin Scotch boilers with coal as she makes way through Lake Michigan's pack ice.

    Enough time had lapsed, since what was believed to be her last trip until spring, that some of the crew had made long trips to their homes for the winter. Because of this, Captain Edward Stines found himself sort of crew members. In order to complete his crew list, he signed-on his own 23 year old son Benjamin as second mate.

    Just hours before she was ready to leave, a freight train from Kalamazoo arrived with several cases of patent bitters medicine from Kalamazoo's B. Desenburg & Co. Wholesale Grocers , dry goods, newsprint rolls and other Kalamazoo paper products, as well as 6 passengers for Milwaukee.

    The Chicora left the Michigan dock for Milwaukee on January 19th and arrived without problems. After the dock crews completed their unloading, their real work had just started! Wagon load after wagon load of 100 pound cloth sacks filled with winter four was unloaded from rail cars, rolled onto the Chicora, where it was then stacked across the floor of the ships cargo area. The bags were stacked 8 high, 20 deep and 20 across, --- back breaking work! It was planned that after reaching Benton Harbor, the cargo was to be shipped across Michigan by rail to mills in Kalamazoo, Battle Creek and on to bakeries as far east as Detroit.

    The ship's crew was anxious to complete the trip and return to the warmth of their homes. On January 21st, the day of her departure from Milwaukee, the day started out cold but otherwise pleasant--- but trouble was brewing! Even though the heavy cargo was nowhere near the Chicora's maximum capacity, the ship seemed to labor hard under her load and shudder as she departed the dock.

    Back in Benton Harbor, John Graham, the ship's owner, had been watching the barometer and noticed that it was falling fast! Concerned for the ship and her crew, he wired the agent in Milwaukee with instructions to hold the ship at dock, but the telegraph messenger arrived ten minutes too late. He was in time to just catch a glimps the distant black cloud of coal smoke coming from the Chicora's stack on the horizon.

    Only 2 hours into her return trip, she was pounded by ice and tossed with huge waves, the Chicora undoubtedly fought the storm for hours that afternoon and lost. The Chicora was never heard from again. She carried 23 crew members and one passenger to their deaths somewhere in Lake Michigan.

    Captain Henry Stines, of the Goodrich Line steamer 'City of Ludington,' spent two days searching for his brother and nephew after the storm, but found no trace of the vessel or her crew. All that came ashore later that year were a few empty flour sacks printed with batch numbers and shipper information which clearly identified it as the Chicora's cargo, some bulwarks with the ship's name, as well as the ships mast, which washed ashore near Saugatuck Michigan.

    I understand the mast was used in Douglas (some reports say Glen) as a flag pole. Today, I'm told the mast is on display at the Allegan County Museum.

    Most ship wrecks come complete with some 'note-in-a-bottle' stories and the Chicora is no exception. The first bottle was discovered on April 14th and the note read, "All is lost, could see land if not snowed and blowed. Engine gave out, drifting to shore in ice. First Mate and Clerk are swept off. We have hard time of it. 10:15 o'clock.

    One week later, a jar washed up in Glencoe, Illinois with a note, "Chicora engines broke. Drifted into trough of sea. We have lost all hope. She has gone to pieces. Good Bye. McClure, Engineer."