The Great Lakes Historical Society’s Peachman Lake Erie Shipwreck Research Center (GLHS/PLESRC) and the Maritime Archaeological Survey Team (MAST) will be conducting their annual Nautical Archaeology Workshop April 18-19, 2009 with skills practice dives scheduled for May 16 or 17, 2009.
The workshop teaches divers why underwater archaeology is important, how they can impact and protect Ohio’s wrecks, techniques they will use during shipwreck surveys and much, much more.
In conjunction with the workshop, MAST will hold their annual dinner on the evening of April 18 at the Vermilion on the Lake Historic Community Center. This years Keynote Speaker is Ben Ford, Ph.D.Candidate at the Nautical Archaeology Program at Texas A&M University. His topic will be Down By the Waters Edge: The Maritime Archaeology and History of Lake Ontarios Shore.
“Sailors are seldom born on the water and even ships begin their lives on land. Neither grain, coal, lumber, nor ore are produced on the Lakes. Yet all of these things spend at least part of their existence traveling the inland seas, and occasionally end their lives beneath these waters. Archaeology and history have done well in recent years to discuss shipwreck findings and to explore the land-based commercial systems that drove trade; however, the question remains, how did these people, goods, and ships transition from land to water and back again? Based on three years of research along the eastern shores of Lake Ontario, this talk will attempt to answer this question. In the process, we will explore the social history of Lake Ontario from the Iroquois to Rum Runners. “
Both events are open to the diving and non-diving public. For more information on the workshop and dinner you can go to https://www.ohiomast.org/
