Category: Uncategorized

We started scanning at Mount Vernon on Saturday, 24 April.  In the first two days we found more wrecks and other anomalies than we can ground-truth and assess in the week remaining on the schedule, so we will just have to go back again.  We also found more than 30 sites in the Potmac on the trip there.

Crew for the first weekend included Brendan Burke of LAMP, Ron Grayson of the Virginia Dept. of Historic Resources, and the following IMH stalwarts:  Dawn Chesaek, Isabel Mack, John and Cynthia Dowdle, Bill and Karen Toti, Nick Cianflone, Dan Lynberg, Kirk Pierce, and Dave Howe.

Boats include Dan’s 26-foot catamaran “Reflections,” Dawn’s 17-foot Mako, and good old “Roper” sporting new paint, a derrick for handling towfish &c., and a clean fuel tank, thanks to many hours of hard work by Brendan, Dawn, Isabel, Kirk, Kirk Esco, Mike Nowotny,  Erik Rebeck, and others.  Thank you all!!

She cannot begin to compete with the amount of work Gypsy needs, but Roper has new zincs and new paint from keel to rail, and she is ready to go back in the water, thanks to hard work by Dawn, Brenda, John and Erik.  She will be pretty for the Mount Vernon project.  Chores still to do include cleaning the fuel tank; touching a few rust spots with the weklder; painting the mast, pilothouse, decks, and engine room bilge; installing the new alternator; and checking the engine alignment and valve lash.

The Maryland Historical Trust will survey several submerged battlefields in the Chesapeake this year. under a grant from the National Park Service’s ABPP (American Battlefields Protection Program).  The Trust will need volunteers for that work — divers, boat drivers, and researchers.  If you are interested please email david.howe@maritimehistory.org.