It’s hard to believe that another year has passed for the members of SOS Ottawa. When one considers all of the projects that we undertook, it is little wonder that the time flew. It has been a year in which we have continued our commitment in educating divers through the Nautical Archaeological courses and preserving our heritage sites through continued use of our mooring buoys. SOS Ottawa, through our Project Leader Nancy Binnie, also started survey and mapping work the Twisted Sisters site, involving many of our members. Educating Divers A Nautical Archaeology Level I course was organized for SOS Ottawa in May 2002 by Project Leader Andy Roach. Twelve divers were put through their paces with the final day of open water dives and mapping exercises held at the docks in Prescott, Ontario. The response to the course under the direction of Peter Engelbert, Marine Archaeologist for Ontario, was as always, excellent. The divers finished this course with knowledge that will enhance the way they see the wrecks and sites that they dive for the rest of their diving career. The introduction to marine heritage that divers receive in the NASI course encourages many of them to continue their training. SOS Ottawa sponsored a Nautical Archaeology Level II course in November 2002 using the facilities at the Canadian Conservation Institute, Underwater Archaeological Services/Parks Canada, and the National Archives/National Library of Canada. Fourteen vocational divers from across Ontario participated in this course in order to further develop skills and techniques used in all aspects of archaeology in the marine environment. These lectures and participation in field work projects is required for participants to gain their NAS II certificate. Some of the participants had already taken part in archaeological survey projects carried out under license from the Ontario Ministry of Culture at significant sites such as the wreck of the Wexford lost off Goderich in the great storm of 1913. Guest lecturers included Phil Wright, Ken McLeod, Ryan Harris and Marc-André Bernier. Topics included the excavation of submerged prehistoric sites, site recording and finds handling, the use of detailed recording information in ship reconstructions and conducting archival research in order to trace a shipwreck. On site tours included the CCI archaeological conservation lab where a small swivel gun from a c.1850's Lake Huron shipwreck has recently been received for treatment. Nancy Binnie described how the small cannon may be conserved. Students also toured the reference collections at UAS/Parks, and took part in an afternoon of hands-on research at the National Archives/National Library. Peter Engelbert, Marine Archaeologist with Heritage Operations, Ontario Ministry of Culture organized this course with other details coordinated through Nancy Binnie, Marg Barker and Andy Roach. License Work: Twisted Sisters Project Nancy Binnie volunteered as the Project Leader for this site survey and obtained the necessary license to do the work from the Ontario Ministry of Culture. Over sixty hours of diving time by seventeen NAS I and II divers (members of SOS-Ottawa) was used to survey parts of these side-by-side wrecks over six days in May and June 2002. The project will continue into 2003. Archival research will be carried out this winter to determine the history of these vessels and how they came to be in their present location off Grenadier Island in the St. Lawrence River (near Mallorytown Landing). This project was funded by SOS-Ottawa and the volunteers. Plaques Work continued on the land based Red Pine Bay plaque that SOS Ottawa wants to place. The details of the plaque in an electronic format that is acceptable to suppliers has been developed by Brian Prince. Brian also put many hours into finding affordable, indestructible and UV resistant material for the plaque construction. Brian has been able to secure an excellent product within our budget commitment through a joint plaque venture with the Brockville Museum. Permission in principle to place the plaque in the park at Breaside near Lac des Chat has been granted. Over the winter we will get municipal Council approval to install the plaque and construction will commence. Buoy Maintenance SOS Ottawa continued its association in the Upper St. Lawrence Scuba Charter Association. This association has improved communication between the two groups and allowed us to work together to meet the needs of the diving community as well as protect the sites. The standard SOS Ottawa spar buoy, which is Canadian Coast Guard approved Private Aid to Navigation, was placed again this year at Red Pine Bay and the Rothesay sites. As well, our custom buoy at the Eastcliffe Hall site was placed. This marker is specially constructed to withstand the strong currents and heavy weed build up that would sink any of the standard markers. Over the winter, the line on this marker was shortened to allow a more direct decent to the wreck. This change was well received by the divers and charter operators to the site. The logistics of placing and removal of this marker continues to be a problem because a boat is required for access. Our thanks to those who supplied this transportation. Kevin Ripley, our Buoy Project Leader, took on the responsibility of placing, regularly checking and reporting and removal of the markers. It has been a learning process but Kevin and SOS Ottawa members have also started reporting the ongoing work and maintenance of the markers to Brian Prince for input into the Buoy Database on the SOS Corporate Web site. This year SOS Ottawa experimented with a new orange paint on the markers that would meet with CCG standards. In the past, the paint used did not hold up well to the weather, water and exposure to the sun. This new paint has proven to be durable in all of these aspects. It will be used in the future, as markers require maintenance and repair. We also had a small work party this year the put the CCG required identification on the twenty buoys supplied by SOS Corporate to SOS Thousand Islands and SOS Ottawa. This ensured that the buoys were properly marked before they were deployed in the spring. Thanks to Brian Prince for allowing us to use his house for the party and his phone number and address as a contact. We encourage all boaters using the SOS buoys to tie up to the provided floating thimble and not the down line. This will greatly increase the life of the ¾” mooring lines which are expensive to replace. SOS Ottawa is looking forward to taking part in the Mooring Buoy Project that SOS Corporate is sponsoring. We have a healthy list of additional markers that we would like to place especially down near Cornwall at Power House and Belly Dumper sites. We will participate as well in developing an inventory of our existing markers. In General It has become a custom for SOS Thousand Islands and SOS Ottawa to wind up a busy summer with a picnic. Our picnic was held this year at Centeen Park in Brockville and SOS Thousand Islands provided their boat, BT WON for divers to get out to The Gaskin. It was well attended by family and friends of both chapters and everyone had a great time. As President of SOS Ottawa, I attended at the last Annual General meeting and a board meeting in October. This gave me the opportunity to meet the Board members and the other Chapter Presidents. We had a chance to exchange ideas on current projects and network for the future. It also gave me the opportunity to "brag" about all the great people we have and the work we are doing at our Chapter. It has been a very rewarding year for me as SOS Ottawa President. I have truly benefited from the excitement and enthusiasm I experienced in dealing with the people I have met, both members and non-members. These people have a firm and deep-rooted belief in the work that they do. I would like to thank everyone involved for their support and would encourage others to participate in this extremely worthwhile organization to "Preserve our Marine Heritage". Special thanks go to Richard Cholette, Kevin Ripley, Nancy Binnie, Brian Prince, Andy Roach and Bruce Mitchell. Coming for 2003 The enthusiasm of SOS Ottawa members continues as they suggest winter projects and as they think about what to do next year. Our list as suggested to date includes: · Packages of dive site maps for sale to dive shops and individuals · Continued research and report work on the Twisted Sisters · Approval and construction of the land based historical plaque at Red Pine Bay · Participate and supply information for existing and new buoys to SOS Corporate · Repair and complete the display board in conjunction with SOS Thousand Islands · Plan for the repair/replacement of lines on some of the sites including Lock 21 and The Rothesay Footnote Perhaps the most exciting follow up note from the Nautical Archaeology course was that due to the archival research carried out at the course and with some help from Ken McLeod, the identity of the two shipwrecks surveyed this summer as an SOS Ottawa project have now been tentatively identified as the steam propeller Pentand (built 1894) and the schooner F.A. Georger (built 1874). The tentative identification of these wrecks was revealed to survey participants and members at the SOS-AGM on Tuesday November 26, 2002. 2002 NAS Students NAS certification is awarded by the Nautical Archaeology Society. The following people attended the NAS I course held in the Spring: Wayne Bartlett, Steve Beven, Tim Butcher, Matthew Charlton, Gordon Dewis, Ken Fuller, Steve Houghton, Nathalie Lasselin, Megan Longstaff, Daphne O'Brien, and Kathy Perreault. The following people attended the NAS II course held in November 2002: Anna Mills, Murray Beharrel, Richard Cholette, Gordon Dewis, Jim Friend, Joseph Muller, Wayne Bartlett, Matthew Charleton, Chester Sudol, Gary Cornelius, Rob Ottaway, Mitch Wilson, Elaine Wyatt, Walther Irie, Don McLeod, Kathy Perrault, Andy Roach, Margaret Barker, Dave Downing, Paul Counsel, and Haitham Abdelrazek
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