SOS Ottawa Chapter - 2004 Year End Report

 By: Marg Barker

The Mission of Save Ontario Shipwrecks is the preservation and promotion of marine heritage through research, conservation and education.

As I ponder the year that is past in order to write my report, I must remind myself that I have to keep it short.  This report will be published in the Newsletter and in the past I have had to pare it down to fit in the space allowed for SOS Ottawa.  It is difficult to keep it short as we are such an active Chapter and our accomplishments are many.

In March, we were extremely fortunate to have Robert Grenier, Chief of Marine Archaeology for Parks Canada present Forty Years Under the Sea.  This presentation provided fascinating insights into the work carried on, not only Robert over his lifetime. It is little wonder that Canada is world renown for work in this field considering the dedication of our Archaeologists. 

Once again this year, with the support and direction of Marc-André Bernier, Senior Marine Archaeologist for Parks Canada, SOS Ottawa was able to offer a Nautical Archaeology Level I course in August.  It was a very large group with 20 students. Without the support of Parks Canada this year there would have been no Nautical Archaeology courses held in our area. Divers finish 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 NAS courses not only educate divers but they also help us to raise money to support our projects over the year. 

Work on this survey of the The Pentland and The F. A. Georger continued this year.  Due to time constraints of the volunteer divers and some weather problems, the work accomplished was not as much as in previous years.  We are hopeful that with some cooperation from the weather, next summer will provide better results.

Our buoy program has continued this year with the markers being placed, maintained and removed in a fairly organized fashion.  Special thanks again this year goes out to Andy Fytche of Depth Charge Charters for all of his assistance in deploying and removing the markers in “his end” of the river this year.

Of special note this year is that the Coast Guard is no longer providing “new” NOTSHIP numbers each time we deploy and remove a buoy.  The buoy’s will keep the same numbers.  I was advised by the Coast Guard that this is a step in having the buoys placed on the Nautical Charts.  As Brian Prince noted,” I guess they have figured that we are here to stay.”

Again this year, we attended SCUBA in the Park with SOS Thousand Islands. Our booth was well attended and some items were sold to support the SOS Thousand Islands projects.

I have continued to work on the Board as Secretary/Treasurer and Member-at-large.  We have a great group of volunteers on the Board who are dedicated to the mission of SOS.  It is a pleasure to work with all of them. 

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".