Dive Team Biographies
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Meet the team
Divers
- Andy Bachhuber
- Brendon Baillod
- Thaddius Bedford
- Sharon Cook
- Gaye-Lynn Clyde
- Kevin Cullen
- Mark Gleason, Ph.D.
- Meg Jones
- Carter Lupton
- Matt Schultz
- Chris Winters
- Harry Zych
Captain's Corner
Divers
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Andy Bachhuber
I am a physical therapist who enjoys diving in my spare time and a Dive Master who works with University of Wisconsin Hoofers Scuba Club and Diving Unlimited.
I am interested in the history of Great Lakes shipwrecks and find the opportunity to assist the divers in their expedition to the Lady Elgin to be a great one. My role on the dive was to provide support for all divers to ensure a safe dive for all, but on a personal level, by being a part of this dive expedition, I hope to find a better understanding of Lady Elgin's resting place and the history surrounding the wreck.
When I'm not working this is the kind of thing you can find me doing—I also recently returned from a trip to Africa where I participated in a wildlife safari with my adult son.
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Brendon Baillod
I am President of the Wisconsin Underwater Archeology Association, Director-at-large Association for Great Lakes Maritime History, and co-founder of the Great Lakes Shipwreck Research Foundation/Ghost Ships Festival. I am a maritime historian, shipwreck hunter, scuba diver, collector of antiquarian Great Lakes books, photos and ephemera and a colleague of Harry Zych, the Lady Elgin's owner/discoverer. I have appeared on the History Channel, Discovery Channel and regional/local television as an expert on the Lady Elgin and Great Lakes shipwrecks in general.
As a long time maritime historian, shipwreck hunter and scuba diver, I've spent a great deal of time researching the Lady Elgin from a political and sociological standpoint. I have collected many original newspapers, woodcut engravings, books and ephemera related to the disaster and I created and host the most complete Internet resource for information on the Lady Elgin. She is one of the most tragic and interesting shipwrecks in the history of the Lakes and has generally been under-researched. Very little original research has been published about the wreck's history, sociopolitical impact, genealogy and archeology, considering its significance. I'd like to see the Lady Elgin receive the type of study and public awareness she deserves.
The most interesting things I've found are the personal remembrances and family histories of the descendents of victims and survivors. I've collected dozens of family histories associated with the Lady Elgin and these have added substantially to understanding the subjective human impact of the disaster.
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Thaddius Bedford
I am a graduate of Central Michigan University with 18 years of professional photography, 10 years HD Television production and 30 years of diving experience. My photography has been shaped by my love of the outdoors and an insatiable desire for adventure. From exploring subterranean caves in Mexico and Florida, to discovering and documenting historical shipwrecks in the Great Lakes, to serving as official photographer for the 1998 U.S.S. Monitor Expedition with the US Navy and NOAA, if it involves water and a camera, I will be there!
I first began diving at the age of 6 years, under the watchful eye of my father. I have been diving ever since, becoming an open water instructor at age nineteen and eventually achieving Trimix instructor. You might call the water my second home.
In 1994 I started my business, Liquid Image, Inc and began my freelancing career. While underwater and adventure photography are my specialty, I pride myself on the versatility of my subjects and images. I am an accomplished commercial and editorial photographer. My work is regularly published in Traverse Magazine, Caribbean Adventure Magazine, Great Lakes Golf, and Advanced Diver Magazine. My Commercial work has been used in advertising for Crystal Mountain Resorts, Dive-Rite, Los Sueños Resort & Marina, Costa Rica Luxury Rentals, Ocean Management Systems, The Big Fore and many more. My HD Videography and Field Production has been seen on The Outdoor Channel, National Geographic Channel, and The Mens Channel and has earned a Golden Moose Award for best freshwater fishing footage of the year from The Outdoor Channel. I was recently chosen as an Ambassador for Dive-Rite. Dive-Rite Ambassadors are a select group of dive enthusiasts who, through their work or explorations, epitomize the Dive Rite ethics of excellence, innovation, determination and professionalism.
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Sharon Cook
I advocate for the Great Lakes in my job with the Alliance for the Great Lakes. My work involves talking to public policy makers to make sure they have the best, current information about the Great Lakes as they decide important issues. Most recently, I worked to gain passage of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Water Compact in the 8 states that border the Lakes.
There are several reasons I'm interested in the The Lady Elgin. The first is personal: My great-great-grandmother died in the wreck in that awful September of 1860. I learned to dive so I could visit the wreck that changed so much of my family's history.
What I hope to gain from the expedition is to have a better appreciation of the dangers my ancestors faced as they lived their lives. Making journeys was hard and, as we've learned from this experience, often placed the traveler in extreme danger. I also look to gain a better understanding of the ecology of Lake Michigan, to become a better diver, to learn from the others on the dive and to gain from the participating students an appreciation for how people learn outside the classroom.
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Gaye-Lynn Clyde
I am the Distance Learning Coordinator for the Milwaukee Public Museum and a dive instructor.
I think it is important to explore this 148-year-old shipwreck, the Lady Elgin, for many reasons, but for me the most important is to be able to work with students and together learn about this amazing historic event that changed the face of Milwaukee.
I hope to be able to bring many students from 4th through 12th grade on a real expedition into Lake Michigan, where they will be able to explore and work side-by-side with a dynamic group of people who can make learning in the classroom an inspiring experience the students will never forget!
The most interesting thing I found on the dive was a huge boulder that the anchor chain of the ship caught on shortly after the collision. There were no other big rocks around -- just this one. What are the odds that the Lady Elgin would hook this one lone boulder with its anchor chain? The chain is still wrapped silently around the large stone. A trail of chain leads you from the rock to the windlass and other parts of the bow wreckage. The broken ship reveals a story of immense destruction experienced by all aboard that night. As I swam around the wreckage silently with my buddy I found myself thinking how lucky I am to be one of few to have visited this historic wreck, an underwater museum. The remains of the wreck reminded me that as long as it was there the hundreds who lost their lives would never be forgotten.
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Kevin Cullen
I am an archaeologist at Discovery World at Pier Wisconsin in Milwaukee. I have excavated archaeological sites on land and underwater from India and Ireland to Colorado and Wisconsin.
As an archaeologist and citizen of Ireland (where I was born and raised) I am eager to document this very significant shipwreck and help bring its story back to life for public education.
I look forward to gaining insight into the multiple lenses of discovery, while working on a large and varied team of divers. I'm also keen on observing the debris field of the wreck site.
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Mark Gleason, Ph.D.
I am the ROV Pilot and the Chief Marine Scientist at Discovery World in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Because of my strong interest in Civil War history and how this ship was connected to that important time period, I have become very interested in this expedition. Plus I really enjoy operating an ROV on a new shipwreck—new for me.
I was pleased to have gained a greater understanding of the history of this significant wreck. Plus I am always interested in demonstrating the usefulness of ROV technology in support of divers and Maritime Archeology. We were able to film the site as well as the divers in operation.
I was surprised at the shape of the wreck. I truly expected a more broken-up wreck site with little to be recognized. Near the windlass and anchor there are large sections of the hull. I was a bit surprised and would like to return to the site because those sections are in much better shape than I had expected.
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Meg Jones
I'm a reporter for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and I became a certified scuba diver many years ago because I love to see what's underneath the surface of water, whether it's shipwrecks or fish or coral. Though I write about many topics for the Journal Sentinel, occasionally I have the chance to scuba dive as a journalist and write about what I see at the bottom of the Great Lakes. I think it's so cool that I'm getting paid to do this. When the chance to dive on the Lady Elgin came I leaped at it because I knew I could visit a Lake Michigan shipwreck I had never seen before and I could write about its history and the dive team from the Milwaukee Public Museum. Every shipwreck has a story to tell and it was really fun for me to tell the story of the Lady Elgin.
I've made more than 150 dives around the world and the United States, including trips to the Red Sea, Caribbean, Indian Ocean, Great Barrier Reef in Australia, Easter Island, Polynesia and Micronesia, but I think some of the best shipwrecks are right in my backyard. Because Lake Michigan and Lake Superior are so cold, shipwrecks break apart much more slowly than in warm water. In effect, they're sitting in refrigerators, which means the 19th Century schooners and other wooden ships that once plied these waters haven't changed much since the day they floated down to the bottom. That makes Wisconsin one of the few places in the world to see Great Lakes maritime history up close.
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Carter Lupton
I am the Vice President of Museum Programs at the Milwaukee Public Museum. I am also an Archaeologist/Egyptologist by training, once a recreational diver.
As part of the museum's Titanic exhibit, the Museum decided to develop new programming on the Lady Elgin to offer a look at something that may be less known in general than Titanic, but of local historical relevance. I oversee education and exhibitions at the Museum, so I am interested in details of staff programs.
I am excited about this dive because not only will I learn more about this local history, which is not my area of study, but this is also a chance for me to dive again after many years and in a locale (Lake Michigan) that is new to me.
I was surprised at the relative clarity, relative warmth and relative shallowness of diving Lake Michigan. I was also impressed with the detail that remains on a 150-year-old wooden wreck, including planking and ribs that definitely felt like a ship, not just scattered debris.
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Matt Schultz
Currently I work for the University of Wisconsin-Madison as an Information Processing Consultant for the Department of Human Oncology. As a diver, I've worked as a Dive Master for Hoofers Scuba (UW-Madison) and also volunteered as a research diver for the Wisconsin State Historical Society.
Having never had an opportunity to dive this wreck, I became interested when I heard about the project. I've been diving wrecks in Lake Michigan for 10 years and enjoy learning their history as well as helping to survey, catalog and sometimes reconstruct the final moments of these maritime time capsules.
Part of the reason I like diving is educating those who do not by telling them aspects of Wisconsin's Maritime History through artifacts, individual wrecks, or even photos. The biggest gain for me will be seeing the expressions of and answering questions from the students. Secondly, providing dive support for an expedition like this is also fun!
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Chris Winters
I am a Great Lakes photojournalist and staff photographer at Discovery World at Pier Wisconsin.
I've been a Great Lakes shipwreck enthusiast since I was nine, and a Great Lakes shipwreck diver for 15 years. I'm attempting to capture a high-resolution digital panorama of this legendary shipwreck site.
The most interesting find for me was the photogenic stock anchor, good visibility and surprisingly few zebra and quagga mussels.
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Harry Zych
Harry Zych is a commercial marine salvager, hydrographer and marine contractor based in Chicago, Illinois. Harry began diving in the 1960s and trained as a hard-hat diver in the US military. Upon leaving the military, he worked internationally as a commercial diver doing deep commercial work on saturation/dive bell projects in the US and abroad. Harry returned to Chicago in the early 1970s and founded American Diving and Salvage, the longest lived commercial marine salvage company on the Great Lakes. Over his 40-year career, Harry has maintained a keen interest in Great Lakes maritime history and has spent countless hours collecting information and research on historic shipwrecks across the Great Lakes. Harry located or helped locate many of Chicago's shipwrecks during the 1970s and has continued to actively search for historic Great Lakes shipwrecks using state of the art sidescan sonar, multi-beam sonar, sub-bottom profilers, magnetometers and commercial quality Remote Operated Vehicles (ROVs).
Captain's Corner
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Dale Bennett
I am the Captain and co-owner of dive support Marine Enterprise. I have been diving and boating on Lake Michigan for 35 years. I am an instructor and an instructor-trainer for scuba diving.
The history, especially the political intrigue that surrounded the death of Lady Elgin, is what I find particularly interesting.
I hope to gain a perspective of the wreck from others' viewpoint.
What I found most interesting was the beautiful Woodstock anchor! You do not see many of these!
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Roy Garland
1st Mate and Dive Master. I assist the captains and divers into and out of the water. I also give wreck descriptions and check moorings and provide wreck tours.
The Lady Elgin is one of the oldest known wrecks within the Great Lakes; I have explored her bow, boilers, debris field, etc. Cargo included glass rods, which I believe were for future glass blowers to create windows and other items.
By participating in this dive, I hope to provide a safe experience for our guests and provide as much information of wreck expectations.
The most interesting finds were glass rods, rifle cartridge, and plate shards. There are always things to discover on Great Lake wrecks!
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Jerry Guyer, Jr.
I am captain of dive boat Len-Der from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I am also owner of Pirates Cove (a dive supply store) and am a retired middle-school teacher. One of my favorite hobbies is to search for shipwrecks! When I find them, I love documenting and sharing them with divers of all ages.
I am interested in all wreck sites. By being a part of this expedition I look forward to seeing the wreck and side scan area.
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David Manchester
Co-Captain/Owner of Marine Enterprise. I run dive charters in Lake Michigan out of Waukegan, Illinois and other ports.
The Lady Elgin has special interest to me due to the history around the wreck and the loss of life as she went down with most passengers and crew list.
We have found the shafts of the 2 wheels and other debris. We know where the 2 boilers are located and the bow section of the ship.
The Lady Elgin Rediscovery Expedition 2008 is supported by Chase