Dan Lindsay has been diving for 27 years. Six years were spent
in the commercial diving industry. He worked as Diver-EMT with
Canadian-based
companies in the Beaufort Sea, Davis Strait and the Great
Lakes.
Dan is now an Electronics-Electrician by trade, but his greater love is
in deep-water wreck exploration, video photography and filmmaking. As a
member of the Ontario Marine Heritage Committee he and other members of
the OMHC recently were successful in identifying the famous Mystery
Schooner
X as the schooner St. James. Through his company SeaView Imaging,
he has created video from the Red Sea, the Andrea Doria, Tobermory, The
Empress of Ireland and most recently an historic production on the
maritime
history of
Lake Erie's Long Point.
The legends and lure of Long Point are as long as the point. Once
having an actual cut through the origin of the point during the 1800's
the point now protrudes as a peninsula a distance of 25 miles from the
northern shoreline. Travel by ship on the lakes during the 1860's
was at an all time high and of all the lakes; Lake Erie seemed to
attract
the most activity. The popular run from Buffalo to Detroit often
ended in the Long Point area. During the earlier years of
shipping
the point was a virtual magnet for shipping disasters. Because
the
point was a navigational gateway for travel up and down the lake, sail
vessels would try to head toward the shelter of the sand spit during
storms
and quite often be driven onto it or founder in the violent seas that
can
occur here. The early steamers were not much better off with
their
limited steam ability of doing only four to five knots in a gale.
This left opportunity for navigational hazards in the fierce storms
that
can erupt in Lake Erie.
Shipwreck incidents in this area reach more than 200. Previously many of these wrecks have not been found and/or visited due to extremely poor visibility and the ever-present danger of fishing nets. Now days the zebra mussel population has given us remarkable visibility and laid down many fishing nets. Modern technology has in the recent years provided the means for finding these wrecks.
Some deeper waters off Long Point have been producing remarkably intact shipwrecks. The tug "Smith" with its intact wheelhouse and the Mystery Schooner X with both masts standing brings forth the history of yesteryear shipping in the Great Lakes.
Dan's presentation will include the identification process of the
St,
James as well as the introduction of several new (virgin) wrecks
discovered
off Long Point this past summer.
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