Jack Papes

Although purely a hobby, Jack admits that shipwreck diving is an extreme preoccupation of his. Residing in Akron, Ohio, USA, Jack has been employed as a Mechanical Engineer for over 20 years, holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering Technology from the University of Akron and is currently in pursuit of a Master of Science in Industrial Engineering at Cleveland State University. With over a dozen advanced and technical diving certifications from NAUI and TDI, he has explored over 130 Great Lakes' shipwrecks, lying in water depths ranging from 20 feet to 240 feet and has been photographing shipwrecks worldwide for over ten years.

As an active member in the Maritime Archeology Survey Team (MAST) since 2004 -- a satellite of the Great Lakes Historical Society in Vermilion, Ohio, he has participated in over seven Lake Erie shipwreck surveys, including leading efforts on several non-intrusive shipwreck surveys.

Jack's photographs have been published in roughly a dozen newspapers and periodicals. In 2010, Bay Area Divers Shipwreck and Scuba Symposium awarded Jack a Certificate of Appreciation in Recognition for Outstanding Underwater Photography. A number of his Dunkirk Schooner photos were recently featured in the Fall 2011 Issue of American Archaeology magazine.

He is founder, webmaster, and sole contributor of www.n2junkie.com, a website dedicated to underwater photography, launched in February 2005.

Lake Michigan's Western Shore

Jack will be presenting the highlights from an August 2011 technical diving excursion along Lake Michigan's Western shore between Milwaukee and Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. Over the back drop of archival and underwater imagery, he will include a brief history of each of the seven vessels that were encountered along the way. For the most part, this random selection of vessels were built in a period between 1843 and 1940, nearly a one hundred year gap, spanning, arguably the greatest boom in technology of mankind's existence.