Shipwrecks

One of Tom’s favourite phrases is, “The more I learn, the more I learn how little I know,” from Socrates, which he finds translates perfectly into Great Lakes diving. “The more I dive the more I realize there’s more out there to discover than I ever imagined,” he said recently. Drawing on over 1,000 dives in environments from caves to ice and training from Open Water to Full Trimix, he brings a unique perspective to scuba that usually includes a few laughs along the way.

By his own admission Tom Wilson dives essentially for one reason: to capture photographs. You may have seen the fruits of his efforts in the magazines such as Diver, Advanced Diver, Scuba Press, Immersed, Ottawa Outdoors, and even the Toronto Star, all concentrating on the amazing wrecks of the Great Lakes which he firmly believes offer the best wreck diving in the world. To compare he has traveled to such places as Roatan, Truk Lagoon, Turks and Caicos, Bahamas, Florida and North Carolina, but has found they pale in comparison to the diversity and numbers we have in our own backyard. Tom is a PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer, and holds various certifications from IANTD, TDI, and GUE all the way up to full trimix and full cave. He enjoys teaching underwater photography, along with ice diving and nitrox courses.

Tom has presented both short and primary presentations at previous “Shipwrecks Symposiums” and was Master of Ceremonies for eight years. We are very pleased to have him back again this year

Jill Heinerth, Explorer-in-Residence, The Royal Canadian Geographical Society

More people have walked on the moon than visited many of the places Jill Heinerth has explored on Earth. From the most dangerous technical dives deep inside underwater caves to searching for never-before-seen ecosystems inside giant Antarctic icebergs, Heinerth’s curiosity and passion for our watery planet is the driving force in her life.

From desert oases of the Sahara to Baffin Bay’s cold waters, Heinerth has been the hands and eyes of climatologists, archaeologists, biologists, and engineers worldwide. She was named the first Explorer-in-Residence of The Royal Canadian Geographical Society and inaugural recipient of the Sir Christopher Ondaatje Medal for Exploration. Jill is a Fellow of the International Scuba Diving Hall of Fame, Underwater Academy of Arts and Sciences, Women Diver’s Hall of Fame, National Speleological Society, WINGS Worldquest and the Explorers Club, which recognized her work with the prestigious William Beebe Award for ocean exploration.

Heinerth published her memoir, Into the Planet, in 2019. The Wall Street Journal, Oprah Magazine, and the New York Times have lauded it. Dolly Parton selected Jill’s book, The Aquanaut, for her Imagination Library program and distributed it free to 8000 children across Canada. Running Cloud Productions of Australia is currently filming a feature documentary entitled, Jill Heinerth: Room to Breathe.

Ken Merryman is past president and founding member of the Great Lakes Shipwreck Preservation Society. He is a retired computer engineer and a veteran speaker at scuba shows around the Great Lakes. Ken has been an avid Great Lakes shipwreck hunter and diver for 50 plus years and operated a scuba diving charter service for 40 years. Although his charter business operated mostly at Isle Royale National Park, he also frequents all of the Great Lakes diving and searching for new shipwrecks with his shipwreck hunting partner of thirty years Jerry Eliason. Their shipwreck hunting partnership is responsible for the discovery of thirty shipwrecks and the initial exploration and documentation of a half dozen more including the discovery of the deepest shipwreck found in the Great Lakes the Scotiadoc at 870 ft deep. In efforts to preserve these discoveries through the GLSPS and often in cooperation with Wisconsin Historical Society he has helped add eight shipwrecks to the National Register of Historic Places. In cooperation with the Ontario Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport they have done the initial documentation to list five of the discoveries as archaeological sites. Now their initial documentation includes photogrammetry models and Ken is leading a massive GLSPS project to create a database of photogrammetry models of all Great Lakes Shipwrecks crowd sourced through the diving community. The last seven summers Ken and friends have been circum-navigating the Great Lakes in his 1947 Owens Cruiser. He has cruised over 17,000 miles covering most of all five of the lakes finding ten new shipwrecks and creating over a hundred shipwreck photogrammetry models along the way.

The Stayers, Explorer Club Fellows and Boston Sea Rovers Associate Members, are well-known underwater filmmakers dedicated to sharing shipwrecks, animal behavior, and remote dive destinations around the world. Jim & Pat have discovered several shipwrecks, co-authored 3 books, produced hundreds of multimedia presentations, and their footage has appeared on numerous major networks worldwide. They have directed several evening film festivals and are popular presenters across North America. Pat is in the Women Divers Hall of Fame and Jim is a USCG Captain. Together they have led an amazing life of adventure.

John Ratcliffe studied archaeology at Wilfrid Laurier University, and maritime archaeology at East Carolina University. Prior to joining the Parks Canada Underwater Archaeology Team (UAT) in 2021, he worked at Library and Archives Canada. John has been part of UAT field projects in Lake Superior, Labrador, and the Arctic. Closer to home, he has been involved with Save Ontario Shipwrecks (SOS) since 2012, and has been the Chair of the Ottawa Chapter since 2016. John remains active with local dive clubs, and most weekends will find him at nearby dive sites in the St. Lawrence.

2023 marks his 53rd year diving, with his initial training with the Aqua Knights of Hamilton, in 1970. He is a former ACUC,CMAS,DAN and PADI MSDT Instructor. He has been an active member of the Ontario Marine Heritage Committee(OMHC), participating in numerous archaeological programs with this group.

An avid underwater photographer, his award winning photographs have been displayed at Underwater Canada, the Vancouver Aquarium, the Ontario Science Centre, libraries and galleries. They have also been published accompanying articles in several magazines and also in children’s books.

After a first diving program at Resolute Bay in 1987, in 1989 he was the recipient of a Canada Council grant, through the Arctic Awareness Program, to complete an underwater photography project in Canada’s High Arctic. He is more prone nowadays to be found in warmer waters having enjoyed trips to the islands of the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, Chuuk Lagoon and the Red Sea.

Kayla Martin is a recent graduate of Water Science and Environmental Health (BSc) at Wilfred Laurier University. She launched her diving career at thirteen years of age and has logged hundreds of dives exploring historic shipwrecks and beautiful coral reefs.
Kayla is active in Great Lakes conservation and education efforts. She studies invasive species and ways to prevent and control populations from entering water bodies, particularly inland lakes and rivers. She recently worked for Parks Canada in the Rouge National Urban Park Drinking Water Quality Program, transitioning tenants from bottled water to healthy tap water. Her interests lie in examining our interactions with water, the environmental impacts of water use, and ways to achieve sustainability for future generations. Current she is working for the Wetlands Hydrology Research Group at the University of Waterloo as a Research Assistant investigating the peatlands within the Athabasca Oil Sands Region.
With her love of diving and all things water-related, Kayla aims to inspire the next generation of divers. She presents at diving conferences across North America, including the prestigious Our World Underwater film show in Chicago and the Niagara Diver’s Association Shipwrecks Show. She is a strong supporter of the LGBTQ community and has organized and participated in “Women’s Day of Diving” activities, encouraging women of all ages and abilities to discover the underwater world. Kayla is an ambassador for several Canadian marine conservation organizations. She promotes preserving historic shipwrecks and low-impact diving with Save Our Shipwrecks (SOS) and documents submerged historical sites with the Ontario Marine Heritage Committee. She serves as the Membership Director with the Niagara Divers Association.

What started in 1992 as a hobby for Rick quickly developed into a passion, and then a full-blown business. At first, when Rick was diving simply to enjoy the wonderful and unique marine life (as well as to indulge in some mussels and scallops) located off the coast of Newfoundland, it was just something he did when he had the time.

However, soon after diving to the Bell Island shipwrecks, the time he spent in the water increased more and more. Due to his own excitement for the wrecks, Rick soon decided that the world needed to discover them. Thus, Ocean Quest was founded.
With just one boat, Rick undertook a rigorous Scuba training schedule to graduate from basic diver to instructor, ensured that his operation complied with CCG and TC regulations, and began to show people the beauty that lay beneath the waves near his home.

Now, Rick operates Ocean Quest as a qualified Rebreather Diver, Full Cave Diver, Advanced Nitrox and Deco certification, and has over 400 dives on the Bell Island shipwrecks alone. Together with his team, he oversees the provision of tours, recreational and commercial diving sales and services, educational offerings, and a number of other services across the province.

Along with Ocean Quest, Rick also helped to start Ocean Net, a conservation group dedicated to educating people about the importance of our marine environment. Through this group, Rick is steward of an area that includes the Bell Island shipwrecks, and he continues to ensure that the actions of Ocean Quest are in harmony with the environment that he has loved for as long as he can remember.

Helen Cooper has been in the diving industry since 1994 when she and her late husband, Dave Cooper, opened up the first dive shop in Brockville.

Fast forward 27 years, 6 dive charter boats, 2 dive shops, a couple of air stations and kids, Helen has become the regional source for local dive site information in the Upper St Lawrence River and Picton, Lake Ontario.

Helen has always been an active member of Save Ontario Shipwrecks helping to put out and bring in the local wreck moorings every season as well as working with the Thousand Island Association to place and retrieve rock and shoal markers.

Helen has recently taken on the position of Vice President of the Save Ontario Shipwrecks 1,000 Islands Chapter as well as being a board member of Preserve Our Wrecks, Kingston.