Garry Kozak grew up in the centre of the Great Lakes and began diving in 1962. Shipwrecks became a major fascination and the challenge to dive wrecks that had not been previously located became his main diving interest. In the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, he left the Great Lakes to pursue a career in the field of commercial diving.
This work took him off the coast of Newfoundland providing diving support on oil drilling rigs and down to the Gulf of Mexico diving on oil pipelines.
The Search for the Dean Richmond
In 1975, he returned to the Great Lakes and formed a company, Innerseas Inc., whose purpose was to locate and salvage shipwrecks and cargoes in the Great Lakes. The first ship selected was a ghost ship, the Dean Richmond. The Dean was a steamer that disappeared on the waters of Lake Erie in October of 1893, carrying a cargo of lead and zinc ingots. The search began, and what was supposed to take one summer dragged on for over nine years. Finally, on July 13, 1983, the Dean Richmond was found. This is Garry’s story of the adventures and shipwrecks located in the search for his elusive quarry.
For the past 20 years, Garry has been employed by Klein Associates of Salem, N.H., the technology leader in Side Scan Sonar systems. He is a recognized expert in undersea search operations and travels the world providing consulting and training expertise to Navies and companies who have a critical underwater search need. His work has taken him to the Canadian Arctic with Dr. Joe MacInnis to locate the H.M.S. Breadalbane, off the coast of England with author Clive Cussler in search of John Paul Jones’ vessel, the Bon Homme Richard, and on countless other treasure and historic shipwreck searches.
