2025 Nautical Archaeology Training Workshop and MAST Annual Dinner

Shipwrecks have always been sources of wonder and fascination. The documentation of these important pieces of history has been a priority for the National Museum of the Great Lakes and the Maritime Archaeological Survey Team. Over the 20-year collaboration, these two organizations have developed a methodical process to survey Ohio shipwrecks in low-visibility situations. Come be a part of our team; take our three-day training workshop.

Over three days, our Basic Workshop will teach students the basics of surveying a shipwreck. We will cover Ship Terms, Laws and Ethics, Research, Survey Tools, and Trilateration (the technique we use to measure shipwrecks) as well as much more. After two days of classroom work, the training concludes on May 17 & 18 at White Star Quarry with in-water training. The workshop is designed for divers and non-divers (non-divers assist on land with data interpretation.) The work is also appropriate for novice divers. At the completion of the class, all students will become members of MAST and be invited to take part in ongoing fieldwork in Lake Erie during the summer. The cost of the class is $180 and covers all materials needed, breakfast, and lunch in April. Please note: this is a three-day class - a full weekend in April with classroom and dry run practicals. Then one of two days in May for in-water practice (May 17 or 18).

We are happy to bring back the MAST annual meeting and dinner this year. Join us for dinner at the Spaghetti Warehouse in Toledo (42 S Superior St, Toledo, OH 43604) for an evening of food, learning, and fun. (Please note that access to the dining room is only via stairs - there is no elevator or lift)

Kendra Kennedy, a MAST member and Maritime Archaeologist with the Wisconsin Historical Society, will be joining us to talk about small gas launches and the archaeology of a few sites in Door County and eastern Wisconsin. Tickets are $40 for those not taking the workshop

"Launch Party: The Maritime History and Archaeology of Small Gasoline Boats"

As the nineteenth century ended and the twentieth century began, so too did the heyday of the gasoline launch or gasoline boat. Steam, naphtha, and electric-powered launches gave way to gasoline-powered craft with "explosive" or internal combustion engines. These fast, economical vessels quickly became ubiquitous in maritime environments. The Great Lakes were an early center of key innovation in marine engines and small gasoline boats. Many of today's household automotive names - such as Ford, Dodge, Daimler, Olds - are intertwined with the design and production of early marine engines. In 1900, New York, Michigan, and Wisconsin were the three largest producers of non-steam powered launches in the country. But this rich history has received little attention from maritime historians and archaeologists. In 2021, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office of Coast Survey (NOAA OCS) identified an anomaly off Little Harbor near Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, during hydrographic survey of Green Bay. NOAA OCS notified the Wisconsin Historical Society. After the initial examination in 2022, Society archaeologists and volunteers investigated the anomaly during the summer of 2024. The “Little Harbor Launch” was found to be a 30-foot-long gasoline launch with a two-cylinder, two-cycle marine engine. Subsequent research revealed the unrecognized and understudied, but dynamic maritime history of gasoline launches and boats in Door County and eastern Wisconsin in the early 1900s. Come learn about the large contribution of these small boats to the maritime heritage of Wisconsin and the Great Lakes!

Kendra Kennedy has over 20 years of experience as an archaeologist, both maritime and terrestrial, in the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, and Gulf South. She is employed as a Maritime Archaeologist with the Wisconsin Historical Society and previously worked as a Cultural Resources Specialist with Argonne National Laboratory near Chicago. Ms. Kennedy has a B.A. in Anthropology, French, and Computer Applications from the University of Notre Dame and a M.A. in Historical Archaeology, with a Maritime Archaeology concentration, from the University of West Florida. She has worked as an archaeological consultant, State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) reviewer, instructor, and grant writer for various organizations and agencies, including as a compliance reviewer and maritime archaeologist at the Ohio SHPO and a deepwater marine archaeologist for the oil and gas industry in Texas. She has worked on a sixteenth-century Spanish shipwreck, a possible War of 1812 gunboat, and numerous nineteenth- and twentieth-century shipwrecks and submerged archaeological sites in the Great Lakes, Gulf of Mexico, and inland rivers. Ms. Kennedy specializes in archival research and geophysical survey and interpretation. She is passionate about public outreach and working with citizen scientists to advance the discipline. She currently serves as the archaeological advisor to the Underwater Archaeological Society of Chicago (UASC) and as a board member of the Advisory Council on Underwater Archaeology (ACUA). She was previously on the board of the Maritime Archaeological Survey Team.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

National Museum of the Great Lakes, 1701 Front Street, Toledo, United States