E-mail Story



GTA Columnists
Jim Coyle
Rosie Dimanno
Joe Fiorito
Christopher Hume
Royson James


Diving among shipwrecks restricted
Licence needed at 3 specific sites Dives permitted

for research only
Feb. 1, 2006. 01:00 AM
PHINJO GOMBU
STAFF REPORTER


The dead who lie among the legendary shipwrecks of the Edmund Fitzgerald, the Hamilton and the Scourge in the Great Lakes can rest in peace.

A new provincial regulation under the Ontario Heritage Act requires that divers who want to explore the famous shipwrecks can only do so with a special licence and only for scientific and archaeological research.

"The major reason we were looking at (it) is around the fragility of the vessels," said Michael Johnson, manager of heritage services for the Ontario Ministry of Culture.

But Cheryl Rozeman, the daughter of Ransom Cundy, a watchman on the Edmund Fitzgerald, said yesterday relatives of the dead sailors had for the past 10 years been in touch with Ontario officials to pressure for just such a regulation.

Rozeman said she became aware in 1994 that a diver had managed to dive about 500 feet to where the American bulk carrier had sunk during a storm on Lake Superior on Nov. 10, 1975, and taken photographs of the remains of some of the 29 crew members.

She said the diver never made the pictures public, but it prompted her and other relatives to push for regulations to protect the sites.

"I have a real sense of peace knowing that the men, not only on the Edmund Fitzgerald, but the Hamilton and Scourge, are going to be able to rest in peace without anyone invading or bothering them," said Rozeman, 57, who lives in Gwinn, Mich.

The Edmund Fitzgerald, made famous in a song by Gordon Lightfoot, is a relatively recent sinking compared to the Hamilton and Scourge, which sank in Lake Ontario near Port Dalhousie in August 1813.

The merchant schooners, which lie in about 300 feet of water, were pressed into service by the U.S. Navy during the War of 1812.

They sank when a squall hit them and are believed to be the most well-preserved ships of their era, with human remains scattered around outside the wrecks.

They were discovered and explored in 1975 by French oceanographer Jacques Costeau and are owned by the city of Hamilton.

The Ontario regulation is believed to be the first of its kind in Canada.

It does not cover the 500 other shipwrecks in the Great Lakes as well as thousands of others.

"Sport diving is important to tourism in Ontario," Johnson said.

But he added the government has the option of adding other shipwrecks to the regulation on a case-by-case basis.

Violators of the new regulation can be fined up to $1 million.

E-mail Story



GTA Columnists
Jim Coyle
Rosie Dimanno
Joe Fiorito
Christopher Hume
Royson James


Diving among shipwrecks restricted
Licence needed at 3 specific sites Dives permitted

for research only
Feb. 1, 2006. 01:00 AM
PHINJO GOMBU
STAFF REPORTER


The dead who lie among the legendary shipwrecks of the Edmund Fitzgerald, the Hamilton and the Scourge in the Great Lakes can rest in peace.

A new provincial regulation under the Ontario Heritage Act requires that divers who want to explore the famous shipwrecks can only do so with a special licence and only for scientific and archaeological research.

"The major reason we were looking at (it) is around the fragility of the vessels," said Michael Johnson, manager of heritage services for the Ontario Ministry of Culture.

But Cheryl Rozeman, the daughter of Ransom Cundy, a watchman on the Edmund Fitzgerald, said yesterday relatives of the dead sailors had for the past 10 years been in touch with Ontario officials to pressure for just such a regulation.

Rozeman said she became aware in 1994 that a diver had managed to dive about 500 feet to where the American bulk carrier had sunk during a storm on Lake Superior on Nov. 10, 1975, and taken photographs of the remains of some of the 29 crew members.

She said the diver never made the pictures public, but it prompted her and other relatives to push for regulations to protect the sites.

"I have a real sense of peace knowing that the men, not only on the Edmund Fitzgerald, but the Hamilton and Scourge, are going to be able to rest in peace without anyone invading or bothering them," said Rozeman, 57, who lives in Gwinn, Mich.

The Edmund Fitzgerald, made famous in a song by Gordon Lightfoot, is a relatively recent sinking compared to the Hamilton and Scourge, which sank in Lake Ontario near Port Dalhousie in August 1813.

The merchant schooners, which lie in about 300 feet of water, were pressed into service by the U.S. Navy during the War of 1812.

They sank when a squall hit them and are believed to be the most well-preserved ships of their era, with human remains scattered around outside the wrecks.

They were discovered and explored in 1975 by French oceanographer Jacques Costeau and are owned by the city of Hamilton.

The Ontario regulation is believed to be the first of its kind in Canada.

It does not cover the 500 other shipwrecks in the Great Lakes as well as thousands of others.

"Sport diving is important to tourism in Ontario," Johnson said.

But he added the government has the option of adding other shipwrecks to the regulation on a case-by-case basis.

Violators of the new regulation can be fined up to $1 million.