2012 Chicago Maritime Festival Presenters |
The Battle for the Great Lakes: How the War of 1812 Fractured the Unity of the Great Lakes Basin, Destroyed One Nation, and Created Two Others – Professor Theodore Karamanski This illustrated lecture
will assess the War of 1812 as part of a sixty-year long struggle
between Europeans, European-Americans, and Native Peoples for control of
the Great Lakes. The American defeats at Detroit and Queenstown Heights
laid a foundation for the emergence of the modern nation of Canada. The
American victories on Lake Erie and at the Thames reasserted the
republic's ability to resist the power of the British Empire but also
had the effect of destroying a nascent cross-border First Nations effort
to create an independent native nation in the heart of North America.
The modern Great Lakes basin divided as it is between two nations, eight
states, two provinces, and a variety of semi-sovereign native
communities was the result of the war and has been an environmental
management nightmare ever since.
Theodore J. Karamanski is Professor of History at Loyola University Chicago. He is author of seven books on Midwestern history including Schooner Passage: Sailing Ships and the Lake Michigan Frontier (2000), Maritime Chicago (2002), and North Woods River: The St. Croix in Upper Midwest History (2009). |
Bicentennial: A Reading of Essays by Young Authors and Presentation of Essay AwardsArts Across the Waters is asking schools and community-based youth organizations to have their young people participate in a number of creative writing workshops which tie them experientially to the Great Lakes and their rich heritage, principally, the Bicentennial of the War of 1812 which began 2011. The essays will be judged and the “Great Lakes Young Writer of the Year Award” will be presented at the 2012 Chicago Maritime Festival. The winner will and runners up also read their essays at the festival.Individuals representing such institutions as Great Lakes Young Writers, Michigan Council of Teachers of English, Discovery World, Canadian Heritage, and Niagara University began developing Arts Across the Water (AAW) in 2010. Over its two-year mission, AAW’s cross border and cross cultural focus looks to the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812 as a means to expand the creative horizons of Canadian, First Nation, and U.S. youth by putting them in touch, both digitally and personally, with vast number of cultural arts and humanity-based resources, adult mentors, and young artists from throughout the Great Lakes. AAW’s history and language arts working groups are currently developing K-12 curriculum which focuses on the cultural life (the music, ceremonies, dance, folktales, etc.) of Native and Frontier peoples living in the Great Lakes regions during the early 19th century. To stay abreast of AAW’s ongoing activities, contact AAW’s project director, Tom Leonard at glyoungwriters@yahoo.com. |
Ships and Ship Carving of the 1812 Era: A View in Miniature From Both Sides – Glenn Braun
Glenn will show examples, and discuss the history and techniques relative to researching and creating ship models, miniature figureheads, and shipboard decorative work of the time period. Glenn has been building ship models for almost fifty years and his works have been on exhibit at several maritime museums. Visit him in the exhibit hall where he will demonstrate various aspects of the ship model builders art, including ships-in-the-bottle, and other current projects. |
Of Rivers and Lakes: Lesser Known Battles of the War of 1812 – Ralph Frese An illustrated lecture about maritime battles on the lakes and rivers during the War of 1812 by
Ralph Frese.
Popularly known as “Mr. Canoe,” Ralph has paddled the same waterways that carried the canoes of Native Americans, explorers, and the founders of Chicago for more than a half a century. He has devoted his life to keeping rivers and lakes clean for all to enjoy and educating people about the importance of waterway conservation. Over the last 60 years, Ralph’s outstanding accomplishments have included founding the Chicagoland Canoe Base (his business where he builds handcrafted canoes and practices as a fourth generation blacksmith), teaching local Boy Scout troops how to build their own canoes, helping the Cook County Clean Streams Committee transform Chicago Rivers, organizing the annual Des Plaines River Canoe Marathon (now in its 53rd year) to help draw attention to the scenic Des Plaines River as a valuable resource to preserve, and serving as a charter member and the current vice-president of the Chicago Maritime Society. In 2010 he was the recipient of the National Rivers Hall of Fame Achievement Award. He was the first recipient of the American Canoe Association’s “Legends of Paddling” award in 1994, inducted into the Illinois Outdoor Hall of Fame in 2006, and has received awards from the Cook County Board of Commissioners the Federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Bureau of the Interior, to name just a few. And recently, a stretch of the wooded upper Chicago River has been declared the “Ralph Frese Canoe Trail.” |
Captain William Bainbridge – Hero, Victim or Con Man? – Nicholas Ivor Martin![]() William Bainbridge is remembered
today as one of the early heroes of the War of 1812 because of his
defeat of HMS Java while in command of the USS Constitution. But his
career is more checkered than a Stephen Decatur or even a Lord Cochrane.
As a lieutenant ordered to take command of a schooner in the West
Indies, Bainbridge lost his ship through questionable judgment -- only
to redeem himself by some quick thinking after being taken prisoner.
While delivering tribute money to Algiers, Bainbridge foolishly put his
ship at the mercy of the Dey -- yet ultimately turned a humiliating
insult to the American flag into a diplomatic coup. Finally, it was
Bainbridge's command to abandon the USS Philadelphia off the coast of
Tripoli -- and his botched attempt to scuttle her -- that led to her
capture (and set the stage for the night expedition that made Stephen
Decatur famous). Yet nine years later when war broke out with England,
it was Bainbridge who was given command of the USS Constitution, pride
of the American Navy. Ignored when he should have been promoted and
lauded when he should have been censured, Bainbridge is a study in the
complexities of war and diplomacy before the modern era, a Hornblower
and anti-Hornblower rolled into one.
Nicholas Ivor Martin is a published author and speaker primarily in the field of opera. He is Director of Operations at Lyric Opera of Chicago, but is also an enthusiastic amateur sailboat racer and naval historian with a particular affinity for the age of fighting sail. |
Great Lakes Schooners: A Preview – Eric Forsberg
Travel back in time and see the great lake schooners during the 1800s. Eric will discuss the historical background, research, and techniques regarding his paintings that depict schooners. Some of the painting shown will be part of a one man show Eric will have at the Wisconsin Maritime Museum (Manitowoc, WI) that will run for 7 months from June 3 thru December 31,2012 Eric is one of Chicago's very own established artists. He grew up with a passion for art and attended the American Academy of Art. He studied with the famous Charles Vickery for a period of 10 years and also received guidance from Thomas Hoyne III. To further Eric's understanding of the relationship and rules between sky and water, he took to the sea working on lobster boats, fishing trawlers, tall ships, and sailed the Great Lakes allowing him to paint water with great conviction and knowledge. His passion and excitement for historical and modern day ships is evident as their stories unfold on his canvas. Whether in the Great Lakes, the Indiana Dunes or out at sea -- Eric captures the moment! |
Naval Architecture and Engineering – Mark MitchellThe structural and technological evolution of the sea-going vessel across the millennia
The Romans built the greatest navy in the ancient world by copying a wrecked Carthaginian trireme and teaching their sailors how to row on dry land. The Byzantines were the first to use crude oil on their ships, but not for propulsion. The Norse reached America with their snekkja and sunstone 500 years before the Spanish with their carraca and compass. In the initial two decades of the 20th Century, an Irishman engineered the first submarine for the American navy, British engineers built the most powerful warships of all time, the dreadnaughts, of which the German version was sunk by an American pilot with nothing more than a one-man biplane and a single bomb. Throughout history, the boat has developed into shapes both marvelous and menacing as humans have endeavored to master travel over, under, and through the waves. Trace the structural evolution and scientific innovations of the world’s most important vessels from the Greek fast attack dromon of Constantinople to the Russian ballistic missile akula of Severomorsk. An expert in maritime history and admiralty law, Mark Mitchell directs the Chicago Yacht Club Foundation’s Maritime Education Program, which aims to increase knowledge of and appreciation for the nautical arts in the Chicagoland community and beyond. When he is not giving presentations on naval science or writing about the history of life at sea, Mitchell is General Counsel for Team Rubicon USA, an international disaster response and veterans service organization. |
Pacific Dances and Voyaging Chants – Lanialoha Lee (See featured performers) In Pacific Cultures, chants held the key to navigation. Ms. Lee will demonstrate chants and give
beginning instruction for dances from the Hawaiian culture.
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Traverse City Lighthouse Shipwrecks: The Chicago Connection – Stef Staley There are six ships that have wrecked near the Grand Traverse Lighthouse
at the tip of the Leelanau Peninsula in northern Lake Michigan. Staley
will share her ongoing research of the Grand Traverse Lighthouse
shipwrecks, their nature, their stories, and their connection to Chicago
and its history.
Stefanie is the Executive Director of the Grand Traverse Lighthouse Museum in Northport, Michigan and has been for the past twelve years. She recently completed her Master’s Degree in Historic Preservation at Eastern Michigan University. She is currently working with the newly formed Grand Traverse Bay Underwater Preserve to locate and document the Grand Traverse Lighthouse shipwrecks. The Grand Traverse Lighthouse Museum is a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving and restoring the Grand Traverse Lighthouse and its surrounding property. In addition, the Museum provides educational opportunities that enhance the understanding of the area’s maritime history. |
The Long-Lost Life of James Sears Dunham – Thomas J. Lutz Thomas J. Lutz will present an
overview of the life of James Sears Dunham, the great, but now totally
forgotten, 19th century Chicago maritime leader beginning in 1854, when
he brought one of the first early tugs to Chicago until Dunham’s death
in 1901. Dunham delved into and led every major maritime issue that
confronted Chicago and the Chicago River. He was instrumental in the
development of one of the first tug fleets in Chicago, and lobbied hard,
but unsuccessfully, for adequate riverfront fire protection well before
the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, as well as for the reversal of the
Chicago River, and the prudent management of the Chicago downtown
bridges. But his biggest issues came, while building a national
reputation, when he fought battles over planning for the great 1893
World's Fair, when he made a joint effort that created the great
Sanitary & Ship Canal, and when he waged war for over a decade with
Charles Tyson Yerkes, the father of the “L” system.
Lutz, a former historic preservation professional is the author of Shaping Chicago: James S. Dunham’s Crusade for the River. |
Shipwreck Tales of Chicago – Joan Forsberg
Chicago,
the largest city on the Great Lakes, owes its existence to sailors and
ships. The city’s massive maritime history includes several hundred
shipwrecks, such as the David Dows (the largest sailing ship ever built
on the Great Lakes), the speakeasy ship named the Rotarian (scuttled in
1931), the Great Lakes’ two most tragic disasters (the steamers Eastland
and Lady Elgin), and the three ships purposely sunk off Chicago in the
past decade to create new scuba dive sites (the Holly barge, The Straits
of Mackinac, and the Buccaneer), plus many others.
Joan Forsberg is a well-known maritime historian, scuba diver, author, lecturer, and videographer, and, with her husband Cris Kohl, forms a Chicago-area husband-and-wife team who love to explore shipwrecks, particularly those in the Great Lakes. They are underwater archaeologists certified by Great Britain’s Nautical Archaeology Society (NAS). Joan has a degree in History and has been the Chairman of the Shipwrecks and our Maritime Heritage Room at Chicago’s Our World – Underwater Show since 1996. She is the author of the scuba celebrity cook-and-tell book, Diver’s Guide to the Kitchen, and articles in magazines such as Immersed, Great Lakes Boating, and Wreck Diving (for which she works as Copy Editor). Joan appears behind the camera shooting underwater video, and in front of the camera as Cris’ underwater model. She has been President of Seawolf Communications, Inc., a maritime books publishing company, since 1998. During her three terms as the President of the Underwater Archaeological Society of Chicago, she worked on several significant maritime history projects for that group, including the sinking of the Buccaneer, creating Lake Michigan’s newest scuba dive site. She and her husband have authored or co-authored a total of thirteen books, and produced nine commercial DVDs, with more books and DVDs in production. Their most recent publication was the book “Our World – Underwater, The First 40 Years,” a history of the largest scuba dive show in the Great Lakes region, held annually at Chicago. Joan was inducted into the International Women Divers Hall of Fame in 2010, and in 2011 was elected to the Board of Trustees of that organization. She was also the 2011 recipient of the Underwater Archaeological Society of Chicago Award for “many years of leadership and dedication.” |
Diving and Underwater Surveying On a Budget, Using Small Private Boats and GPS/Sonar Units – John T. Bell
So you own a small motor boat and you want to go diving – Now what? This presentation will discuss
how to do it safely and efficiently, including discussions of how to
modify and equip your small boat for safe diving and important
procedures for diving off a small boat. Also included will be techniques
for conducting underwater archaeological surveys off a small boat, using
consumer-affordable sidescan sonar units and other surveying techniques
and equipment.
John Bell has been diving since 1990 and conducting amateur underwater archaeology since 2004. An officer of the Underwater Archaeological Society of Chicago, UASC, John will soon complete part II of the Nautical Archaeology Society program in Foreshore and Underwater Archaeology. John owns a small personal dive boat, the Diving Belle, from which he conducts sidescan sonar and underwater surveys of wreck sites in southern Lake Michigan. Professionally, Dr. Bell teaches Computer Science at UIC. |
Diveheart: No Limits – Dawn Engler Diveheart has worked with the
Chicago Park District Rehab Institute of Chicago, the Center for
Rehabilitation and Education at Chicago State University, Oaklawn
Community with Special Needs, SEASPAR (Southeast Association of Special
Parks and Recreation), Naval Station Great Lakes-Hines, Jessie Brown
Veteran Hospitals, the armed services coast to coast, and adaptive
sports groups nationwide. The purpose of Diveheart is to provide and
support educational SCUBA diving and snorkeling experience program that
are open to any child, adult, or veteran with a disability with the hope
of providing both physical and psychological therapeutic value to that
person.
It is the “CAN DO” spirit that Diveheart hopes to instill in all its participants by giving then the confidence and independence that allows them to face their own life challenges and overcome barriers that before might have seemed insurmountable. Through SCUBA diving, the Foundation supports and facilitates programs that teach children and adults with disabilities to fly -- thanks to the wonder of the water column, the oceans and lakes of the world become the forgiving weightless environment of outer space, providing perfect buoyancy to a child or adult who would otherwise struggle on land. |
History Over the Horizon X – Kris Habermehl Join
award winning Chicago radio and television reporter Kris Habermehl for
the story of Great Lakes shipping in the Chicago and Calumet area as
seen from the air. Ride along with WBBM's famous traffic helicopter,
"Chopper 780," as it provides a spectacular place to view examples of
Chicago's maritime history just "over the horizon." Rare historic
footage is also included. Kris is a lifelong Chicagoan who has been
flying since the mid 70's. An early interest in aviation combined with a
penchant for local history (especially maritime history) has enabled him
to make stories come alive from his post aboard "Chopper 780." He has
been on the air since 1992 when he joined Shadow Traffic. Reporting on
traffic tie-ups and breaking news led to stints at several Chicago radio
stations and also to his longtime assignment with sister station,
WBBM-TV (CBS2). Recipient of a regional Emmy for his television
reporting, Kris is also the color commentator for WBBM's annual coverage
of the Chicago Air & Water Show.
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Future Underwater Shipwreck Detectives – Eugene Hasiak The Friends of the Chicago Portage will present its new documentary video
Connecting Worlds, The
This seminar is a survey of programs that encourage and help to develop future underwater detectives. It will begin by
showing some of the possibilities through excerpts from the program Underwater Detectives and continue with an overview
of what to expect in a SCUBA class and first dive. Information about learning advanced techniques in underwater archeology
will also be given.
Eugene has been a member of the Underwater Archeological Society of Chicago for the past 18 years, is an ambassador as well as buddy diver for Diveheart, and has presented at conferences, schools, and festivals throughout the Midwest. |
Chicago Portage – Jeff Carter and Gary Mechanic The Friends of the Chicago Portage will present its new documentary video Connecting Worlds, The
Story of the Chicago Portage which explores the past and present of the
Chicago Portage, the vital trade link that resulted in the creation of
our great metropolitan area.
Jeff Carter, President of Friends of the Chicago Portage, will begin the presentation with a brief history of the Portage followed by the DVD documentary. Gary Mechanic, who founded the organization in 2001 and is the Steward of Portage Woods Forest Preserve, will conclude the presentation by describing how the Chicago Portage is still alive and driving the economic engine of Chicago today. The Friends is a volunteer not for profit organization that presents free public tours of the Chicago Portage National Historic Site Spring through Fall and conducts monthly work days throughout the year in Portage Woods Forest Preserve. Friends of the Chicago Portage promotes the historic interpretation, ecological restoration and appropriate development of the Chicago Portage National Historic Site through volunteer advocacy, public events and other projects that raise public awareness of its history and significance. More at www.chicagoportage.org |
Weather for Sailors 2012 – Amy Seeley |
Hands-On Safety 2012 – Jay Crissey
Jay Crissey has spent much of his
professional life teaching survival skills to charter boat operators in
the Great Lakes to commercial fishermen in Alaska. Jay will present some
of the things everyone should consider when venturing out on the water.
His seminar will feature preparation, techniques, and actual survival
gear including an 8-man life raft that will be opened on site. Jay works
around the world and at Parker Sales in Chicago, a Mecca for the
professional mariner.
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Bawdy Sea Songs Featured performers and special
guests will perform totally uncensored shanties and sea songs. No one under 18 will be admitted.
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Maritime CareersDetails to follow. |
The Chicago Maritime Museum* Resource Center Find out about
the new and exciting renovation of the CMM Resource Center as well as
recent acquisitions and the new lecture series. Learn the benefits of
being a member and how you can take an active part in the preservation
of our Chicago and Great Lakes Maritime Heritage.
*Formerly known as the Chicago Maritime Society. |
How to Be an Underwater Detective - The Underwater Archeological Society of ChicagoFor Kids and Adults
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The Art of Knots – John DeWilde & JP Honeywell (Exhibit & Demonstration Join John and JP at
their amazing display of bell ropes, mats, and Turk's heads made of
traditional and modern material. Most of the pieces have been created
recently and have not been displayed at the festival in any previous
year. Learn about Marlinespike seamanship, functional knotting, and
decorative knotting.
John DeWilde is a current board member of the International Guild of Knot Tyers – North
American Branch. JP Honeywell is a member of Knot Heads World Wide.
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Make Your Own Monkey's Fist Key Chain Learn
how to make your own monkey's fist key chain from members of Sea Scout
Ship 5111 and take it home with you. All materials are provided. |
Model Boat Building For Kids Design and built your own model boat
– from motor vessel to tall ship – it’s up to you. Take your model home. All materials provided.
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