Dr. John O Jensen

Excerpt from Introduction: The Wisconsin Historical Society’s Lake Michigan grain schooner survey was a joint effort between the Wisconsin Historical Society (WHS), University of
Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute, Wisconsin Coastal Management Program, Wisconsin Department of Transportation, Wisconsin Maritime Museum, University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee’s Great Lakes WATER Institute, Wisconsin Underwater Archaeology Association (WUAA), and the Great Lakes Shipwreck Research Foundation, Inc. (GLSRF). The surveys were funded by grants from the University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute, Wisconsin Coastal Management Program, and the Wisconsin Department of Transportation. Additional equipment, personnel, and logistical support were supplied by other participating organizations. The surveys were organized by the WHS’s State Maritime Preservation and Archaeology (SMPA)
program staff and principally staffed by WUAA, GLSRF, and WHS volunteers. Survey work was conducted between 6 June 2003 and 5 August 2005.

Between 1992 and 1994, the State Historical Society of Wisconsin (SHSW) conducted an underwater archeological survey of the steamers Niagara and Francis Hinton in Lake Michigan, under a grant from the University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute. The grant provided operational funding and equipment to the underwater archeology program of the SHSW to assist with ongoing resource assessment work, conducted in cooperation with the Port Washington Historical Society, the Two Rivers Museum Partnership, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, and the Wisconsin Underwater Archeological Association. The study of the shipwrecks Niagara and Francis Hinton is part of a broader series of underwater archeological surveys in Wisconsin waters conducted by the SHSW. Previous to the Niagara and Francis Hinton investigations, the SHSW underwater archeology program has conducted surveys in the Lake Michigan and Green Bay waters around Door County and the waters of Lake Superior around the Apostle Islands (Cooper 1989; Cooper and Rodgers 1990; Cooper et al. 1991; Cooper and Jensen 1992; Jensen 1994; Cooper and Jensen 1995). Founded in 1988, the SHSW underwater archeology program works to survey, inventory and evaluate Wisconsin's underwater archeological resources; forms strategies for their preservation; develops administrative and field management practices; and enhances public appreciation and stewardship for Wisconsin's precious but vanishing maritime heritage (Cooper 1992, 1993; Jensen 1992, 1993). The state underwater archeology program is located in the SHSW Division of Historic Preservation, Office of the State Archeologist.