UHEXSO NEWS

Last Updated: March 4, 2000

November 1999: John and Julie Hoover traveled to Scotland and England and met with Nick Baker, Editor of Historical Diving Times, the publication of the Historical Diving Society, U.K., and Dr. John Bevan, Chairman of the Historical Diving Society, U.K. While in Scotland they visited the Underwater Centre, Fort William where John went to commercial diving school. They also got to meet Don McGregor, Managing Director of Stenmar Group, which runs the Underwater Centre.

John and Julie inside a saturation chamber at the Underwater Centre, Fort William. Notice how John's expression can barely conceal the fond memories of his diving days in the North Sea. Julie just doesn't know any better.

January 22, 2000: Marine Archeology training session hosted by UHEXSO and taught by Steve Hoyt of the Texas Historical Commission. Also UHEXSO's first annual meeting. Over 17 members and friends of UHEXSO attended the all-day training session and meeting, which was held in Austin, Texas at Camp Mabry.

Introduction and start of the Marine Archeology meeting. This session dealt with construction and identification of basic ship structures and with Western River Steamer construction. The Western River Steamer was used extensively on Texas rivers. During the annual meeting the members decided to let the Houston area UHEXSO members form their own chapter of UHEXSO. The members also decided to extend two of the Board of Directors positions by one year.

Below: A picture of one of the Emergency Fleet wrecks being surveyed by UHEXSO in conjunction with the Texas Historical Commission. These were wooden freighters built during WW I in Orange, Texas and scuttled just after the war.

Photo by: Eric Welch, Seahorse Enterprises

The Sabine River Project will be the main archeological project for UHEXSO this year. See the Archeology pages for more details and the Events page to find out when the next trip is planned.

Other News

UHEXSO received a contract from Capstone Publishing to do the fact-checking on a new children's book on diving, titled Deep Diving Adventures. Due out mid-July, 2000

UHEXSO also assisted a freshman at Concordia University in Nebraska with his term paper on the history of diving.

UHEXSO member Richard Lowe is UHEXSO's project coordinator for the first ever National Historical Dive Rally, to be held in Key Largo, Florida in the summer of 2001. This will be a huge undertaking and anyone willing to help is encouraged to do so. Please contact UHEXSO. A regional dive rally is also planned in Florida for later this summer.

Dive Rallies: UHEXSO is working on securing several new and exciting venues in which to hold rallies and shows this year. UHEXSO Director Paul Schenk is working with Moody Gardens in Galveston, Texas to let UHEXSO put on diving shows in their 900,000 gallon "Caribbean Tank" complete with sharks and other exciting marine life. Dates to be announced.

UHEXSO Executive Director John Hoover is in the final stages of organizing a UHEXSO rally at Aquarena Springs Park in San Marcos, Texas. This will be an exciting venue, as spectators can view the divers from the underwater viewing room. Dates are April 29 and 30, 2000. See Events page.

UHEXSO Founder and Diver of the Year Pete Petrisky is having an article written about his diving experiences in and around Dallas, Texas. The article will run in the Dallas Morning News.

Some of our Houston members have just purchased complete hard hat rigs, including the USN Mark V and the Seibe Gorman 6-bolt; they may have a few other surprises up their sleeves before the summer is over.

April 2000

On April, 8, 2000, the UHEXSO Sabine River Project Team made another trip to the Emergency Fleet Corp. wreck site. We were able to advance the project by getting some very good surveys done and Charles McGrismey, Regional Archeologist for Louisiana supplied a laser transit so that we could get some very goof measurements. We are planning another trip in May.

UHEXSO members Russell Potocki and Bill Gronvold have created their own working equipment group in Houston. We wish them the best of luck.

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