Shipwreck divers symposium set for [last] Saturday

Apologies for being a week late with this. Nevertheless I think it's interesting to see of what the symposium consisted:

Shipwreck divers symposium set for Saturday
WALL — Shipwrecks, shark attacks and underwater art projects will be on the agenda when the New Jersey Historical Divers Association holds its ninth annual shipwreck symposium Saturday at the InfoAge Science/History Learning Center.

For more information visit the association website at www.njhda.org

The 2 to 6 p.m. event at 2201 Marconi Road brings in divers and researchers to talk about their latest discoveries. Presenters this Saturday include:

Diver, engineer and nautical archaeologist Joyce Steinmetz will talk about her identification of the Civil War paddle steamer Admiral DuPont, one of two sidewheelers long visited by divers offshore but never positively identified.

Marine artist and Bay Head native Chris Wojcik will discuss his latest project, which involves seafloor sculpture, in the presentation "Shipwreck -- From Scratch."

Great white sharks off New Jersey will be the subject tackled by Dean W. Fessler Jr., educational director and researcher at the Shark Research Institute in Princeton.

Association president Dan Lieb will tell the story of the schooner John K. Shaw, wrecked with the loss of its entire crew of Manasquan men in February 1884, in what Lieb suggests may have been a “disastrous case of a hit-and-run at sea.”

Divers Charles Buffum and Craig Harger, co-discovers of U.S. Navy hero Adm. Oliver Hazard Perry’s lost vessel Revenge, will talk about their discovery of the 1811 wreck off Rhode Island.

Admission to the symposium is $20 per person with proceeds to benefit continued operation of the nonprofit museum.

Reservations are required by calling 732-776-6261. Admission includes access to museum exhibits, and refreshments served during an intermission. A fund-raising party will follow the symposium that evening from 7 to 10 p.m. with separate admission of $40 per person.

For more information visit the association website at www.njhda.org and click on the events tab.