Lake Michigan Classic Diving Organization

04/13/2026

The newsletter will be going out this week. One of those things that got pushed back with things going on. I'm having issues with the mailing list and may have to redo it.

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04/01/2026

Getting stuff ready to take to Door County Maritime Museum tomorrow. Taking an A-Lung, B-Lung, Johnson Air Buoy, Aqua Bell, the Wet Tank gauge, Browne Commercial Mask, and AJMS four light commercial helmet 1769. The talk is on 100 years of Wisconsin diving history. The talk will begin at 7pm and it is available via Zoom. To register use the link below.

https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/4q2Yr7V0Rci9Xed56KPKaQ #/registration

03/12/2026

Last August after the Lakeland commemoration dives the museum asked us to present a talk in their lecture series on Wisconsin diving history. Bill Pelky agreed to do the talk, and it will be held on Thursday April 2nd at 7pm at Door County Maritime Museum in Sturgeon Bay. The talk will be available online through Zoom: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/4q2Yr7V0Rci9Xed56KPKaQ #/registration

03/10/2026

Last Friday evening and all day Saturday we attended the 2026 Ghost Ships Festival is hosted by the Wisconsin Underwater Archeological Association. It was co-sponsored by Wisconsin National Marine Sanctuary and Wisconsin Maritime Museum. The festival features lectures on recent shipwreck discoveries, wreck history and preservation. DESCO has attended the last two years, and it gives us the opportunity reconnect with many people we lose track of during the year. This year we tried to focus on LMCDO with flyers and membership applications available. You will note the absence of the DESCO banner behind the table. We will be looking into having a LMCDO banner made for next year.

In regard to next year Christian and I were talking about the space next to us. It is a corner with cabinets running along the wall. This room is where the hotel normally does the breakfast buffet. We talked with the event director about getting this space next year so we could do a Wisconsin historical diving display. He is enthusiastic about the idea. At the fall meeting we will be looking for input on the design of this display.

Finally Christian and I would like to thank LLoyd, Kelly, Harley, and Phil for helping out. Many hands make light work.

02/26/2026

The Lake Michigan Classic Diving Organization online store is now open. See it at:

01/22/2026

Come with us as we continue to test the next iteration of our 5.56 silencer on its path to being commercially viable. Today, we are doing a 270 round rapid ...

01/10/2026

On December 3, 1924, the Lakeland was sailing in calm conditions across Lake Michigan from Chicago, Illinois, to Detroit, Michigan, with a cargo of 22 Nash and Kissel, and 1 Rollin automobile in her hold. She had been experiencing some minor leakage, but it was manageable. When the Lakeland was about 9 miles from the shore of Door County The Ann Arbor No.6 came alongside the Lakeland, but Captain McNeely allegedly refused a tow from her. The Lakeland sank stern first and broke in two. This photo was taken by Elliot Jacobson, the radio operator aboard the Ann Arbor No.6, which was nearby rendering assitance. See much more on this shipwreck on floor 2 of the Jim Kress Maritime Tower! Plan your visit now at https://dcmm.org/explore/hours-admissions/

01/07/2026

The winter 2026 newsletter will mail tomorrow. If you are not on the mailing list and would like to receive the newsletter, send an e-mail to [email protected].

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12/15/2025

12/12/2025

Look, an edible Mk V dress collar.

Did you know the Danish kringle is Wisconsin’s official state pastry?

Racine was once home to the largest Danish immigrant community in the United States, and their baking traditions helped shape the city’s identity. Today, Racine is proudly known as the “Kringle Capital of the World,” thanks to its many bakeries that ship their pastries across the globe.

Early kringles were shaped like large pretzels, but bakers soon shifted to a ring shape to avoid issues with thick, overlapping dough. The result is the familiar oval pastry we enjoy today—flaky, buttery, and filled with everything from fruit and nuts to cream cheese. In 2013, the kringle was officially designated Wisconsin’s state pastry.

Want to learn more? Check out nine sweet facts about the kringle in this OnMilwaukee article: https://wihist.org/4oIw0qF

12/08/2025

The term 4F has a dubious connotation due to it being the designation of a person deemed to be unsuitable for military service. A 4F status mostly was due to some physical limitation that made the individual less capable for combat. My father should have been 4F when he enlisted for the Army in WWII since he was night blind. The condition was found later and he was assigned duties other than in combat units.

Today we are discussing a dfferent 4F. Actually we will be looking at two 4Fs with similar family histories. In late summer DESCO was visited by a man from Indiana. He brought in a Morse diving helmet to show us that belonged to his Grandfather Iver Johnsen. The helmet bore the serial number 4F on the neck rings. This made it one of the early helmets which A J Morse & Son began marking with the company name and assigning numbers to. His Grandfather Iver Johnsen was a commercial diver in northwern Indiana and Illinois. Iver was one of the divers hired to recover bodies from the capsized SS Eastland in the Chicago River in 1915. The helmet is in remarkable condition. Unlike many late 1800s helmets we have seen this helmet still had its original non adjustable exhaust valve intact. She looked the way she did when she left Morse, execpt for normal wear and tear.

Last week I received an e-mail from our friend Leon Lyons. He had been contacted by a man who was seeking information on diving helmets he owned. Leon forwarded photos and he gave the person my contact information. To my surprise one helmet was serial number 4F. I knew immediately it was not the same helmet I had seen a couple of months ago. Thinking about it a little it came to me that serial numbering was something new to Morse so errors were likely to happen. There are mutiple examples fo duplicated serial numbers in the Morse records. It has happened to DESCO too.

This helmet and AJMS 2061 were owned by the founders of Durocher Dock & Dredge of Cheboygan Michigan. They were used by his great great Grandfather Thomas Durocher and his great Grandfather Raymond Durocher on the Great Lakes in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Thomas Durocher worked for the US Army Corps of Engineers in the late 1800s diving at the Soo Locks. He later founded the Durocher company. Great Grandson Raymond was also a commercial diver. He was a project engineer for Durocher on the Texas Ave. outfall job in Milwaukee in 1995.

For the current records I have designated the Johnsen helmet 4F (1) and the Durocher helmet 4F (2).

Here you have two helmets and two families forever part of the diving history of the Upper Great Lakes. The work they did made life in our cities possible allowing ships to move cargo, building and maintaining water intakes and sewage facilities. Sometimes even bringing solace to grieving families. The only thing 4F about these helmets or the men who used them is a number on a neck ring.