Lake Michigan Classic Diving Organization

09/29/2026

The next newsletter will be going out soon. The date has been set for the annual meeting. It will be held Saturday December 12th at 1pm in DESCO's lunchroom. The museum will open at 12pm. If anyone is interested in serving as a club officer let Christian or Trevor know. All offices are up for grabs in an election held during the annual meeting. Since I will be retiring from DESCO at the end of the year and my future plans are uncertain I'd would like to find someone to replace me as secretary. Christian and Lily will be doing an exhibit at the Lost Arts Festival at Grohmann Museum this Saturday.

08/11/2026

The USD Royal regulator is back. The repair guy did a great job on it. All the old bad parts have been replaced with new ones. In a perfect word we would have a DESCO Air Master regulator for demos and and trydives. The one we have is not diveable and having it overhauled would diminish its historical value.

We want to pair it with a Pressed Steel Tank scuba tank. PST tanks were made in West Allis across from the Allis Chalmers plant. We happen to have one in the company collection. It will need the valve rebuilt and a hydro test. On the tank we display the Safe-T-Eye there is a DESCO backpack minus the straps. We are thinking about using it on the rig.

07/14/2026

In the last newsletter the idea of incorporating vintage scuba into LMCDO programs was introduced.

During the annual meeting last year, we were discussing the future of LMCDO and the things we wanted the group to offer and accomplish. One suggestion was including vintage scuba equipment in events.

It just so happened that somewhere along the line DESCO acquired some old regulators. How they came to be part of the company collection has been lost to time, but they are here no less. We have a US Divers Royal double hose regulator, and a US Divers DA double hose regulator. We reached out to Robert Studnicka who operates the website https://thescubamuseum.com/. I asked Rob which of these two regs would be a good candidate for LMCDO to use as a club piece of equipment. He said either would be fine for the task. Rob hooked us up with a person willing to overhaul the regulator. At this stage we are determining what the cost would be to do the work. We are leaning towards repairing the Royal regulator as Rob mentioned it is a very easy breathing reg. We may send both regs to the repair guy and see which one is in better overall condition.

We can also cover vintage single hose as we also own a Voit Avalon II with a first stage, and a Healthways Waterlung with the companion Healthways first stage.

If interest is high enough, we could also get one of the single hose units repaired too.

DESCO does have some history in sport and commercial self-contained diving. The WWII rebreathers were converted to civilian use and the small A Lung was created. In 1955 the DESCO Air Master double hose regulator was introduced. In the 1960s DESCO created the Safety Eye tank pressure monitor.

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.

Send a message to learn more

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/