2006 SS Meteor Restoration Project

If you were following our website and mnscuba.com you would have had the opportunity to join the GLSPS on April 29 and 30 for the Preservation project aboard the S.S. Meteor.  This was a joint effort by WUAA (Wisconsin Underwater Archeology Association) and the GLSPS.  Together 15 volunteers scraped old paint and re-painted two stairways, one short and two long hallways, and eight rooms on the upper deck of the S.S. Meteor. 

At the same time we were scraping and painting, Susan Anderson, Director of the S.S. Meteor, had a Marine Surveyor from the East Coast (Joe Lombardi) performing a survey to determine the condition of the ship museum.  They needed to determine if the ship would be accepted as a National Historical Monument and whether it is in satisfactory condition to receive the Grants to assure restoration and preservation of this historical and one of a kind ship.   Bob Olson, Karsten Nelson, and a few others assisted the marine surveyor in his needed tasks to accurately assess the condition of this fine historical ship.   

The best thing about this project is having the opportunity to look around the other parts of the ship tourists don’t normally see.  It was great!

The participants of this very worthy cause should be recognized for their time and hard work in getting the ship museum ready for the 2006 tourism season.  The hard working souls attending the S.S. Meteor Project were:

Bob Olson, Karston Nelson, Rick Schmidt, Ken Merryman, Ken Knutson, Steve Daniel, Bob Nelson, Tom Brueshaber (GLSPS); Randy Beebe and Corey Daniel (GLSPS Duluth Chapter); Russel Lietz and Danny Aertz  (WUAA); Susan Anderson, and Don from the maintenance department of the S.S. Meteor .

The Saturday night festivities organized by Elmer Engman were great.  He organized a buffet and speakers at the Holiday Inn Express in Duluth.  Elmer gave his superb presentation on the whaleback ships.  Joe Lombardi talked about historical military ships.  The third presentation was from one of our very own GLSPS Board members Ken Merryman. He presented a video on one of the latest shipwrecks he and his colleagues found in Lake Superior.  

A heart felt thanks from the personnel and supporters of the S.S. Meteor goes out to all that helped on this project. 

Phil Kerber

The 2006 Meteor work crew.	Phil Kerber and Randy Beebe paint the crew's mess hall.
Karsten Nelson vacuums one of the crew's quarters in preparation for painting.	Steve and Corey Daniel scrape the doors for the crew's quarters.
A lot of scrapping goes into the job as Rick Schmidt will attest to.	Bob Olson, Phil Kerber, Karsten Nelson, and Randy Beebe assist the marine surveyor in lifting bilge plates for the hull inspection.
GLSPS members learned a lot about hull inspections from the inspector Joe Lambardi (right)