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 Great Lakes Shipwreck Preservation Society

Dedicated to Preserving our Shipwrecks and Maritime History
"From Prevention to Preservation"



HomeBenjamin Noble Photo Mosaic Video Projects

 


 

GLSPS Announces Another Project Series

"The Benjamin Noble Photo Mosaic Project"

 




August 2 - 3, 2014, August 12 - 13, 2017 June 23 - 24, 2018, September 8 - 9, 2018
June 22 - 23, 2019, June 29 - 30, 2019, September 7 - 8, 2019
(June 22 - 23 Postponed because of weather) 
(June 29 - 30 Postponed Until September 8 - 9)
 

This project was formed to document the shipwreck by using a drop video camera to create a HD photo mosaic.   We practiced this method on the Hesper last year and are applying it to the Benjamin Noble shipwreck this year.  The shipwreck is very deep and it may be a bit more challenging however, Jerry Eliason (Well known Lake Superior Shipwreck Hunter), is the leader of this project and he will use his amazing skills using his special designed drop camera.  In the end, he will have created another HD Photo Mosaic to document and help preserve maritime history.
 
 
 
RV Preservation setting up to lower the drop camera for the Photo Mosaic Project


Benjamin Noble Photo Mosaic Project 2019

Closing Report:
September 7 - 8, 2019


The Benjamin Noble Project typically starts out by having one of the Captains Corey Daniel and a another Captain in Training, Jim Christensen cruise the RV Preservation down the north shore to Two Harbors to pickup participants on Saturday morning.

The RV Preservation and crew of Corey Daniel and Jim Christenson arrived in Two Harbors around 10:00 AM Saturday morning to pick up the hardy crew of Jerry Eliason, Bruce Chalupsky and Tim Pranke.  After loading an immense amount of photo and video equipment, all five members depart from the Two Harbors boat launch in route to the Benjamin Noble to drop a video camera on it to 335 Feet in hopes to grab some further needed video footage of the shipwreck to help create the 3D Photo image.

After cruising about 10 miles east from Two Harbors the Captain attempts to bring the boat right over the top of the shipwreck to be able to send down Jerry's drop camera.   The method used was a hand crank style reel with 500 to 600 feet of cable and wiring to keep a constant feel of video on the top side to record.  Today the weather was fairly calm but the visibility of the water below was not so good.

the Captain maneuvered the boat around the wreck to find other areas  to shoot video that was better for clarity but, no sign of clearer waters.  Jerry did shoot some video of the Benjamin Noble but the quality of the video was not so good.

Since the visibility is keeping us off the famous Benjamin Noble shipwreck we decided to move to around shipwreck site called the ??????????  Sorry classified by the MHS.  Because we are custodians of the Great Lakes deep underwater shipwrecks we tend to be able to do more than the public is allowed to do.

We shot more video of the ???????? shipwreck and headed back to Two Harbors. 

Here is a link to a You Tube tube video on-board the RV {reservation while dragging the drop camera.  The video was produce by Bruce Chalupsky.

Event Video On Board the RV Preservation
 

The participants decided that they shot enough video for the day and weekend so, they started the trip back to their homes.  It was still early enough and the boat was almost empty, so the crew decided to cruise the RV Preservation back to Silver Bay later in the afternoon and maybe by night.  The cruise takes about 3.5 hours.  After arrival in Silver Bay, everyone went up town to grab a bite to eat and the retire to the boat for some much needed rest.  

The next day we cleaned the boat and prepared it for the next project.

If you have any questions about this project or anythings we do or did, please contact us.  Our contact information is in the latest Project schedule.

A good time was had by all and most of all, we learned a few things along the way.

Please join us on the next GLSPS Project or program.  Please check our 2019 Project Schedule to see what is next and possibly register for the event by clicking on the event in the project schedule or calendar


We hope to see new members on the next GLSPS Project!!






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Benjamin Noble Photo Mosaic Project 2019

Closing Report:
June 29 - 30, 2019




The Project was Postponed Until September 7 - 8!


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Benjamin Noble Photo Mosaic Projects 2019

Closing Report:
June 22 - 23, 2019


The Project was canceled because of Weather!

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Benjamin Noble Photo Mosaic Project 2018

Closing Report

September 8 - 9, 2018


The Project was canceled because of Weather!


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Benjamin Noble Photo Mosaic Project 2018

Closing Report:

June 23 - 24, 2018



We had a great project!  Saturday, June 23 was a very nice weather day. Corey Daniel, Tim Pranke, Jim Christenson and Jerry Eliason spent 5 hours with Jerry's camera on the BENJAMIN NOBLE to add to the collection of photos to be used to create a 3D model of the NOBLE. The good news is that the visibility was a lot better than it was in 2017. The bad news is that visibility only in the 20 foot range means a lot of manual work will be needed to complete the project with the imagery collected to date.

Jerry has started the labor intensive task of joining the photos. One additional day on the NOBLE with 50 foot visibility would save 100's of hours. When visibility is that good the computer does most of the work and the camera can be kept far enough off the wreck to image large sections of the wreck at one time.


On a Lake Huron wreck Jerry's computer program successfully oriented 6205 of the 6475 photos collected on the first run. So far the best run on the NOBLE was only able to orient 152 of the 71465 NOBLE photos collected to far.

Jerry Eliason
Benjamin Noble Photo Mosaic 
Project Leader



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Benjamin Noble Photo Mosaic Project 2017




Closing Report

August 12, 13, 2017



The Benjamin Noble Photo Mosaic Project is an on going project.  The participants were, Jerry Eliason (Project Leader) Tim Pranke (Captain) and Jim Christenson.  Because it is so deep, it requires a lot of pre-planning based upon the depth of the shipwreck and how much line and cord has to be let out without the possibility of entanglement.We departed from Silver Bay Marina Saturday Morning and cruised down to Two Harbors area.  The Benjamin Noble is about ten mile out from that area which takes a lot of cruising time starting from Silver Bay Marina.  We arrived at the shipwreck site about 1:00 PM and started the procedure of dropping the camera and at least 450 feet of line and feed cord from the camera.  The plan on what was going to be scanned was determined on the depth sounder/side scan and the chart plotter based on the orientation of the shipwreck.

We established our route and began the video shooting to capture video to create a High Def photo of the entire shipwreck.  Since it take many hours to collect video of this detail, we ran out of daylight on Saturday and headed back to Two Harbors for a nights stay and a much needed dinner.  The off to bed at about 10:30 PM.

Sunday we woke about 7:00 AM and had breakfast on-board the RV Preservation and then departed for the Benjamin Noble for the final day of drop camera video footage.

The day was a bit more windy than Saturday so it was a bit hard to keep the video camera steady.  However, we did get some more video coverage until the lake decided to kick up even more which created waves not conducive to shooting video for photo mosaics.  So we pulled up all the equipment and headed back to Silver Bay Marina.

After unloading the boat we stopped at the local restaurant to discuss the next procedure and or date we can get out to obtain more video to complete the photo mosaic.  Tim Pranke, Jim Christenson and I decided we need much more video to complete the photo mosaic.  We will need to reschedule the boat to go out.  This year (2017) the RV Preservation is scheduled for more projects and is not available until next year.  So the photo mosaic project will have to continue in 2018.  

Please check with the GLSPS 2018 Project Schedule to see when we are scheduling the next photo shoot.  If interested please contact me (Jerry Eliason) if you would like to join us for this exciting project.

Thank you to Tim Pranke and Jim Christenson for join me on the Benjamin Noble Photo Mosaic Project.  I hope they can join me again next Year!

Safe Travels

Jerry Eliason
Benjamin Noble Photo Mosaic Project Leader
jgeliason@hotmail.com


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Benjamin Noble Photo Mosaic Project 2014
 
To learn more about the Project, please click on link to read the description of the project.
 

Benjamin Noble Photo Mosaic Project - 8/2/2014

  

 
If you have any questions or comments about the above project, please contact the project leader by clicking on the above link.
 
 
 
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Closing Report:

August 3 - 4 2014



The drop camera work was started and enough video was obtained for the Nomination to the National Register of Historical Places.  Further drop camera work is needed to create a Photo Mosaic in the future.

The Project Participants were Jerry Eliason, Project Leader, Bob Nelson, Boat Operator, Jim Christenson, and Tim Pranke.


The project was both fun and presented a learning experience for all of the participants.  If you are interested in joining the GLSPS in helping Survey and document these valuable and Historical shipwrecks, please let us know.  We always have place for you to help.

GLSPS Board of Directors
info@glsps.org