Events

Saturday, May 30, 2026

At the Wisconsin Maritime Museum, Manitowoc, Wisconsin

10:00 am till approximately 1:00 – 2:00 pm.* (lunch on your own)

$25 per person

(16 person maximum)

Interested in helping document underwater shipwrecks with WUAA? Consider joining us for hands-on training.

Instructor Russel Leitz has been documenting shipwrecks for over 20 years, and teaching documentation techniques for the last 10 years for various groups including for NAS Certification, at Ghost Ships, for WUAA and the Wisconsin Historical Society’s Maritime Preservation and Archaeology Program, and more.

Class covers:

Identification of basic parts of a wreck
Drawing to scale on a model shipwreck and placing the drawing on a site plan
Learning how to gather off-set and trilateration information on scattered wreckage and placing on the site plan
Other necessary information to gather about the wreckage
How to develop your site plan from start to finish.

You will receive a booklet which covers class contents.

The class will go without a formal lunch break, but there is time to eat a bag lunch if you’d like to bring one.

Questions? Contact Russel Leitz at 920-284-8535 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

*Ending time depends on class interaction, questions asked, etc.

Mark your calendars for this year's WUAA Fall Symposium! 𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒐𝒖𝒓 20𝒕𝒉 𝑨𝒏𝒏𝒖𝒂𝒍 𝑼𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒘𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝑨𝒓𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒐𝒍𝒐𝒈𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑴𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝑯𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒕, which showcases some of the most interesting work being done in Wisconsin.

The event will be held on Saturday, October 18th at the Wisconsin Maritime Museum in Manitowoc. There is a small nominal fee of $20 at the door, but the presentations are well worth it.

The slate of presenters is still coming together, but always includes the Wisconsin Historical Society Maritime Archeology program's year in review. This has been an exciting season for their fieldwork with many new discoveries. We will also have a presentation from the Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary and Bob Jaeck and I will share the discovery of the river steamer L.W. Crane near Oshkosh this Spring.

Tickets Here

The class met in Sheboygan at the dock on South Pier Boardwalk and learned the ways of doing side scan sonar successfully and accurately.

We'd like to thank everyone who participated in the Wisconsin Underwater Archeology Association's ROV Certification Course yesterday. This is an annual course we offer to train WUAA members on the use of our Chasing Remote Operated Vehicles for underwater archeology surveys.

The course consisted of a morning classroom component in which we covered ROVs in depth, discussing brands, features, prices, and vendors. We then reviewed how to maintain and care for ROVs, techniques for effective field use, and we did a workshop on how to assemble, connect, use the software, disconnect and store the ROVs.

In the afternoon, we boarded a 28 foot pontoon boat and went out on Lake Michigan for some practical experience. Students practiced all the movement directions near the surface, before diving for the bottom and practicing underwater navigation, photography and videography using the ROVs.

The course received excellent reviews and we now have a new batch of WUAA members who will be able to use our ROVs in the field.

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ROV and Side Scan Sonar EVENTS

Shipwreck Documentation Class

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WUAA Fall Symposium 2025

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