Diving group surfaces with film
A local emergency services responder and SCUBA diving expert is working to rejuvenate a national diving organization that has moved from Florida to Freeport.
The group's first project will be the invitation-only premiere of a documentary on diving the wreck of the SS Cedarville in the Straits of Mackinac in Michigan.
Conrad Pfeifer, a longtime police officer in southern Butler County and executive director at Quality EMS in Adams Township, said the Cambrian Foundation was based for many years in Florida.
The foundation's mission is “research, education, preservation and exploration of the aquatic realm.”
Its members have explored the USS Monitor, the Edmund Fitzgerald before it was declared off-limits, World War II shipwrecks in Guadalcanal, and other sunken vessels.
Pfeifer, who is a foundation board member, said the group was in need of a rejuvenation, so he approached West Sunbury native and fellow diver Jennifer Dillaman to move the foundation from Florida to Freeport, where Dillaman lives.Dillaman, who is board president, agreed, and the board came up with an idea.“The foundation said, 'To get back on the map, let's make an expedition to make a video documentary for the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum,'” Pfeifer said.So, with Dillaman as the project director and videographer, Pfeifer, Dillaman and four other divers from the foundation made the trip to Michigan in August to dive and film the Cedarville's watery grave.The SS Cedarville, a 588-foot lake freighter, sunk on May 7, 1965, in the Straits of Mackinac in Michigan while hauling more than 14 tons of limestone from Rogers City, Mich., to Gary, Ind. The Cedarville collided with the Norwegian ship Topalsfjord in heavy fog. Ten of the 35 aboard the Cedarville perished in the strait, which is the connecting waterway between lakes Michigan and Huron.Pfeifer said the crew completed two dives per day after a quick boat ride from Mackinac City during their three-day expedition.Each dive to the Cedarville was 50 minutes long at a depth of 110 feet.Dillaman put the documentary together, and it will premiere Jan. 21 at the AMC South Pike Theater in Buffalo Township before an invitation-only audience.If enough public interest in the documentary occurs, the public may be invited to a showing at the theater.Pfeifer said the Cedarville remains a “natural reef,” which is diverspeak for a wreck that remains undisturbed at the location of its sinking, as opposed to an artificial reef, which is a ship that has been prepared for divers and placed in the water at a certain location.Pfeifer has explored about 200 shipwrecks, including the Andria Doria, USS Monitor, World War I battleships, German U-boats and other fascinating specimens in his 40-year diving career.He said the Cedarville is enormous, and remains an interesting dive.“There are still clothes hanging in the closets,” Pfeifer said.He said the Cedarville documentary will be offered to the Great Lakes Museum, where the foundation hopes it will remain a permanent audio-visual display for visitors.Pfeifer and Dillaman said the documentary will allow nondivers to experience the 3D dive on the Cedarville, and could help with future ship safety as experts will be able to examine how and why she sank.But the main reason for the documentary was to preserve the history of the Cedarville as maritime shipping continues into the future.“Right now, there are still people who were alive when the Cedarville sailed,” Pfeifer said.Dillaman, who also is co-owner of Scott's Scuba Service in Freeport, said one reason the Cedarville was chosen for the documentary project is its relatively shallow resting place, where divers of all skill levels can access it.She said newer divers can peruse the ship's hulking exterior, but more expertise is needed to dive the interior.Dillaman said she began pursuing diving after graduating from Moniteau High School in 2010 and getting a job, which allowed her to purchase equipment needed for the hobby.“Every time I go underwater, it's like I'm home,” she said. “It's an entirely different world and you're seeing a part of this planet you don't get to see any other way but diving.”Her first dive was in Aruba with her husband, Josh, and the couple has explored underwater phenomena in Mexico, the Great Lakes and other areas.Dillaman said she is thrilled to re-energize the Cambrian Foundation, which is a traditionally well-respected diving organization.She explained that in the 1960s and 1970s, foundation members were active and pursued amazing projects such as the USS Monitor, a 173-foot Civil War-era ironclad that rests at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean in Cape Hattaras, N.C.The foundation was located in Florida because it was the home of many members, Dillaman said.Then, as the members aged, the number of projects died down and the foundation went quiet.She was approached about two years ago by Pfeifer, who suggested they rejuvenate the foundation.Dillaman took on the role of board president because she has the dive shop, which allows space for meetings, equipment demonstrations and other foundation activities.More information on the foundation can be found at cambrianfoundation.org.
