Meet the Shipwreck Explorers

Allan “Butch” Klopp of Port Washington, Wisconsin, began scuba diving on Lake Michigan shipwrecks in the mid-1960s. Klopp is credited with finding the shipwreck Northerner (1851-1868) in 135 feet off Port Washington. During his diving career, Klopp made hundreds of dives to dozens of shipwrecks across the Great Lakes.

During those dives he brought up thousands of artifacts for public display at three museums he helped start, in Algoma, Port Washington, and St.Ignace, Michigan. When those museums closed in the 1980s and 1990s, the artifacts were stored at his home, until he passed away in 2021 at the age of 76.

Bellrichard’s companion diver and mentor, John Steele, was one of the first shipwreck hunters on the Great Lakes. He found dozens of shipwrecks over more than 30 years of diving, including: the gas screw Rosinco (1916-1928), the steamer SS Wisconsin (1881-1929), the steam barge Selah Chamberlain (1873-1886), among others. Steele was also a pioneer underwater filmmaker, who recorded his discoveries to be shared with the public. He passed away in 2016 in Brown Deer, Wisconsin at the age of 89.

Gordon “Kent” Bellrichard is considered to be one of the most prolific shipwreck hunters in the western Great Lakes. Originally from Milwaukee, Bellrichard was responsible for finding numerous wrecks in the 1970s and 1980s, including: the schooner Rouse Simmons (1868-1912), the package steamer Vernon (1886-1887), the carferry SS Milwaukee (1903-1929), canal schooner Walter B. Allen (1866-1880), among others. Bellrichard used a WWIl-era ANSQS1 sonar to find the shipwrecks. He was trained with U.S. Coast Guard to operate this sonar.

“Sheboygan’s Shipwreck Detective”

Steve Radovan is a living legend of shipwreck discoveries in the upper Great Lakes. Since the 1970s, he has found at least a dozen shipwrecks. Some of these wrecks in Lake Michigan include: the brig Abiah (1848-1854), the trading schooner Byron (1849 – 1867), the schooner Floretta (1868-1885), the schooner Home (1843-1858), the dredge McMullen & Pitz (1918-1919), canal barkentine Mojave (1863-1864), as well as the smokestack from the steam propeller Phoenix (1845-1847). He is also credited with co-finding the schooner Gallinipper (1832-1851) and the steam screw Robert C. Pringie (1903-1922).

As a pioneer SCUBA diver with a passion for shipwreck discoveries, Radovan is considered a key figure in Wisconsin’s maritime archaeology community.

In 1987, Steve Radovan was one of the advisory committee members for the implementation of the Abandoned Shipwrecks Act in Wisconsin. That law was enacted to protect shipwrecks in State waters from being stripped of artifacts.

Author, Dive Instructor, Filmmaker, Wreck Hunter

Richard Bennett is a renowned SCUBA instructor and inventor within the Milwaukee dive community. In 1966, he became one of the first certified Master SCUBA Diver Trainers for the Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI #12). With over sixty years of experience as a diver, filmmaker, and author, Bennett has educated and entertained over three generations of Great Lakes explorers.

The vintage dive gear in this exhibit, was used by Bennett during his early days of diving between the 1950s and 1980s. During the mid-1980s, he also designed and built the Jason 300 submersible vehicle to aid in his shipwreck hunting expeditions. In particular, it was designed to search for chests of gold that some believe were lost off Poverty Island in northern Lake Michigan during the Civil War.