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PAST MEETINGS OF THE EXPLORERS CLUB |
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Chapter Web Pages |
MEETINGS AND EVENTS OF THE PAST YEARIn reverse chronologic order
On November 13th, Explorers Club Fellows Denis Belliveau FR'97 and Francis O'Donnell FR'97 (pictured right) presented "In The Footsteps of Marco Polo." The presenters are the producers of a four part Public Broadcasting Corporation documentary and accompanying book--on this topic both scheduled to debut in late November, 2008.
Denis Belliveau and Francis O'Donnell traveled the entire route of Marco Polo's venture by land for nearly two years. This is believed the FIRST and ONLY people to retrace Marco Polo's journey in the past 700 years. Their trip is documented in word, photographs and video
at the authors' website http://www.returntovenice.com/. Dates for the PBS presentation can also be found there. 
On Thursday, October 16th , 2008 chapter members and guests had the opportunity to tour the WHYDAH
Pirate Ship exhibition at The Franklin (formerly The Franklin Institute). This was a joint affair with The Keystone Divers Club. There was an introductory presentation in The Franklin's lecture hall by shipwreck explorer, Barry Clifford. Barry was the discoverer of the shipwreck "Whydah", the focus of the Real Pirates exhibit. He provided unique insight and details into the discovery and preservation of artifacts from the Whydah. 
On Thursday, Sept 25th, Steven Schwankert, MI'05, leader of 2007 Explorers Club flag expedition to Mongolia’s Lake Hovsgol came all the way from Beijing for a presentation entitled "HOVSGUL NUUR: DIVING IN THE LAND OF CHINGGIS KHAN (Ghengis Khan)". He showed a film documenting last year’s Explorers Club expedition to dive Lake Hovsgol and record its aquatic life. The team also studied the historic and current impacts of human activity, ranging from shipwrecks to sunken cars and trucks, and even Buddhist idols allegedly thrown into the lake in the 1930s. A New Jersey native, Schwankert founded SinoScuba, the first professional dive operation in Beijing. Capt Joel Fogel MN'73 and his wife, Coty, hosted a WEEKEND FIELD TRIP to The South Jersey Shore. On Sunday, breakfast was at Bay
Shores, then all headed up to Mays Landing for a kayak tour of the upper Egg Harbor River and the adjacent Lake Lenape.
Our Chapter Dinner/Lecture Meeting on Thursday, April 10, 2008 was graced with two presentations. While members and their guests dined at The Downtown Club they enjoyed a presentation by Domenique Gorlitz on the archeological reconstruction and sailing of the ABORA I, II & III recreations of very early reed boats that may have crossed the Atlantic Ocean during the golden age of Egypt or even much earlier. The ABORA team members are presently attempting to raise sufficient capital to build ABORA IV and complete the Atlantic Ocean crossing. The après dinner advertised presentation featured Ross MacPhee, Ph.D. FR¹03, Curator of Mammals
at the American Museum of Natural History. His subject was “Living on the Bottom: Early Mammals,
Sundered Continents, and Ancient Climate Change in Antarctica.
Antarctica once served as the crossroads of Gondwana, the ancient supercontinent
whose last components dispersed some 30 to 40 million years ago when the southern tail or South
America separated from Antarctica. Fossils of marsupials, duckbill dinosaurs and ancient relatives
of sloths and anteaters have been found on islands in the James Ross Group. Dr. MacPhee explained
how marsupials came to be found throughout the southern hemisphere. How plants and animals managed
to live where none can survive today. He talked about his recent work on Seymour Island, including
the season¹s major finds and the evidence for ancient climate change in the Antarctic. Our Tuesday, March 4, 2008 Chapter Meeting was held jointly with the Delaware Valley MIT Alumni Society was titled MIT alumna Dr. Dallas Abbott and Explorers Club Fellow Dee Breger are investigating previously unknown cosmic impacts that may have changed the course of human history. Both researchers are members of an international team of six maverick investigators who are dedicated to revealing major impacts since the ending of the last ice age about 13,000 years ago. Their research suggests that many more comets have struck the Earth during the Holocene era, and that these catastrophic impacts and consequent climate changes could well have caused many famines, plagues, wars and massive population migrations. Abbott presented the results of an expedition to sample massive megatsunami deposits in Madagascar, and Breger showed submicroscopic evidence for these cataclysmic events.  On Thursday, December 6, 2007.
the subject of our meeting was A panel discussion moderated by journalist
Carl Hoffman on proceedures for salvaging historic aircraft followed dinner. The panel featured: 
On Thursday, October 11, 2007 the day originally set aside to honor the Italian Explorer Christoforo Colombo (Christopher Columbus), Steve Gatto narrated a movie describing a dive to the Andrea Doria. Considered by some to be a penetration so ominous and remote one can only dare to dream about it, the Andrea Doria finally reveals what she has guarded for so long. If the Andrea Doria is the Mount Everest of wreck diving, then this dive might just be the summit. This was a breathtaking adventure into the unknown! Steve Gatto and his associate Tom Packer have been exploring and photographing offshore shipwrecks together from Nantucket to North Carolina for 24 years, including 19 consecutive years on the Andrea Doria. Their 20th year diving the Andrea Doria coincided with her 50th year anniversary of the sinking. Other of their favorite shipwrecks include the submarine S5, the Steamer Steamer Lucy Neff, Mud Hole wrecks, the USS Monitor, and Billy Mitchell wrecks. Our chapter meeting also hosted Robert Whitby, Explorers Club VP for chapters who updated us with the status of club chapters around the world. |
