Welcome to the only site dedicated to the Material Service Barge - and nothing else! I wrote a series of magazine articles on Chicagoland shipwrecks in 1989-1990, and the article on the MSB was by far the most popular. Over the years the article has been resurrected in various degrees. In July of 2007 I was approached my another magazine that was creating a midwest issue. Apparently (nice ego boost here) everyone they talked to referenced my article and websites. My websites filled the search engine results. Interest in the MSB remains high, and it's still a great wreck dive. So I finally decided to create a website just for this venerable divesite.

This site is a combination of my research materials, videos, photos, personal observations, and hopefully, contributions from other divers! The research area contains most of the material I was able to unearth while researching the wreck. Just to proves the old adage that you never stop learning, I found out a ton of new facts while talking to Capt. Bob from DiveChicago. Hopefully we'll both have time to have a long talk. I thought I had local dive experience (I started in 1974 at 14 years old) - he started in the 1950's at 9 years old with an old UDT diver. Where? On the MSB!

To really make this site as complete as possible, I need more material. Photos, videos, reviews. I can no longer dive (jaw surgery from 2002 precludes it) so have to rely on others to supply the new information. Right now all the photos and videos are from the late 1980's.

The good: No Zebra Mussels. The bad: Vis was pretty bad back then (5'-7' average!)

If you have photos, videos, or would like to send me comments on the wreck or write a review, I'd appreciate it. You'll get credit and a link back to your website.

I'll be updating this site often, and whenever someone supplies new materials. Right now I'm concentrating on the research area, scanning all my research materials, photos, documents, etc.

FYI. Here's the Google Maps view of the area.