Docs & Reference – Shotline’s Research Back Room
This is where the knowledge-base side of Shotline Diving lives: documents, methods, glossaries and the links out to the wider research world. It is the place you end up when a quick wreck lookup turns into an evening of “just one more source” and cross-checking details.
The pages and tools here explain how information is stored and classified, give you direct access to the underlying documents, and collect the external references that sit behind many of the wreck and site records. In other words, this is where the footnotes live – laid out so that divers and researchers can follow the same trails.
Use the tiles below to move between the Documents & Files Directory, the main Knowledge Base portal, glossaries, search tips, methodology notes and curated research links.
Documents & DirectoryKnowledge Base PortalGlossary & SearchMethodologyResearch Links
Core Docs & Knowledge-Base Portals
These entries map directly to the main documentation and reference tools already in place on Shotline Diving: your master directory of files, the BetterDocs knowledge base, and supporting pages that explain terms and help people search the archive effectively.
DF
Directory
Documents & Files Directory
The central index for Shotline documents and files: reports, PDFs, maps, working notes, survey forms, historical clippings and more. Organised by type and project, with links back to related wrecks, regions and tools wherever possible.
Start here when you know you are looking for “a document” rather than “a wreck page” – especially for background reading and supporting material.
Open Documents & Files Directory »
KB
Knowledge Base
Shotline Diving Knowledge Base Portal
The main entry point into the Shotline Diving Knowledge Base (BetterDocs): structured collections of articles grouped by topic, region and project. This is where the “explainers” live – pages that pull together multiple wrecks, documents and links into a single narrative.
Ideal when you want to understand a subject or area as a whole, rather than a single wreck in isolation.
GL
Glossary
Glossary of Terms
Shotline Diving’s glossary of terms, abbreviations and shorthand. Covers both maritime vocabulary and the internal labels used on the site, so that “nerds like us” and new readers are working from the same set of definitions.
Useful when you hit a phrase that looks obvious but might have a very specific meaning in a wreck, survey or archival context.
KS
Search Tips
Keyword Search Cheat Sheet
A practical guide to searching Shotline Diving effectively: suggested keywords, common spelling variants, lake and region tags, and ways to combine terms when you are chasing a fragment of information through the archive.
Written for people who already know how to search, but want to match the way this particular site is structured and tagged.
View Keyword Search Cheat Sheet »
MC
Methodology
Methodology & Classifications
A description of how Shotline tags and classifies wrecks and sites: rating system, colour coding on the map, depth bands, site types, condition descriptors and any special labels used for research status or access.
Reference material for anyone who wants to understand why a site is rated or coloured the way it is, or who is building their own tools on top of Shotline data.
Read Methodology & Classifications »
RR
External Links
Research & Reference Links
A curated list of external research sites frequently used in Shotline work: ship registers, image collections, newspaper archives, 3D model hosts and specialist Great Lakes resources. These are the places where much of the source material comes from.
Intended as a jumping-off point for independent research and cross-checking, not as a complete catalogue of everything ever written about the lakes.
View Research & Reference Links »
Methodology & Classifications – How Shotline Describes Sites
The wreck and site records on Shotline Diving follow a consistent internal logic so that entries can be compared across regions and projects. Tags, colours and ratings are not arbitrary; they are built from a set of working rules that balance historical accuracy, diving reality and the limits of available data.
A full breakdown lives on the dedicated Methodology & Classifications page, but the main components include:
- Site type: wreck, shore dive, structure, aircraft, vehicle, special site.
- Waterbody & region tags: lake or river, plus a project or locality label.
- Depth & rating bands: typical depth range and a conservative dive rating.
- Map colours: used to indicate type, depth or other key attributes on the Wreck Map.
- Research status: confirmed, probable, speculative, or “under active research”.
When in doubt, the system leans toward clarity and caution: it is better to mark a position as approximate, a depth as variable or a rating as conservative than to present speculation as certainty.
Research & Reference Links
Many Shotline entries are built on top of work done by archives, libraries and other research projects around the Great Lakes. The list below highlights some of the external sites most frequently used when tracing vessel histories, checking newspaper accounts or finding historical images and plans.
- Maritime History of the Great Lakes (MHGL) – digitised documents, images and vessel files.
- GreatLakesShips.org – vessel data and historic photographs.
- 3DShipwrecks.org – public hosting for 3D models of Great Lakes wrecks.
- David Swayze Shipwreck File – compiled records of wrecks and casualties.
- Additional archives, newspapers and local collections are linked directly from individual wreck and project pages where they are most relevant.
These external resources are independent of Shotline Diving and have their own strengths, gaps and editorial decisions. They are used here as reference points, cross-checks and starting places for further work, not as unquestioned authorities.