Biographical Information

        This website was designed by Brendon Baillod.  I am 41 years old and currently live in Marshall, Wisconsin just outside of Madison, Wisconsin with my wife Melissa (Niemi) Baillod  and my 7 year old son, Justin Baillod.  I moved here from Milwaukee,Wisconsin, where I lived from 1988 until 2000. I grew up in Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula where I attended Dollar Bay Elementary School, Calumet High School and Michigan Technological University.  After a three year stint studying Technical Writing at MTU, I moved to southern Wisconsin where I trained as a Mental Health Counselor.  Over a ten year period I worked as a Psychiatric Technician at Kettle Moraine Hospital, Charter Hospital, CPC Greenbriar Hospital, Rogers Memorial Hospital and Community Memorial Hospital. I also worked for the Wisconsin based behavioral health managed care provider CNR Health for two years and recieved a Bachelors Degree in Psychology from the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee.  I met my wife Melissa at our ten year high school reunion in 1995 and we were married on August 9, 1997.  Melissa is a Registered Nurse and Clinical Systems Analyst who received her BS in Nursing from Northern Michigan University in Marquette, Michigan.   Together, we decided to return to school at UW - Milwaukee to pursue second degrees in Management Information Systems, graduating together in 2000. Both Melissa and I were employed as Internet Engineers/Consultants with AE Business Solutions and I later worked as a Software Engineer for Stratagem Consulting in Madison, Wisconsin where I developed Java based Internet applications for business clients.  I now work as a Senior Software Engineer for Great Lakes Educational Loan Services in Madison, Wisconsin where I specialize in architecting cross platform system integration technologies such as Web Services, Enterprise Service Bus technology and system mediation middleware.  Melissa worked a Clinical Systems Analyst with the University of Wisconsin Hospital & Clinics for several years and now works as a Clinical Project Manager for Meriter Hospital in Madison.

            In my spare time, I research Great Lakes maritime history with an emphasis on the shipwrecks of Lakes Michigan and Superior.  I have been featured on the Discovery Channel, the History Channel's Deep Sea Detectives series and several regional television programs.  My work has been published in several regional historical journals and I have authored two shipwreck nominations to the National Register of Historic Places.  I am currently the President of the Wisconsin Underwater Archeology Association and a Director at Large of the Association for Great Lakes Maritime History who recently awarded me their 2008 Award for Historic Interpretation.  I am an active member of the Wisconsin Marine Historical Society, the Great Lakes Historical Society, the Keweenaw County Historical Society and the Wisconsin Maritime Museum. My current projects include the book Ghosts of the Oceana Coast, a survey of Pentwater, Michigan shipwrecks and the book Ghosts of the Ozaukee Coast, a survey of Port Washington, Wisconsin shipwrecks. I have also worked on creating an inventory of submerged cultural resources in Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula, creating a catalog of all vessels constructed in Michigan's Keweenaw and creating a database of all the historical losses of Lake Michigan.  I have been working on both projects for several years and they are nearing completion.  I am also currently involved in the creation of a series of Archeological and Historical surveys of the shipwrecks of Wisconsin and am a founder and Director of the Great Lakes Shipwreck Research Foundation, Inc. which holds Milwaukee's annual Ghost Ships Festival.  I am an avid collector of antiquarian Great Lakes marine history books and ephemera as well as an avid outdoorsman and I am the creator of the Great Lakes Shipwreck Research website which currently receives over 2000 visitor per week.  I particularly enjoy my yearly canoeing trip to Isle Royale National Park which I have been making for the past 15 years. I also dabble in Geneaology and created the Baillod.com website about my family's history.       

Siskiwit Lake - Isle Royale