— dives.
One long descent.

Two barges, one day, both surveyed. On August 16, 2026, Kian ran back-to-back staged-decompression dives on two unidentified Lake Michigan barges, descending first with a buddy to set the mooring, then completing each survey solo while the boat tied in.

Keith's Barge was the prize. Sitting upside down in 115 ft of water with its hull topping out at 95 ft, the wreck had been seen by only one person before. Working with a knotted spool marked every five feet, Kian measured it at 130 × 35 × 20 ft and documented a pair of thick wooden double doors, 8 × 15 ft, opening upward through what is now the ceiling. Inside, the compartments are choked with silt, though one opens into a silt-out passage that runs underneath the hull and exits the far side. He believes he is the first to see the whole wreck, sketch it, measure it, and penetrate it.

Cody's Barge, surveyed on the second dive of the day, came in slightly smaller at 115 × 25 × 20 ft. Kian dropped in at the midship ladder and penetrated bow to stern, finding a large open interior braced with cross beams and columns, oversized drum barrels, a captain's helm, and a circular cutout on the flat top that likely once mounted a small arm crane.

Neither wreck carries a plaque, papers, helmets, or any other identifying mark, all of it apparently stripped before they went down. Kian's working theory: this stretch of lakebed was a dumping ground, where companies scuttled barges rather than pay to have them properly broken up.