Recently, the Fleet Society welcomed its 99th member. We are 1 member away from reaching a milestone………100 members! Membership in the Society was opened to the public in November, 2014. Now, here we are, just 1 member away from 100, which tells us a lot about our Society and the popularity of all things Fleet related. We don’t know who our lucky 100 will be. But out there somewhere, our next member is lurking. Whoever he or she is, we plan on showcasing this new member in a special post.
In the meantime, here are some interesting facts about our current members. Our membership (including the 3 Directors) extends to 24 states. We also have 1 member from Puerto Rico, the Cayman Islands and Canada (Nova Scotia, to be precise). Not surprisingly, the bulk of our members (49) are from Florida. California comes in a distant second with 7. Our first member was Frank Noga (Ohio) and our last (99th) was Kyle Kennedy of Seafarer Exploration Corporation (Florida).
When we decided to open the Society to public membership, we did so with the promise that membership would involve only a one time initiation fee of $125.00 with no yearly dues thereafter. We intend to continue that tradition with the proviso that the initiation fee will be increased after our 100th member has enrolled. This increase will be needed to help fund our ongoing projects and conferences.
Thank you all very much for your continued support and words of encouragement. I am seriously considering retiring in a year or so, after which time I can devote all of my energy to the Society and the members that are a part of it.
Ben Costello, Director.
