When people think of ROV discoveries, they think about the big behemoths of ROVs roaming the deepest trenches of the ocean. However, you don’t have to go kilometers deep to encounter your fair share of surprises. At SEAMOR we sometimes reflect on some of the awesome adventures our ROVs have been on and the discoveries they’ve made. Here are a few of our favourites from over the years.
The Plane Crash
When planes crash into the ocean, their wrecks still need to be located and recuperated to the best of our abilities as humans. No casualties but the one cargo plane that landed in the sea off the coast of Oahu, Hawaii. United States Coast Guard and Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting (ARFF) were able to save the two pilots. An investigation was launched to get to the bottom, pun intended, of this. The plane wreck now rested at approximately 420 feet depth.
All wreck parts needed to be surveyed which was THE job for a SEAMOR Chinook and the company Sea Engineering Inc. SEI put SEAMOR Marine’s high-customizability to thorough use, outfitting their Chinook with an ultra-short-base wavelength transponder and Hypack Navigation and DGPS, which enabled them to monitor and record the ROV’s position in real time. The Chinook’s standard-definition camera with 180-degree rotation and 30x zoom capability brought the submerged aircraft clearly into focus, while the camera canister helped illuminate its surroundings with 3,000 Lumens of dimmable lighting.
Andrew Rocheleau, President of Sea Engineering, Inc commented on the mission stating, “SEI supports a variety of projects in the Pacific region, ranging from Wave Energy to the offshore oil and gas, geophysical surveys and marine pollution and emergency salvage and response. SEI relies on the SEAMOR Chinook ROV to support all of these ventures. The Chinook continues to be dependable, fast to mobilize and produces quality data for our projects and clients.” Full Story.
Ghost Gear
By now we all know that ghost gear is an environmental hazard for animals and habitats. Even boats can be damaged by larger clumps of plastics and metal when at sea. Unfortunately, this type of pollution can even be found in remote areas across all oceans. SEAMOR Marine has been part of several beach clean ups, offshore ghost gear recovery projects, and we even host out own land-based beach cleans.
The SEAMOR Chinook took on the challenge of finding and retrieving all crab pots from Lax Kw’alaams First Nation traditional marine territory in Prince Rupert, BC, Canada. Lax Kw’alaams Fishing Enterprise and Shift Environmental Technologies worked together on this exciting project. The Chinook on duty carried a Blueview P900-45 multi beam sonar and Blueprint SeaTrac lightweight USBL acoustic positioning system to help effectively locate the debris in low visibility conditions. After a day’s work, the team recovered 630kg of ghost gear.
CERMIM hosted a clean up in May of 2022. It is one of Canada’s largest operations to date. Check out their YouTube video for a closer look.
SEAMOR Legacy 300T – Our Own ROV!
In 2014 a Great Lakes shipwreck hunter had to abandon his SEAMOR ROV in Lake Michigan. This, at a depth of 134 meters (440 feet) after it became entangled in the 1929 shipwreck of the Senator. The Senator was freighter carrying 268 Nash automobiles from Milwaukee to Detroit. The ROV remained submerged at 134 meters until 2022, 8 years later!
The shipwreck hunter spent 12 hours power washing and cleaning his SEAMOR ROV then tried starting it. It fired up immediately! After spending eight years at a depth of 134 meters (440 feet) in Lake Michigan, the ROV did not have any visible leaks. We only found a bit of corrosion at both ends of the thrusters, and just two parts required replacing: the gripper and one light. Full Story.
ROV Discoveries
The ocean is a vast, unknown, and extreme environment. Thanks to ROVs and their niche technology, we are able to discover, explore, and make use of the ocean’s gifts. ROVs are great tools, large or small, to recover lost items. They are also great for a whole list of other more inspection and construction related tasks. At SEAMOR Marine we have a passionate team that keeps us innovating so we can all see the deep. Come chat with us to find the best ROVs and ROV accessories for your underwater job(s).