Sea Technology

MAR 2016

The industry's recognized authority for design, engineering and application of equipment and services in the global ocean community

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40 st / March 2016 www.sea-technology.com ship had been shot more than 200 times to make it sink so that it would not pose a hazard to shipping, so we were surprised at how intact she appeared after 60 years on the sea- bed. We found the ship's funnel ly- ing next to the wreck, with its steam whistle still in place and a variety of deck equipment. The fo'c's'le deck had popped out and was sticking up almost vertically, either from the ship impacting the seabed when she sunk or an iceberg grounding against the hull (we mapped a number of iceberg scours on the seabed). All of us on board were extremely excited by our fnd; we had thought it was quite a long shot, but we had to stay quiet until we had advised the various governments with interests in the wreck where we had found it. We also had to supply them with the video and data we collected during the survey. The wreck falls within Greenland's territorial waters, and it can be visited, as long as you have the appropriate permits and clearances. Post-Terra Nova Since locating the Terra Nova, we have found several other wrecks, two of which were in the Gulf of Mexico, Surveying the Wreck We did lots of research and found vessel logs and documents that totally changed everything we knew about the Terra Nova's loss. We also met lots of interest- ing and helpful people along the way who helped us piece togeth- er a detailed understanding of the Terra Nova's last few months. The research was as exciting as the actual survey. Within just 45 min- utes of starting the survey, using a Kongsberg EM 710 system to con- duct extensive 3D seafoor map- ping, the team was able to lower a camera system down onto the wreck and verify it as the Terra Nova. To navigate the camera rig right over the wreck, we used another of the Falkor's acoustic systems, the USBL, which allows us to track equipment in the wa- ter to submeter accuracy. Using the USBL tracking and the ship's high-resolution multibeam, we were able to place the camera rig, with high-intensity lights and cameras, right where we needed it to get the proof that this was indeed the Terra Nova. A lot of the technological work involved processing multibeam data, so we could be sure that the target we found was the actual wreck. The ship was sitting upright on the seabed, and we found a lot more than I had expected. We knew that the A point cloud showing the wreck on the seabed.

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