Hello,
this summer we did a search and recovery for a sunken sailing ship. The ship went to ground of a local lake due to a storm in summer 2001. Nobody was hurt, skipper has been rescued by local water rescue organisation.
Since no exact location of the sinking was available a search area of about one square kilometer had to be scanned till we had success.
Some details on the search and the settings we used:
sailing boat: type fighter/twin, 6,23m long, 1,98m wide, 560kg, 8,5m mast
search area: 1km²
search pattern: best efficiency
depth: between 5m and 35m
sonar: Humminbird 1198c, 455khz SI, range setting 40m, 5km/h speed
After successful locating the sailing ship in 30m depth water, standing upright on its keel, we positively verified the sonar contact with a ROV being the sailing ship we where searching for.
After some weeks of planning, staffing, legal stuff and waiting for good weather conditions we were able to bring the ship back to water surface with the help of 3 mechanical winches and ropes with carabiners attached to strong points on the sailing ship. The carabiners have been put in place with the help of the grabber of our ROV, reducing underwater time of our divers. Additionally the weight of the ship had been reduced with 3x50kg salvage bags, mounted and filled by the help of two of our rescue divers.
Even after 11 years on the ground of the lake it turned out that the ship is in such a good shape that it is possible to repair the ship.
Please find attached some pic's and documentation. Any comments/questions are welcome.
Regards,
Flo
search grid:
sonar contact:
one strong point used for the carabiners:
preparation/construction phase:
ROV work - attaching a carabiner with rope to strong point
almost recovered:
almost recovered 2:
...11years...