Sunken Ship
Supreme Court Rules Titanic Still Viewable
The Supreme Court refused to reopen a case last week from a Virginia appeals court allowing adventure-tour operators to conduct deep-sea excursions to the wreck of Titanic. The high court let stand a decision handed down in March by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals which held that RMS Titanic Inc., the company holding exclusive rights to salvage the great ship's artifacts, could not prohibit "visiting, viewing, searching, surveying, photographing and obtaining images of the wreck or the wreck site as long as these activities do not constitute any salvage effort or interfere with RMST's salvage rights." Titanic collided with an iceberg in the North Atlantic and sank on its maiden voyage in 1912. The ship's wreckage, about 400 miles off the coast of Newfoundland, was not discovered until 1985. R.M.S. Titanic Inc. has since salvaged thousands of artifacts from the sunken ship, which it has exhibited throughout the world. It has not sold any of the artifacts to private collectors. U.S. District Judge Calvitt Clarke Jr. in Norfolk, Va., upheld the company's exclusive salvage rights to Titanic several times and, last year, barred a British company, Deep Ocean Expeditions Ltd., from catering to tourists willing to pay $32,500 per person to dive down to and photograph the wreckage. Allowing such visits would unduly harm the salvage company, Clarke ruled, because it needs exclusive photographic rights to finance its work.
Sunken Ships to be Considered for Storm Barriers
Marine scientists and Louisiana officials are floating the idea of sinking some of Uncle Sam's cast-off ships along the water's edge to create a steel barrier against hurricane flooding. The barrier would be made up of aging and obsolete tankers, research vessels and cargo ships. Since Hurricane Katrina hit, Louisiana is looking at every option for shoring up its storm defenses especially quick fixes. Levees take years to build, and restoring lost marshes and cypress forests even longer.
Sunken Drydock Blocks Shipping Channel
A Louisiana shipping channel used to supply crude oil to two big Gulf coast refineries has reopened to most ships but very large vessels may still not be able to get through, the U.S. Coast Guard reported on Monday. A sunken drydock has been blocking the shipping channel in the Calcasieu River, just north of the Intracoastal Waterway, since Tuesday, preventing deepdraft vessels, such as crude oil tankers, from passing through the area
Pumping of Remaining Erika Fuel Set To Begin
The first of five pollution-fighting vessels was to arrive in the French port of Brest on Monday to prepare to pump out tons of viscous fuel oil still lying in the hold of the sunken tanker Erika. TotalFinaElf is bringing in the vessels as part of a massive clean-up program after the Erika, the Maltese-registered tanker it contracted to transport 25,000 tons of thick fuel oil, broke up and sank last December. As part of a clean-up operation costing the company about $70 million
T&T Marine Salvage Surveys Sunken Vessel
T&T Marine Salvage conducted survey operations of a sunken passenger vessel in 220 ft of water near Limbones Island. T&T Marine Salvage mobilized an ROV operator and compact ROV System that surveyed the sunken vessel and located key entry points, assisting in the recovery of victims. The operation was a joint effort with the Philippine Coast Guard and Malayan Towage and Salvage Corporation. “Due to the depth of the wreck at 220 ft below sea level
Sailor Saved from Sunken Tugboat
ChinaDaily.com reported that a sailor aboard a sunken tugboat was rescued after a 39-hour stay at the bottom of the Yangtze River. Guo Linyuan, 31, a villager from Yaowan town of Xuzhou, a city in northern Jiangsu Province in East China, was left 14 meters below the water’s surface after an unidentified watercraft crashed into a group of tugboats at about 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday near Zhenjiang, causing three tugboats to sink to the bottom of the river
Registration Open for Wrecks of the World II: June 6-7
Registration is now open for the American Salvage Association (ASA) and the North American Marine Environmental Protection Association (NAMEPA) co-sponsored conference, “Wrecks of the World II (WOW II): Evaluating and Addressing Potential Underwater Threats” to be held on Monday, June 6 and Tuesday, June 7 at the Maritime Institute of Technology and Graduate Studies (MITAGS) in the Washington, DC area (Linthicum Heights, MD) USA
Ship Channel Opening Attempt Fails
The U.S. Coast Guard failed in its weekend attempt to reopen the Lake Charles, Louisiana, ship channel to all ships including large crude oil tankers, a spokesman said. The Coast Guard will now dismantle the sunken dry dock that has since mid-June stopped crude tankers getting to two big Gulf Coast refineries served by the channel. Work will start on Wednesday and take three to four weeks. Currently large crude vessels still cannot get to Conoco Inc
Sunken Canadian Ship Polluting Alaskan Coast
According to a Feb. 24 report from The Gazette, a sunken Canadian steamship that offered luxury cruises for decades along the British Columbia coast, then served a crucial role during the Second World War transporting troops, supplies and Jewish refugees, is now polluting the waters of a major Pacific Ocean inlet. The Princess Kathleen, a Canadian Pacific cruise ship sank in a storm off southeast Alaska nearly 60 years ago and has been identified as the source of a persistent oil slick in
Coast Guard Update: Sunken Drydock in Guam
According to a report from Pacific Daily News, Coast Guard Pacific Strike Team members assisted with salvage operations for the sunken dry dock, Big Blue, in Apra Harbor by helping with a fuel transfer Jan. 6. Rough seas and high surfs caused the dry dock to take on too much water in its tanks, according to Pacific Daily News reports. Approximately 13,000 gallons of diesel oil and 2,000 gallons of waste oil will be transferred from the dry dock. (Source: Pacific Daily News)
NOAA Report Examines Shipwreck Oil Pollution Threat
NOAA presented to the U.S. Coast Guard today a new report that finds that 36 sunken vessels scattered across the U.S. seafloor could pose an oil pollution threat to the nation’s coastal marine resources. Of those, 17 were recommended for further assessment and potential removal of both fuel
Shipwrecks Pose US Sea Pollution Threat
New NOAA report presented to the US Coast Guard examines national oil pollution threat from shipwrecks in US waters. The report finds that 36 sunken vessels scattered across the U.S. seafloor could pose an oil pollution threat to the nation's coastal marine resources
Marine Industry Employs Boat Towed Detectors
Many marine service companies are acquiring boat-towed metal detectors and magnetometers to assist in salvage operations and geophysical surveys. These devices can locate a variety of targets including sunken vessels, ship anchors and propellers, pipelines
'Rena' Owners Prefer to Leave Wreck on Astrolabe Reef
Heavy fuel oil on board the wrecked container ship is expected to leach out over time, but the ship's owners and insurers would prefer to leave it where it is. No decision had been made on leaving Rena on the reef, but draft assessments have been distributed for stakeholder and regional council
Sunken Fishing Vessel Identified 8,920-ft Down
The Coast Guard has identified a sunken fishing vessel missing since 1972. The Schmidt Ocean Institute research vessel Falkor in concert with Bureau of Ocean Energy Management found an unknown sonar target object December 2012, and sent
Navy Divers Check Antarctic Wreck
Divers from Royal Navy ice patrol ship HMS Protector braved the chilling temperatures to monitor the state of sunken research ship 'MV Bahia Paraiso'. When she ran aground in 1989 the ship spilled 645,000 litres of diesel and caused one of the worst marine environmental emergencies in Antarctica
Coast Guard Responds to Sunken Towing Vessel in Mississippi River
The Coast Guard is supervising the salvage and pollution response operations of a sunken towing vessel in the Mississippi River at Mile Marker 161.5 near New Orleans, Thursday, March 7. Coast Guard Sector New Orleans watchstanders received a report around 2 a.m
SuSy Ship-Stability Project Completes Sea Trials
The pan-European SuSy (Surfacing System for Ship Recovery) consortium has recently completed a set of sea trials at Chalkis shipyard in Greece. Led by BMT Group Ltd, the international design, engineering and risk management consultancy, the SuSy project has developed a rescue system to be used for
Academic Treasure Hunters Gain Third Site
Seafarer Exploration Corp has finalized an agreement with Heartland Treasure Quest LLC (HTQ) for a third treasure site. The company is focused on the archaeologically-sensitive exploration, documentation and recovery of historic shipwrecks with an emphasis on recovering treasure and understanding
F6F Hellcat WWII-Era Aircraft Discovered off Coast of Florida
OceanGate Inc. discovers Grumman F6F Hellcat off the coast of Miami using manned submersible, 2D and 3D sonar technologies. OceanGate discovered a World War II-era Grumman F6F Hellcat plane off the coast of Miami Beach. The plane was found during one of an ongoing series of dives in which
New JW Fishers HF Side Scan Sonar
JW Fishers spotlights its new 1200 kHz sonar which provides detailed images of even small and soft underwater targets. This new side scan sonar can show extremely detailed images of even small and soft targets such as old wood wrecks, areas of scattered debris, or even a drowning victim.
Uncharted Dubai Wrecks Pinpointed
Royal Naval survey ship 'HMS Enterprise' discovers two previously uncharted wrecks in Port Rashid Harbour. Making use of its new hi-tech, smaller motor launch, the Plymouth-based ship discovered two sunken dhows in one of the world's busiest ports at the beginning of a nine-month deployment.
That Sinking Feeling
What is the duty of a vessel owner when his vessel sinks and becomes a hazard? What is a facility’s duty when it comes to vessels at their docks? On top of the oil, wreckage, and loss of use, there are legal duties and penalties for parties associated with the vessel – under
Superstorm 'Sandy' Navigational Update from NOAA
Restoring fuel flow into the New York area a top priority, but barge deliveries hampered by obstructions. New York / New Jersey: NOAA Ship Thomas Jefferson mobilized through the night to New York Harbor where they began surveying at 3:12 a.m
Side Scan Training for Law Enforcement, Government Agencies
Many public safety dive teams, police and sheriffs departments, and government agencies are acquiring side scan sonar systems to assist in their underwater search and survey operations. Side scan is the ideal tool for these operations because it produces detailed images of the underwater