Water Search News

A multi-agency search was called off on Monday after responders failed to locate a man that went missing in the Savannah River after his vessel collided with a dredge on Saturday.A good Samaritan contacted U.S. Coast Guard watchstanders on VHF Ch. 16 stating three people were in the water in the vicinity of Hutchinson Island after a recreational vessel allided with dredging equipment on Saturday at approximately 5 p.m.Local partner agencies and good Samaritans arrived on scene and rescued two of the people in the water and brought them to awaiting emergency medical responders.

Blue Water Ventures International  (BWVI) and project partner Endurance Exploration Group (EXPL), are well into the 2019 recovery season on the SB Pulaski. The SB Pulaski sank in 1838 while in route from Savannah, Georgia to Baltimore, Maryland. She carried some of the South’s wealthiest families. The shipwreck was considered the “Titanic” of its’ day. The Blue Water Rose has been based out of Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina since mid June. As weather permits, on site excavations have continued with the recovery of more silver and copper coins; most from US origins, a small gold pocket watch, silver ware and wreck material. A more detailed survey of bottom conditions has shown Hurricane Florence (September 2018) had a bigger impact on the seabed than was earlier believed.

Professional grade rigid inflatable boat (RIB) manufacturer RIBCRAFT said it recently delivered a specialized 25’ RIBCRAFT 7.8 to the Portsmouth Fire Department.Located on the Piscataqua River in New Hampshire, the Portsmouth Fire Department provides on-water search and rescue operations as well as fire protection to the seacoast community. This RIB, featuring a heavy duty inflatable tube and deep V hull, expands the department’s firefighting and rescue capabilities while providing…

Boston-based Sea Machines Robotics announced today a new partnership with Hike Metal, a world-class manufacturer of workboats based in Ontario, Canada, to integrate Sea Machines’ SM300 autonomous vessel control system aboard commercial vessels tasked with search-and-rescue (SAR) missions.The collaboration will help develop and demonstrate the capabilities of autonomous marine technology for the purposes of increasing the productivity and safety of SAR operations. Once installed…

Moose Boats delivered a M2-38 Catamaran CBRN, Dive and Fire Rescue vessel to San Francisco Fire Department.A pair of Cummins QSB6.7 425hp turbo diesel propulsion engines with Hamilton HJ292 water-jets will power the M2-38 aluminum catamaran. Serving primarily as a dive and rescue boat, the M2 is outfitted with an integrated dive/recovery platform and a bow ladder for beach rescues.Due to the Moose Boat’s Homeland Security role, it is also equipped with a Hale fire pump flowing in excess of 1…

Blue Water Ventures International, a historic shipwreck research and recovery company, has entered an agreement with Under Marine Group to joint venture on future deep water wreck sites located in and around the waters of Great Britain and the Caribbean. Blue Water and Under Marine Group will be collaborating with shipwreck researchers to pinpoint locations of interest. Under the terms of the agreement, Under Marine will be responsible for funding deep water wreck operations and project specific research, and Blue Water will be responsible for additional research, technical project management and logistical overview. Under Marine Group is a team of world class…

Vesper Marine, a manufacturer of marine safety products and virtual Aids to Navigation (ATON), announced that its Virtual AIS Beacons are employed in the search for lost Malaysian airliner MH370 in the southern Indian Ocean. The international search team is a closely coordinated effort between United States-based Phoenix International, Dutch engineering company Fugro and the governments of Australia and Malaysia. After an exhaustive period of mapping the ocean floor, the on-the-water search is focused on an area of ocean roughly twice the size of Massachusetts.

U.S. and Canadian Coast Guard crews continue to search for three people in the water in Lake Erie, Thursday, after one body was recovered and a boat was found five miles northeast of Locust Point, Ohio. The Coast Guard is not releasing the names of the missing people or the recovered individual at the request of the families. Coast Guard crews investigated a report of a second body in the water but found it was a floating log. The search commenced at 2 a.m. after a watchstander at Sector Detroit received a report that a fishing group was overdue on returning home. The boat was discovered on Toussaint Reef, approximately five miles northeast of Locust Point. The group's truck and boat trailer were found at the Locust Point boat ramp.

The U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) said in a news release that USCG boat and air crews are assisting the Georgia Department of Natural Resources in a search for survivors of a reported plane crash near Grant Creek on Mackay River, east of Golden Isles Aviation in St. Simons Island, Ga., Monday. According to the report, Coast Guard Sector Charleston watchstanders were notified at 7:10 p.m. of FAA reports of lost radar contact with a twin-engine plane carrying two people and subsequent reports from the public of crash-like noises near Grant Creek. A helicopter crew from Coast Guard Air Station Savannah, Ga., and a boatcrew from Coast Guard Station Brunswick…

A group of investors sued the Colombian government for preventing American salvage group Sea Search Armada from recovering San Jose, a ship that sank in 1708, often referred to as the “Holy Grail of Shipwrecks.” With numerous court rulings throughout the years, the battle has lasted since 1979. In a case filed March 29 with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), a group of American investors claimed the government of Colombia violated their human rights by preventing them from salvaging their jointly owned property, a Spanish galleon sunk in 800 feet of water near Cartagena, Colombia. The investment group, named Sea Search Armada (SSA), brought the suit after more than 20 years of various legal efforts to affirm SSA’s initial agreement with Colombia.

Randive, a commercial diving company based in New Jersey, is employing underwater metal detectors in their search and salvage operations. The company was founded in 1959 by Randor Erlandson, and in the early days focused primarily on the needs of the maritime industry around the ports of New York and New Jersey. In the decades since, the company has greatly expanded its operations increasing its staff to 16, and adding as its clients some of the largest shipping companies in the world.

1865-The boilers on the 260-foot wooden-hulled steamboat Sultana exploded while the vessel was traveling on the Mississippi River near Memphis. Sultana, although designed to carry a maximum of 376 passengers, actually embarked over 2,400, most of whom were Union prisoners of war recently released from captivity. The explosion and consequent fire killed over 1,800 and ranks to this day as the worst commercial maritime disaster in U.S. history. 1949- When a C-47 of the Military Air Transport Service developed engine trouble and ditched near CGC Sebago on Weather Station "Dog," some 380 miles from Newfoundland, a motor self-bailing boat from the cutter immediately picked up the plane's crew of four. Although the C-47 sank within 12 minutes, there were no injuries or casualties.

Machinist's Mate 3rd Class Derrick Lines guides "Super Scorpio", a remote operated vehicle into position for safe recovery aboard the special mission charter ship M/V Kellie Chouest. Petty Officer Lines is assigned to Deep Submergence Unit Unmanned Vehicle Detachment, tasked with surveying the wreckage of an F-14D Tomcat that crashed off the coast of Point Loma, Calif. Kellie Chouest is one of four Submarine Support Vessels belonging to the Military Sealift Command Special Mission Ships Program. U.S. Navy photo by Photographer's Mate 1st Class Daniel N. Woods. By Journalist Seaman Cynthia R.

Members from the San Diego-based Unmanned Vehicles Detachment (UMV) embarked aboard the 310-ft. MV Kellie Chouest, a research and salvage vessel, April 25 to recover an F-14D Tomcat that had recently crashed in the waters off of San Diego. The Tomcat was from Fighter Squadron (VF) 31, based at Naval Air Station Oceana, Va. The two crew members of the aircraft ejected safely before the crash and sustained minor injuries. They were on a training mission from the Nimitz-class carrier USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74), homeported in San Diego. According to Lt. Cmdr. Chuck McGuire, the officer in charge (OIC) of UMV, the recovery was scheduled to take a week to complete. The unit's highly sophisticated unmanned vehicles were designed to help speed up the under-water search and recovery.