Williamson & Associates, Inc. designed to obtain 20 meters of rock core in water depths to 6000 meters. Inc. for Nichiyu Giken Kogyo Co. Ltd. 1996, is still in operation. drills are operated by the Deep Ocean Resources Development Company, Ltd. the Japanese Government. Hakurei Maru Number 2. offshore Japan during September and December, 2005. core recovery in various substrates. emergency release system. topside via a fiberoptic telemetry link. coring rate are among the operator controlled functions.