Wired Magazine

An article appeared in the May edition of Wired (published in April) on the ADUS survey of the sunken Russian nuclear submarine B 159. This created a lot of activity on the Wired blog, including comments that the visualisation must be an artist's impression. A posting by ADUS explaining how the images were made up of individual point soundings rather killed the discussion, presumably because the bloggers could no longer use their over-fertile imaginations to explain the science.

Istanbul

In conjunction with Reson, ADUS gave a presentation to various sectors of the Turkish maritime industry.

RESON and ADUS announce collaboration in high-resolution multibeam sonar imaging.

Reson SeaBat Users Group Meeting

Oceanology International 2010

ADUS presented a paper, High resolution multibeam surveys in support of salvage and wreck removal operations, at this subsidiary event of Oceanology International 2010 in London.

MY Octopus

ADUS visited MY Octopus, one of the largest super yachts in the world, in Hamburg to discuss future joint projects. It is owned by Paul Allan who, with Bill Gates, founded Microsoft.

Joint SeaBat 7125 trials with Reson

ADUS and Reson undertook trials in February 2010 with a modified SeaBat 7125 on a number of wreck sites in the Oban and Sound of Mull area on the west coast of Scotland. The purpose of the exercise was to test the improvements to the electronics and firmware. ADUS was really impressed with the modifications and can confidently state that no other bathymetric multibeam system comes close in terms of definition and resolution when surveying wreck sites.

Survey of the Vinca Gorthon

ADUS recently completed an initial survey of the Vinca Gorthon, a Swedish RoRo ferry that sank in 1988 in the North Sea 25km off Den Helder in the Netherlands. There was no loss of life. The vessel landed upside down on an oil pipeline, which had to be shut down until a bypass was constructed. Titan Salvage commissioned ADUS to do the survey to a specification set by the Dutch authorities. This required an area of seabed to be included where the original pipeline was capped and rerouted around the wreck area.

Forensic analysis of the wreck survey data provided information on how the vessel broke up as it rolled over, sank and then hit the seabed. The salvors have begun removing loose items that had spilled out of the hull and the next stage will be horizontal drilling under the wreck to place lifting chains beneath large sections of the hull. It is likely that a completion survey of the site will be undertaken once the wreck site has been cleared.

Salvage and Wreck Removal Conference, London

ADUS had a successful stand that attracted the attention of numerous delegates from the salvage industry.

NAS Conference

ADUS presented a paper at the NAS Conference in Portsmouth and also did talks on three islands in Orkney on the wreck of the Royal Oak.

Second New Flame Survey

ADUS undertook a completion survey of the wreck of the New Flame for Titan Salvage once they had removed the stern section and reduced the height of the remaining sections of hull. The survey demonstrated to the Gibraltar Maritime Administration that the site had been cleared to the agreed depth of 17.7m below local chart datum, equal to the highest part of the seabed in the immediate vicinity.

New Flame Survey

ADUS recently completed a survey of the wreck of the New Flame for Titan Salvage. This 44,000 ton bulk carrier was carrying a cargo of scrap steel when it sank in the Straits of Gibraltar after a collision with the tanker Torm Gertrud in 2007.

The vessel had been partially salvaged but strong currents made it difficult to complete an accurate assessment of the site or plan the rest of the salvage operation using information from divers or ROVs. A standard hydrographic survey of the wreck failed to provide sufficient detail for an objective assessment and so ADUS was commissioned to do an ultra high-resolution multibeam survey of the wreck.

The ADUS survey took place over three days but the value of the data collected on the first day was reduced because of rough seas. The final results allowed a 3D virtual model of the wreck to be visualised in WreckSight so that the salvors can study and measure the detail of the wreck and surrounding seabed at their leisure. Two unexpected bonuses for the client was the evidence for the volume of residual cargo left in one of the holds after salvage with a clamshell grab, and the identification of the position of a mooring chain which had parted in a winter storm.