While searching for the sea chest on the underside of an oil tanker, the VideoRay suffered an unfortunate accident. The operating environment was very poor, visibility was only about 3 inches, and the current ranged from 2-6 knots. We initially deployed the ROV from the pier perpendicular to the ship but soon discovered the current was too strong. Next, we staged the ROV from our smallboat at the stern of the ship, inline with the current and upstream so that we could control the position of the ROV with the tether.
Although the positioning issue was somewhat resolved, visibility was so poor that I could not focus on the hull even when the ROV was up against the ship, in fact I could barely see the manipulator arm when used as a point of reference.
We decided to wait till slack tide and try again from the side of the ship.
The coxswain had the bow of the smallboat against the ship and the engines engaged to maintain a stable position. Even though the tide had slacked somewhat, the ROV drifted underneath the bow of our smallboat. While trying to regain my bearings, I found the edge of the ship hull and started to make my way back to the initial drop point. The next thing I saw was the hull of our smallboat and all appeared to be well… Unfortunately the suction created by our props pulled the ROV towards the engines and the next thing I knew, bits of yellow foam were floating to surface of the water…
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