ROV recovers bell from USS Jacob Jones

The UK government has returned the ship’s bell from the USS Jacob Jones, the first American destroyer lost to enemy attack during World War I, sunk in by German U-boat in December 1917.

Full article at: Marine Insight 23may24

New Zealand Scientists Discover 100 New Marine Species

An expedition in February by Ocean Census (a nonprofit dedicated to the global discovery of ocean life), the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research in New Zealand, and the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa has discovered dozens of new species of mollusks, three fish, a shrimp and a cephalopod in Bounty Trough off the coast of the South Island of New Zealand.

“It’s probably the equivalent of a space mission,” [Dr. Alex Rogers, expedition leader,] said. “We’re still in early days, but the number of species that we found in the Bounty Trough really indicates to us that we’ve got a long way to go in terms of understanding where life is found in the ocean.”

Full article at: NYTimes Science 10mar24

The Challenge of ROV Hazard Avoidance

ROV technicians / pilots will have at least one story about an ROV issue in the field for one reason or another: i.e. tether entanglement, power failure, loss of control, thruster failure… We certainly have had some close calls where our ROV technician has ended up in the water to retrieve their vehicle.

While some of us keep these stories to ourselves, we came across an article recently where an expedition’s primary ROV got entangled in nylon survey line and the back-up ROV sent to retrieve the primary vehicle also got stuck.

We are waiting breathlessly to hear how this story ends.

Full article at: Cassville-Democrat 08may24