91制片厂

Researchers from the 91制片厂 were part of a world-renowned team that found an intact shipwreck from the 19th century hundreds of feet below the surface of Lake Huron.

Looking like it was frozen in time, the 191-foot, three masted sailing ship Ironton sank in the waters of Lake Huron in 1894. 91制片厂鈥檚 autonomous surface vehicle (ASV) named BEN (Bathymetric Explorer and Navigator) provided state-of-the-art underwater mapping technology that was instrumental in the discovery, which occurred in 2019 (officials have withheld announcement of the find in order for visual documentation to be completed before divers could disturb the site.)

During this NOAA-led expedition, 91制片厂 worked with several search teams made up of scientists, historians and underwater archaeologists,听including those from the state of Michigan and the Ocean Exploration Trust, founded by famed explorer Robert Ballard, who located the wreckage of the Titanic.

鈥淭his was an exciting expedition for our researchers and students to be a part of and is exactly the kind of ocean mapping BEN was built to do,鈥� said Val Schmidt, principal research project manager and 91制片厂 team lead. 鈥淭he autonomous surface vehicle听is designed to explore the seafloor or lakebeds, especially in areas that may be too deep for divers or too shallow for larger ships.鈥�

BEN is operated by 91制片厂鈥檚 (CCOM) and contains state-of-the-art seafloor mapping systems. The 12-foot, diesel-powered, self-driving boat is equipped with a high-resolution multibeam sonar that allows it to make 3D topographic and acoustic backscatter maps of an ocean floor, or for this mission, a lakebed. BEN worked in tandem with NOAA's Great Lakes Environmental Research Lab's RV听Storm, which has similar equipment, to map the area where Ironton was thought to be located. After days of mapping, persistence and determination the team produced an image of a shipwreck that matched the description of听Ironton.

鈥淭he sonar images were spectacular,鈥� said Schmidt. 鈥淭he vessel was preserved in the Great Lake resting right side up, masts still standing as though it just sailed down to the bottom of the lake.鈥�

BEN鈥檚 seafloor mapping systems include a Kongsberg multibeam echo-sounder and Applanix POS/MV navigation system, similar to the equipment on the RV Storm. CCOM developed mission planning and 鈥渂ack-seat-driver" control software designed specifically for piloting BEN. BEN was manufactured by ASV听Global, in a design collaboration with CCOM.

Team members involved in the discovery included Schmidt,听KG Fairbarn, research project engineer, Andy McLeod, research project manager,听Roland Arsenault, information technologist,听graduate student Lynette Davis, Ph.D. student听Coral Moreno,听Clint Marcus听鈥�21 and听Erin Heffron听鈥�22.

More information about the expedition is available on NOAA鈥檚 .