Send kelp! Unmanned survey vessel runs aground, entangled
A remote-operated waterborne drone ran aground on Ladies Holm, west of Sumburgh, after getting tangled in kelp this morning (Saturday).
Northern Remote is a newly arrived survey vessel run by Clinton Marine, a Swedish company contracted by government’s Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) to periodically update seabed maps around Shetland.
The small vessel — only two metres long and little over a metre wide — appeared to stop moving on the northern end of Lady’s Holm around 10.30am.
“Northern Remote got caught in kelp today,” Clinton’s project director Philip Ljungström said.
“When released from the kelp there was still kelp in one of the thrusters and the vessel drifted aground.”
By 2.30pm, as the tide began to rise, Northern Remote began motoring back to Ness.
“[She] was after that, safely recovered at the designated launch/recover location,” said Mr Ljungström.
A number of Clinton vessels have been motoring around Shetland since last August completing two surveys off the east and west coast of south mainland respectively.
“One of our goals is to provide the mariner with the most up to date and accurate charts and seabed information as quickly as possible,” said the MCA’s head of hydrography and meteorology, Andrew Colenutt.
“Due to developments in the technology,” he added, “the time it takes from data collection to chart updates continues to be reduced.”
