A further survey will be required to inspect nearby berths and quay walls to assess their condition.

The project may require the ROV system to be operated from a vessel to gain access to all areas of concern.

Subsea Vision's managing director Chris Bryant said, 'It is unclear why the quay wall has collapsed into the sea but it may be unstable and therefore unsafe for divers. The Falcon ROV is ideally suited to investigations of this kind due to its size and manoeuvrability. It is hoped the investigation may draw some conclusions as to why the collapse occurred.'

Another summer project for Subsea Vision's Falcon ROV saw it providing diving support during the investigations of four battleships which sank off the coast of Denmark during the Battle of Jutland in 1916.

Phoenix Oceaneering required the ROV to confirm the locations of the wrecks and specific areas of interest, marking them with down lines to gain maximum benefit from dive time allocation for the divers who would then film them for a forthcoming television documentary. With the wrecks up to 200m long and laying in water depths of up to 56m, the prior location and marking of areas of specific interest proved to be an invaluable tool for both dive teams and film makers during the investigations.

The programme is being produced by Glasgow based Ideal World Productions and is due to be shown on Channel Four Television in the spring of 2004.

MJ Information No: 18628