Uncharted Dubai wrecks pinpointed
Two previously uncharted 20m long wrecks in Port Rashid Harbour, Dubai have been discovered by the UK Royal Navy’s survey ship, HMS Enterprise using its new high-tech motor boat, Spitfire.
The discovery of the two dhows in one of the world’s busiest ports marked the beginning of a nine month deployment of the Navy’s Plymouth based vessel and its associated craft, which can be dispatched independently to gather data at the same time as the mother ship, effectively doubling overall survey mission capability.
The Dubai discovery follows earlier trials of Spitfire in the UK and around Souda Bay in Crete prior to two days of hydrographic work in Dubai in tandem with HMS Enterprise. The duo’s scanning operations with multibeam sonars of the previously undiscovered wrecks rising about 5m from the Harbour’s seabed were subsequently reproduced in impressive 2D and 3D graphic representations via onboard computer systems and software. The results have since been formally passed to the Dubai Ports Authority for alerting mariners.
