The Lady Cecilia and her crew of four were lost at sea in March 2012. The Coast Guard contracted FDS Marine to locate and examine the wreck of the Lady Cecilia using a remotely operated vehicle (ROV), which discovered it in approximately 317 feet of water.

 

The best way to understand how complicated this is would be to imagine someone telling you that your car is parked somewhere in the Portland metropolitan area, and to find it, you have to go on foot, in the dead of night, with no light.

 

The ROV operations by FDS Marine were conducted off the Coast Guard Cutter Fir to assist Coast Guard investigators in determining the cause of the sinking.

 

The ROV provided underwater video that showed no sign of collision or structural failure, but crab lines, fishing net lines, and nets made it impossible for the robot to get too close to the Lady Cecilia, a trawler that used nets to drag for fish on the bottom of the ocean.

 

IMAGES:

Lady Cecilia on Blu-ray sonar.

FDS crew preparing the ROV to dive.

ROV footage of the Lady Cecilia under 300+ feet of water.