The Seabed Constructor researched the Minerve from July 17 to 21, 2019
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On July 3, the Maritime Prefect told the families that a call for tenders had been launched to choose the company that was going to carry out the second part of the research, that is to say to investigate the doubtful points that could have been identified in the search area (seeresearch program meeting July 19).
The winner of thistenderhas been the company”ocean infinity” who sent his ship “Seabed Constructor” to the area, which had begun its investigations on July 17, 2019 and found the Minerve on the following July 21.
This company is the one that had discovered the wreck of the Argentinian submarine San Juan after 1 year of research.
For the Minerva, the area was much more circumscribed, but also deeper than for the Argentine submarine.
This commercial video in English, from the company Ocean Infinity, presents the Seabed Constructor. For non-English speakers it includes some sequences that allow you to see how this ship works.
It would seem that it is currently in the world one of the most efficient in terms of deep sea searches.
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Initially, this vessel and its technology were developed for the Offshore oil industry, which represents its main commercial outlet.
This ship has the advantage, compared to its many competitors, of being able to make both bathymetric surveys, that is to say surveys of the relief of the seabed at great depth, but also of being able to send gear to these same depths to take photographs which alone allow a wreck to be identified indisputably.
Otherwise these two operations are done in parallel by different means which, in the end, are more expensive. The first ship, which takes the readings, pursues these without being able to ensure that it has found what it was looking for. The doubt can only be removed with the intervention of a second vessel.
It seems that today no French company has such capabilities, hence the choice to use American means, which some deplore.