----and a deep dive submirsible, and a BIG barge with a crane with alot of cable, and someone to mark the spot. I've been looking over alot of the material the past few days. Somewhere is was written that the electra was off the southern shore. Also read wher it was thought to be near the lagoon channel. Look guys. I believe its there. There happens to be a pretty big area when we are looking for a needle in a haystack. The ROV video has lifted the spirits, and suspicions of alot of us. With that, several more questions come to my mind. Obviously first, what general area was the ROV when this video was taken? I assume it was near the shipwreck/landing site, because that seemed most probable. 2nd) approximately what depth along the reef was it, and 3rd) do we know where the bottom is? Answers to 1&2 seem pretty easy. 3 is alot harder, since the ROV only had 900+- feet of cable , and still didnt get the the bottom. But I assume it wasnt intended to go to the bottom.
A couple of other things do come to mind. I occured to me that some 'others' may just be right (by accident or by ESP) in placing the location on other parts of the reef/bottom. Thats where the search become a needle in a haystack. Niku has a pretty good sized reef, and we really dont know much about its topography. I would hope that a circumvental search of the offshore waters with magnetometer or maybe a different side scan sonar would be used to help eliminate some of these areas. The problem I see with that is, there is ALOT of ship wreckage all over the place, having been moved there by storms, ocean currents, and other forces of nature. Obviously that put alot of target out there to investigate. All of this search technology costs money for equipment, and operation time. I think Ric has done an unbelievable job of using the assets he has to get this investigation to this point.
What we really need is for some corporations to step up with their technology and help, before some others with DEEP pockets that the information presented here and go searching themselves. Didnt take long after the Titanic was found several others we going to bring back artifacts. Anyone remenber the Glomar Explorer? Yes the assets do exsist. So, I would challenge ANY corporation to contact Ric to see how they may help in this investigation. Manufacturers of submirsibles, ROV's, side scan sonar, underwater mapping gear, computer software, salvage companies, even some Fortune 100 companies.
This is a VERY worthwhile investigation; possibly helping to solve one of the greatest mysteries of the 20th century, a story that has been passed down from a couple of generations. It is my hope that we can do that. As a team, we will.
Tom