company history > david mearns > achievements >

Guinness World Records held by BWR

Deepest Shipwreck:  On November 28, 1996, Blue Water Recoveries discovered the wreck of the MV Rio Grande, using side-scanning sonar at the bottom of the South Atlantic Ocean.  On 30 November 1996 the find was confirmed by BWR using a remotely operated vehicle.  The wreck, a WWII German blockade runner, lies at a depth of 5,762 m (18,904 ft).

Deepest Live Internet Broadcast:  On 24 July 2001 live footage of the HMS Hood was broadcast over the internet from a depth of 2,800 metres (9,200 ft) at the bottom of the Denmark Strait, where she sank in 1941.  The broadcast, from an ROV (remotely-operated vehicle), followed the discovery of the wreck by David Mearns of BWR, in an expedition organised by ITN Factual for Channel 4.

Deepest Cargo Salvage:  The deepest cargo salvage from a shipwreck was carried out by Blue Water Recoveries when they salvaged 179 tons of blister copper and tin ingots off the wreck of the merchant vessel SS Alpherat from a depth of 3,770 metres (12,370 ft) in the central Mediterranean during February 1997.