TDI-Brooks Maps the Liberty Ship Reef Site George Vancouver

The multiple multi-phase geophysical and geotechnical site surveys program consisted of pipeline routing and subsea structures to facilitate route and project design for offshore developers.

Equipment used to map the ship was a Teledyne Reson SeaBat T-20 multibeam sonar with integrated Applanix POSMV for Motion. Applying the mesh tools to the multibeam survey shows an example of the shipwreck.

Texas has been involved in artificial reef development for nearly 50 years. Numerous reef building materials have been used over the years. However, the first highly successful artificial reef development occurred during the mid-1970’s when 12 obsolete Liberty Ships were sunk at five different sites in the Gulf of Mexico. During deployment to the Freeport Liberty Ship Reef site in 1976, the Vancouver sank during a storm and settled to the bottom of the Gulf at its present position. Eleven other Liberty Ships and two tankers are located at other reef sites along the Texas coast. Brochures for these reef sites are available from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.