The Application of Remote Sensing Methods to Identify Disarticulated Shipwreck Remains in a Complex Shallow Dynamic Environment in Cape Banks: The SS Admella Case Study

Recent fieldwork in the Carpenters Reef area of Cape Banks, South Australia, applied innovative remote sensing methods to record, interpret and better understand the shallow dynamic environment and assess how to best monitor the disarticulated shipwreck remains within this high energy environment. A combined remote sensing approach was implemented using Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS), Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROV), magnetometer instruments, and diver-based surveys along the so- called ‘Admella Reef ’. The objective was to use historical evidence and apply remote sensing techniques to relocate the remains of SS Admella. The iron steamship had run aground on Carpenters Reef in Cape Banks on 6 August 1859. Having grounded in rough weather, the vessel was pushed onto its port side beam before tearing at the stern and bow water-tight bulkheads. Over 163 years later, the vessel remains in a high energy environment with little information on its state of preservation nor on the exact location of the scattered shipwreck material. The area delineated for this research project has been labelled Admella 1 (ADM1) and was the primary focus of the survey efforts. The RPAS was used in combination with a newly tested and innovative method, the ‘Coastal Integration Workflow’ (CIW), using the drone to survey based on a series of predetermined waypoints autonomously over a 7.78 km2 area and to render an orthomosaic of the limestone landscape. The use of ROV and magnetometer were used to investigate anomalies produced from the orthomosaics created from the RPAS data and to narrow down the survey area to find the vessel, which was then further examined by divers who recorded in greater detail the observed structures. The combination of remote sensing methods has proven successful in finding the disarticulated remains of a
vessel dubbed ‘ADM1’.