(ANCHORAGE, Alaska) — An Anchorage-based nonprofit is teaming up with maritime companies to develop an underwater parachute to slow or stop a ship that has gone adrift, Alaska Dispatch News reported. The group, the Alaska Maritime Prevention and Response Network, is collaborating with Glosten, Coppins Para Sea Anchors, Global Diving & Salvage and Reed Maritime LLC to design what it’s calling an “emergency ship arrest system prototype," or a sea anchor. Recently tested in Washington’s Puget Sound, the system is designed to buy time when a large vessel goes adrift due to propulsion or steering problems.
Click here to read the story and to view a video of field testing.