By Doug Helton, Office of Response and Restoration
Prevention efforts have reduced recent ship sinkings, but what about the thousands of historical shipwrecks in U.S. waters? Many of these sit out of sight, damaged, collapsed onto the seabed—some threatening to leak their oil cargo or fuel. Is there a way to prevent spills from ships that have already sunk? Improvements in underwater technologies now allow salvage companies to safely conduct oil removal operations from sunken ships, but where to start?