So what does the mighty P3 Orion aircraft have to do with searching for the BHR? It has been used for the magnetic detection of submarines, reconnaissance missions, and maritime patrols. But will it be effective in locating a sizable iron ballast mound belonging to a Revolutionary warship? We are in the midst of finding out. A P3 flew over our search area to see if it could detect any potential magnetic targets that are not associated with known modern wrecks, pipelines, or other identifiable obstructions. First, a trial run was flown over the wreck of the USS Monitor (below) off the east coast of the U.S. to make sure the magnetometer could detect an older wreck with iron content.
The P3 did detect the Monitor site, so this is encouraging. In any case, this will prove to be more data to add to our collection and will make for an interesting comparison of aerial vs. marine magnetometry in shipwreck searches. My intent is to publish something on this once we have all of our data analyzed. Many thanks to the USN and the flight team who carried out this mission!
