ABU DHABI // A sunken dhow has been discovered off the coast of the emirate.
It was found by Tash Kennedy, a seaman aboard HMS Shoreham, during a routine mission by Britain’s Royal Navy.
The vessel is one of four minehunters based in Bahrain. The crew were practicing using its high-tech sonar suite off the coast of Abu Dhabi when Ms Kennedy picked up an unexpected contact on the display in the operations room, the Royal Navy said.
The ship’s wire-guided submersible robot, usually deployed to survey potential mines, was sent out to investigate and take pictures.
Details of the 25-metre dhow and its location, in the centre of a traffic separation scheme regularly used by heavily laden oil tankers, have been passed to the UK Hydrographic Office in Taunton, England, which produces Admiralty Charts.
“The past seven months have flown by,” said Ms Kennedy, who joined the Royal Navy in 2011 and HMS Shoreham at the end of last year.
“I joined the Royal Navy to experience something different and I’ve loved every minute of it.”
The Royal Navy was unable to offer more information about the wreck.
vtodorova@thenational.ae
