Hundreds of thousands of unexploded bombs and mines litter the seabed surrounding the UK, with many known about and mapped. However, there are still plenty that remain undiscovered, posing a major risk to those working at sea. This is where Lee Gooderham comes in. As the founder of Ordtek, his company’s business is to find these hidden explosives.
According to Lee, his team has spent the last 12 years marking reported munitions across the English Channel and the southern North Sea. The thousands of red dots that litter the map, however, do not include any unknown munitions still lurking on the seabed. For Lee and his team, finding and dealing with unexploded ordnance is a daily occurrence.
“The real problem,” Lee notes,” is when fishing vessels and dredgers encounter unexploded ordnance. That is when it becomes dangerous.” Such danger can sometimes even be deadly. In January of 2023, skipper Lewis Mulhearn, who had previously won a bravery award for saving lives during a 2020 incident, died after he suffered multiple injuries in a blast at sea.
Despite the obvious risk, Lee’s clients are not from the fishing industry, but rather from the offshore and renewables sector. “All of a sudden they were looking to put cables and assets out into the sea in these high-risk areas and, of course, they hadn’t really considered that there could be UXO there,” says Lee. Still, his team starts by doing desk-based work and archive research before sending out a vessel with magnetometers and geophysical equipment to survey an area.
If the UXO can safely be avoided by 10 meters, they can be left in situ. However, if it cannot be avoided, the team uses a remotely-operated underwater vehicle (ROV) to detonate the explosive. Beforehand, sea life is gently moved out of harm’s way. The process is one of precision and care, ensuring safety for the workers and the environment
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