The Americans had initially planned to examine the wreck surroundings by means of the side-scan sonar which unfortunately failed already during the first sweep when the towfish was lost. Therefore only very few recordings by the side-scan sonar are available, which, however, indicate that there is a big metallic object close to the stern of the wreck. During the subsequent search for the towfish by ROV an area up to 200 m in distance towards the West and SW was examined.

There was only a thin layer of sand with some stones on the seabed which looked different in comparison to the seabed on the ROV videos made on 02.10.94 and 09.10.94. Certain objects on the seabed known from these videos were recognised and it could be determined that the sand layer was only about 5 cm thick. In the forward one third of the wreck a ca. 30 m broad (divers’ estimate) sand strip extended from the starboard seabed across the hull to port side seabed which – according to the divers – looked relatively fresh. Furthermore, numerous objects, which had apparently fallen from the vessel drifting upside down, were seen on the seabed as had been the case in the October 1994 videos (see Chapter 34.6 of our Report).

The divers found cement pallets on the sea bottom ca. 5 m to the South of the bulbous bow tip – see also Chapter 27 (4) of our Report. The seabed, as the wreck, was covered by a greyish/white sediment layer whirling up when contacted.