
Early Encounters on a Western Frontier: The Search for Svyatoy Nikolai (1807-1808)
Past Expedition
Overview
In 2019, Congress designated the coastline of Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary as part of the Maritime Washington National Heritage Area. To better understand the sanctuary’s maritime heritage, a team of researchers explored the nearshore area off La Push, Washington, from August 15 to September 15, 2023, in search of shipwrecks, and one in particular: Svyatoy Nikolai, a historically significant survey vessel for the Russian-American Company.
The four-week project was conducted in three parts: a remote sensing survey, data analysis, and target investigation. During the remote sensing survey, team members collected seafloor data using side-scan sonar, a magnetometer, and multibeam sonar. They then analyzed these data, looking for seafloor anomalies that could be potential shipwrecks and unexpected hazards that could endanger their operations.
With a list of targets and their geographic positions in hand, divers from the NOAA Diving Program, the NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, East Carolina University, and NOAA Fisheries used metal detectors to investigate them. A local remotely operated vehicle (ROV) team from Port Townsend, the Sea Dragons, also joined the search with their custom-built ROV. The majority of the dives were at depths of 55-60 feet; the greatest depth explored was approximately 90 feet.

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Features


Multimedia
Featured multimedia assets associated with this project.
Education
Our Learn & Discover page provides the best of what the NOAA Ocean Exploration website has to offer to support educators in the classroom during this expedition. Each theme page includes expedition features, lessons, multimedia, career information, and associated past expeditions. Below are related top education themes for this expedition.
Meet the Exploration Team
Learn more about the team members and their contributions to this project.





Resources & Contacts
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Emily Crum
Communications Specialist
NOAA Ocean Exploration
ocean-explore-comms@noaa.gov -
Vernon Smith
National Media Coordinator
Office of National Marine Sanctuaries
vernon.smith@noaa.gov