SEATTLE — Beneath Lake Union lies what researchers describe as an “underwater archive” of Seattle’s maritime history, and a growing effort using sonar and robotic submersibles is attempting to create the most comprehensive visual documentation yet of the dozens of shipwrecks scattered across the lakebed.
Over the past several weeks, ocean engineer Phil Parisi and his team have used sonar equipment and ROVs to visually confirm wrecks across the lake, part of a broader effort to identify, classify and republish data on vessels that have remained largely undocumented for decades.
“It’s giving us the final confidence, the final say of, yes, this is what’s underwater in our own backyard,” Parisi said during a recent expedition…