AAugust of 2022 we visited an 1800s iron mine in New York to ROUV the flooded workings of the mine. Our goal was to document the lower passages of the mine, and any remaining artifacts. We also hoped to put to rest a rumor that the mine had a passage that went below the nearby city.

While diving with the Fifish V6 we experienced an event all underground ROUV explorers fear, the tether being tangled on an obstruction deep below. In this case, it was an iron rail from the skip track, that was separating from the wood. The tether appeared to have gotten in-between the rail and the wood. Each movement of the V6 caused the tether to scrape off a layer of iron oxide from the rail, quickly lowering visibility.

As a team we worked out different solutions, but each seemed to fail. It felt like I was piloting the V6 for hours to solve this puzzle. Eventually we freed the V6 from the obstruction. The correct maneuver, along with Rico pulling up on the tether did the trick. Soon we were had the V6 ready to move on to our second target.

Our run at the second target went well, and we saw great possibilities to explore in that stope. Unfortunately we did not have much battery power left. Most of the battery power was burned trying to free the V6 at our first target.

This mine hasn’t beaten us yet. We have to return to do further exploring of both targets in the mine.