Mt. Mitchell

The R/V Mt. Mitchell is a 231’ hydrographic research vessel managed by Global Seas LLC in Seattle. The vessel was first commissioned in 1967 as a survey ship with NOAA. She is named after the highest mountain east of the Mississippi which is located in North Carolina. This multi-purpose ship worked the waters of the United States including the Virgin Islands as a hydrographic survey and seafloor mapping ship. As an oceanographic ship, its operations extended from the North Atlantic to the Persian Gulf. During its highly diversified career, the Mt. Mitchell helped make our nation’s waterways safer by conducting hydrographic surveys along the Atlantic Coast, the Great Lakes, and in the Caribbean Sea. The ship even passed through the Panama Canal and went north to Alaska for survey work. The vessel was decommissioned in 1995.

She was then purchased in 2001 by Mt. Mitchell LLC and was completely refurbished and retro-fitted with the latest in electronics, machinery, and safety equipment. The vessel arrived in Seattle in 2003.

Over the last couple of years, the R/V Mt. Mitchell has been outfitted with some of today’s most advanced underwater mapping equipment. The Kongsberg EM 120 and EM 710 High Resolution Multibeam Mapping System were installed in 2008, giving the vessel state of the art capability to perform seabed mapping to full ocean depth with unrivaled resolution, coverage and accuracy.  These new systems make it capable to survey waters down to 11,000 meters. In addition the vessel has been outfitted with stabilization tanks and anti-roll chocks which have eliminated much of the vessel’s natural roll making it an ideal platform for surveying.

The Mt. Mitchell also offers two launches that can be used to meet your mission requirements.  For shallow surveying, the R/V Mt. Augustine is a 32’ Silver Streak Cuddy Cabin twin diesel vessel that is launched and retrieved through a Vestdavit system for safe and reliable operation.  This vessel is outfitted with a multibeam side scan mounts as well as adequate lab space to suit your needs. The Mt. Shishaldin is a 25’ Landing Craft that can seat 6 people and has a drop down bow for landing anywhere you like. This boat can be used for running crew to shore, tide gauging, and hauling ATV’s.

We at Global Seas LLC understand what it takes to operate a vessel of superior quality and provide the highest level of service that many clients expect and deserve without sacrificing efficiency and safety. At every step of the charter process, the staff at Global Seas LLC is there to assist.  We employ skilled crew and in-house engineers who recognize the special needs of the client as they analyze each project step by step from pre-engineering to demobilization.  Ultimately our company takes pride in each and every project and we work endlessly for your customer satisfaction.

We are proud to offer the R/V Mt. Mitchell at an affordable price for a quality vessel; she is clearly one of the elite privately owned commercially available ships of her kind.