Into the Labyrinth: The Making of a Modern-Day Theseus

by Bruce Butler

Overview

Project Spinnaker was a joint Canada-US defence project conceived in the waning days of the Cold War. Spinnaker's secret purpose was to reassert Canada's Arctic sovereignty by providing the capability to monitor submarine traffic in Canadian Arctic waters.

The star of Project Spinnaker was Theseus, a massive Canadian-made autonomous underwater vehicle designed for a single purpose: laying fibre-optic cable in ice-covered waters.More than 2,500 years after the mythical Greek hero Theseus ventured into the labyrinth on the island of Crete to slay the Minotaur, the submarine Theseus was launched into an undersea labyrinth with a strikingly similar goal: lay nearly 200 kilometres of fibre-optic cable on the seafloor of Canada's Arctic, then turn around and follow it back out.

With a foreword written by Dr. James R. McFarlane, OC, CD, P.Eng., FCAE (Founder and President of International Submarine Engineering Ltd.) and endorsements by several marine experts, Into the Labyrinth provides a fascinating glimpse into the subsea industry of the 1980s and '90s set against the backdrop of Canada's stunning yet hostile High Arctic.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780994953827
Publisher:	Bigfoot Press
Publication date:	10/23/2018
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	433
File size:	7 MB

Table of Contents

Foreword

Preface

Acknowledgements

Chapter 1 - Hide and Seek

Chapter 2 - Laying Cable

Chapter 3 - A Flying Submarine

Chapter 4 - Iceshelf 92: The Frozen Chosen

Chapter 5 - A Green Light

Chapter 6 - Iceshelf 93: Testing the Waters

Chapter 7 - Engineering a System

Chapter 8 - A Critical Design

Chapter 9 - Iceshelf 94: New Guys Learn to Drill

Chapter 10 - A Modern-Day Theseus

Chapter 11 - Sea Trials

Chapter 12 - Iceshelf 95: The Dress Rehearsal

Chapter 13 - Where the Torpedoes Roam

Chapter 14 - Iceshelf 96

Chapter 15 - Into the Labyrinth

Chapter 16 - Slaying the Minotaur

Chapter 17 - Cable Repairmen

Epilogue

Appendix 1 - Project Spinnaker Personnel

Appendix 2 - Notes on Underwater Acoustic Arrays

Interviews

Bibliography

About the Author

Notes

Editorial Reviews

Anthony Dalton, FRGS, FRCGS, author of BAYCHIMO, Arctic Ghost Ship

“Science, technology, adventure and the Arctic: a potent cocktail poured around one man’s explorations as part of a team in the far north. Bruce Butler writes with the clarity of an educated mind and the passion of an explorer -- and he writes for a general audience. The Arctic has many moods and expressions. Bruce experiences them with an appealing mix of humility, excitement and grit. This is a book for anyone interested in the past, present and future of Canada’s Arctic.”

Neil Bose, Vice President (Research), Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada

“Into the Labyrinth is a very readable account of the Theseus project because it brings in a personal element from the point of view of the author, the personalities of his International Submarine Engineering colleagues and those in other organisations leading and collaborating with the project.”

D. Richard Blidberg, Director, Autonomous Undersea Systems Institute

“The world of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) has evolved over the past 40 years; from the first prototype systems being developed in the academic community to a full fledged commercial market which continues to grow very quickly. This book takes a step back to the early stages of commercial involvement with AUV systems. It gives perspective of one development program that helped forge a new market place for autonomous unmanned systems. The author was involved in one of the earlier programs to apply AUV technology to address an ambitious mission to be undertaken in a very challenging environment; under the Arctic ice cap. This book could have resulted in a rather dry description of the trials and tribulations of early development efforts. Instead the author was able to give the book an entertaining personality while describing the technical process of bringing new technology to bear on an important mission of the future; to autonomously deploy a cable under the Arctic ice cap for hundreds of kilometers. Bruce Butler has produced a book that reminds us all of the innovation, excitement, and frustrations associated with the systems development process. It was not only fun to read but also quite informative. It reminded me of the how the Arctic environment can add challenge to any system design. I would encourage anyone who has been or would like to be involved with this fascinating technology to read about story of the development of the Theseus AUV.”

Phil Nuytten, Founder and President of Nuytco Research Ltd.

“This is the true story of one of International Submarine Engineering’s major projects. Butler was fortunate to be a part of a great development team that imagined an incredible ultra-hi-tech deepsea device and then brought it to reality. In this book, he generously shares his good fortune with us and allows us to travel with him on his exciting journey. I have been in the subsea industry for all of my adult life and I can tell you that it’s a great read and the author is the real deal.”

From the Publisher