In September 2020, we posted about the unveiling of an autonomous craft named Mayflower, after the Pilgrim’s ship of 1620. The post title posed the question, Autonomous Mayflower, Technological Breakthrough or Hazard to Navigation?

Now that the 49-foot long trimaran has been towed back into port after completing only 10% of a planned transatlantic voyage, the question remains unanswered.

The project lead by ProMare, an ocean research nonprofit, has partnered with IBM to focus on using artificial intelligence and automation to develop autonomous ocean research vessels. Rather than relying on human crew, the craft would be controlled by “AI Captain,” a computer relying on artificial intelligence to navigate, avoid collisions and route its way around storms, among other duties.

The Mayflower Autonomous Ship (MAS) under the command of the indefatigable “AI Captain” set off from Plymouth, UK bound for Plymouth, MA on June 14. After traversing only 350 miles at sea, the shore team observed that the craft had insufficient battery power to cruise at its planned speed of seven knots. Apparently, the vaunted “AI Captain” hadn’t noticed that there was a problem. 

Rather than acting autonomously, the shore team took control and ordered MAS to turn around and return to port. At about 100 miles from shore, the ship signaled its batteries were running low and it lacked sufficient solar power to top them off. So the boat was ordered to power down all non-essential systems and wait for a tow. The vessel was ultimately towed safely to shore for repairs.

What caused the problem? Reports are that there was a malfunction related to the standby diesel generator. Unlike other autonomous craft, MAS lacks a sail for wind power, and apparently, MAS’s solar panels need diesel generator support to keep the batteries charged. A wing sail was featured in early versions of the MAS design but was deleted somewhere along the way.

MAS is not the only unmanned craft on the sea these days. Saildrone, a US based company developing uncrewed surface vehicles (USV), uses sails and solar panels to allow their craft to stay at sea for many months at a time. Saildrones have logged more than 10,000 days at sea, covering over 500,000 nautical miles from the Arctic to the Southern Ocean. In April we posted about a fleet of Saildrones that will soon be autonomously sailing in the Gulf Stream collecting oceanographic and weather data.  

If MAS does succeed in crossing the Atlantic, it is worth noting that it will not be the first autonomous craft to do so. For more than a decade, autonomous Slocum gliders have been slowly crisscrossing the oceans collecting data, and doing research. The first glider to cross the Atlantic autonomously was the Rutgers University RU27, nicknamed “The Scarlet Knight,” back in 2009.