Underwater robotics expert reveals shipwreck city hidden beneath major West Coast lake

An underwater robotics specialist is revealing a “shipwreck city” hiding beneath a lake in a major West Coast hub — and much of it remains a mystery.Remotely operated vehicle (ROV) specialist Phil Parisi is working to verify and document nearly 100 “targets” in Lake Union, a central lake in Seattle, Washington.The urban lake has served as a working waterway for over a century, supporting shipbuilding and vessel traffic in the Emerald City.The expert told KING 5 that about half of those sites, which were previously mapped but not visually confirmed, are believed to be shipwrecks — and not all of them have been explored by divers.To bridge that gap, Parisi uses ROVs to document targets identified in sonar surveys.“We need to document what these wrecks look like today,” Parisi told KING 5.He described deeper portions of the lake as a “ghost town,” where plant life drops off beyond about 25 feet.“There is a harsh lack of life,” Parisi said.But what the lake lacks in marine life, he said, it makes up for in wreckage.Morning Report delivers the latest news, videos, photos and more.

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Never miss a story.“It’s crazy that there’s so much down there,” he added, according to KING 5.

“It’s shocking to me.I was stunned.

Looking at these maps — it’s shipwreck city.”Parisi told Fox News Digital that, while roughly 40 sites have already been documented, dozens more identified in sonar surveys have yet to be visually confirmed — work he is now taking on.Parisi and his team use GPS to get close to targets, then rely on sonar to locate them in low-visibility waters.“Flying blind through murky, low-visibility waters is difficult, so we rely on ROV-mounted sonars to ‘see’ and determine the target’s relative position,” he said.“Then, we descend to the bottom and fly toward the so...