A seabed anchor (20) is fixed to and deployable from an ROV (10) for
positively anchoring the ROV (10) to the seabed (100). The seabed anchor
(20) comprises three nested telescoping tubes (26, 28, & 30). The upper
end of the oute (26) is fixed to the ROV (10). A rotary drill bit (38) is
carried on the output shaft of a motor (34) that is mounted o of the
innermost tube (30). The nested assembly of three telescopic tubes (26,
28, 30) can be controllably extended and retracted b controlled operation
of a hydraulic ram or other linear actuator coupled between the outer
tube (26) and the inner tube (30). Each the tubes (26, 28 & 30) carries a
respective one or two pairs of inflatable packets (40, 42, & 44) that are
normally un quiescent within respective recesses in the sides of the
tubes where the packers do not interfere with telescopic relative
movements of the tubes. To set the seabed anchor (20), the drill bit (38)
is rotated and forced downwards into the seabed (100) to form When the
bore is at its full depth, the packers (40, 42, & 44) are inflated to
force the packers into penetrating engagement with t seabed (100)
surrounding the bore, thereby anchoring the ROV (10) to the seabed (100).
The seabed anchor (20) allows th (10) to be firmly anchored onto the
seabed (100) to resist upward reaction forces arising from ROV-carried
geotechnical tools and/o sensors (e.g. a soil sampling tool) being made
to penetrate the seabed (100). The seabed anchor (20) is particularly
useful for ROV which are neutrally buoyant or slightly positively
buoyant, and which therefore have negligible weight (when fully
submerged) for holding them down onto the seabed against upward reaction
forces.