The Northern Franklin was built in 1984 as an oceanographic research vessel for Australia’s CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization) and served in Australia waters and in blue water research until 2002. When the ship was put up for sale, a group of private investors bought it for the purpose of converting it into a private yacht and sailed Northern Franklin from Hobart, Tasmania to Sweden and then to a shipyard in Latvia. Luckily, MMT found the ship before any changes were made. MMT bought Northern Franklin in April 2005, and a technical refit of the ship’s systems was started as well as the installation of various survey systems. MMT operated the Northern Franklin under its own management until 2018, when a long-term agreement was entered into with Northern Survey.

Northern Franklin is suitable for: Geophysical seabed mappingGeotechnical samplingROV operationsEnvironmental assignments