Australia’s flagship Antarctic vessel Nuyina briefly ran aground off Heard Island last year after a series of navigation breakdowns left the crew without adequate depth warnings, a preliminary safety report has found.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) released preliminary findings on Tuesday into the October 13, 2025 incident, about 4,000 kilometres south-west of Perth.
The ship was carrying 37 crew and 85 expeditioners at the time.
Nuyina had been conducting drone surveys off the island’s coast when the voyage leader asked the master to reposition about five nautical miles to the north-west.
The vessel’s standard echo sounders had been switched off to avoid interfering with a scientific multibeam sonar mounted on the ship’s drop keel.
Depth data from that system was not connected to the bridge’s main navigation displays or alarms.
“This meant the depth information was not displayed on the electronic chart display and information system (ECDIS) and could not be used to generate navigational alarms,” ATSB chief commissioner Angus Mitchell said.
When the crew began the transit, the planned route failed to appear on the forward navigation screen.
While the master tried to fix the problem, the second officer followed a previously loaded bearing line.
That track took the ship between an unsurveyed area and a charted bank.
An acoustics operator phoned the bridge to warn the multibeam was showing just 15 metres of water.
The master ordered engines stopped, then dead slow astern, but it was too late. The drop keel struck the seabed first, followed by the hull.
The drop keel suffered substantial damage, with instruments destroyed or lost. The hull sustained only scratches and paint damage.
After consulting authorities ashore, Nuyina continued its Heard Island operations and completed a scheduled resupply at Davis Station before returning to Hobart.
Mitchell said investigators had reviewed interviews, CCTV footage and bathymetric data and would now examine operating procedures and contributing safety factors.
A final report will be released once the investigation is complete.
