Marine payload handling craft and system

A marine handling craft for use in transferring payloads including cargo, supplies, equipment and personnel to and from a ship, the marine handling craft being deployable from the ship fore, aft and to either side of the ship, the marine handling craft including a track to which a tether can be fastened at different positions fore and aft on the marine handling craft to tether the marine handling craft to a single crane on the ship wherein attachment block means are traversable along the track, the attachment block means being attachable to the tether, the marine handling craft being dockable to and undockable from an auxiliary vessel so that when docked, the marine handling craft and the auxiliary vessel can be raised to and lowered from the ship by the single crane.

A marine handling craft for use with a primary platform and with an auxiliary vessel, the marine handling craft being deployable at a distance from the primary platform, wherein:

• the marine handling craft is maneuverable relative to both the primary platform and to the auxiliary vessel and is mateable with the auxiliary vessel at a distance from the primary platform;
• and
• the marine handling craft includes electronic data communication apparatus, the marine handling craft transmitting and receiving data to and from the primary platform and the auxiliary vessel to facilitate mating and docking of the auxiliary vessel with the marine handling craft and to coordinate movement of the marine handling craft relative to the primary platform so that the auxiliary vessel can be deployed and captured by the marine handling craft at a distance from the primary platform.

A marine handling craft for use with a primary platform to load an object located in a body of water onto the primary platform, the marine handling craft being deployable at a stand off distance from the primary platform, wherein:

• the marine handling craft is powered and maneuverable to position the marine handling craft at a stand off distance from the primary platform to which the marine handling craft is tethered and to capture the object at a stand off distance from the primary platform;
• and wherein
• the marine handling craft is recoverable by the primary platform only after electronic examination of the object and verification by the marine handling craft at the stand off distance that the object can be safely moved into closer proximity to the primary platform.

A marine handling craft for use in transferring payloads including cargo, supplies and personnel to and from a ship, the marine handling craft being deployable from the ship to mate with a supply vessel at a standoff distance from the ship, the marine handling craft being independently maneuverable relative to the ship to mate with the supply vessel and being dockable with the supply vessel to make the supply vessel fast to the marine handling craft, the marine handling craft including electronic sensors, located on the marine handling craft, responsive to potentially dangerous contents on the supply vessel for detecting potential hazards to the ship, the marine handling craft being tetherable to the ship and attachable to the ship so that the marine handling craft and the supply vessel can be coupled to and decoupled from the ship in unison to transfer cargo, supplies, and personnel between the supply vessel and the ship after a determination that the contents of the supply vessel are not dangerous to the ship.

A system for transferring fuel between first and second ships including:

• a marine handling craft deployable from and tetherable to the first ship and an auxiliary vessel deployable from and tetherable to the second ship:
• the marine handling craft being matable to the auxiliary vessel after deployment of the marine handling craft at a distance from the first ship and deployment of the auxiliary vessel at a distance from the second ship:
• the marine handling craft including a handling craft locking member matable with an auxiliary vessel locking member, the marine handling craft locking member including a handling craft fuel line extending therethrough, the handling craft fuel line being alignable with an auxiliary vessel fuel line extending through the auxiliary handling craft locking member so that fuel can be transferred between the marine handling craft and the auxiliary vessel for transference between the first and second ships.