Marine craft depolyment and recovery

A method of recovering a marine craft to a mother ship, the method comprising:

• deploying a marine craft engagement apparatus from the mother ship;
• controlling a position of the marine craft engagement apparatus in a body of water astern the mother ship with at least a first tensil member and a second tensil member;
• manoeuvring the marine craft relative to the marine craft engagement apparatus such that at least a portion of the marine craft engages the marine craft engagement apparatus;
• connecting the marine craft to the marine craft engagement apparatus;
• controlling a movement of the marine craft engagement apparatus across a body of water in a fore direction towards the mother ship by pulling the first and second tensil members towards respective first and second anchor points on the mother ship.

A marine craft recovery system for recovering a marine craft to a mother ship, the system comprising:

• a marine craft engagement apparatus for coupling to at least a portion of the marine craft;
• at least a first tensile member and a second tensile member, the first and second tensile members configured to extend between the marine craft engagement apparatus and the mother ship;
• a first pulling mechanism configured to pull the first tensile member towards a first anchor point on the mother ship;
• and
• a second pulling mechanism configured to pull the second tensile member towards a second anchor point on the mother ship;
• wherein the system is configured to transport the marine craft engagement apparatus across a body of water towards the mother ship and wherein the first and second anchor points are mounted to a first and a second anchor transport system respectively, the first and second anchor transport systems configured to move the respective first and second anchor points with respect to the mother ship.

A method of recovering a marine craft to a mother ship, the method comprising:

• deploying a marine craft engagement apparatus from the mother ship;
• controlling a position of the marine craft engagement apparatus in a body of water astern the mother ship with at least a first tension member and a second tension member;
• manoeuvring the marine craft relative to the marine craft engagement apparatus such that at least a portion of the marine craft engages the marine craft engagement apparatus;
• connecting the marine craft to the marine craft engagement apparatus;
• controlling a movement of the marine craft engagement apparatus across a body of water towards the mother ship with the tension members;
• and
• moving respective first and second anchor points with respect to the mother ship using a first and second anchor transport system to which the first and second anchor points are mounted.

A marine craft recovery system for recovering a marine craft to a mother ship, the system comprising:

• a marine craft engagement apparatus for coupling to at least a portion of the marine craft;
• at least a first tensile member and a second tensile member, the first and second tensile members configured to extend between the marine craft engagement apparatus and the mother ship;
• a first pulling mechanism configured to pull the first tensile member towards a first anchor point on the mother ship, the first anchor point defined by a first pulley;
• and
• a second pulling mechanism configured to pull the second tensile member towards a second anchor point on the mother ship, the second anchor point defined a second pulley;
• wherein the system is configured to transport the marine craft engagement apparatus across a body of water towards the mother ship.

A method of recovering a marine craft to a mother ship, the method comprising:

• deploying a marine craft engagement apparatus from the mother ship;
• controlling a position of the marine craft engagement apparatus in a body of water astern the mother ship with at least a first tensile member and a second tensile member;
• manoeuvring the marine craft relative to the marine craft engagement apparatus such that at least a portion of the marine craft engages the marine craft engagement apparatus;
• connecting the marine craft to the marine craft engagement apparatus;
• controlling a movement of the marine craft engagement apparatus across a body of water towards the mother ship by pulling the first and second tensile members towards respective first and second anchor points on the mother ship, the first anchor point defined by a first pulley and the second anchor point defined by a second pulley.