Patent ID: 7380614

Claim:
A water bottom drilling system, comprising: a frame configured to rest on the bottom of a body of water; a support structure movably coupled to the frame, the support structure configured to enable at least vertical movement of a drill head mounted on the support structure; a winch movably coupled to the support structure and configured to enable lateral movement of the winch mounted on the support structure, the winch including a cable thereon, an end of the cable including a latching device thereon configured to latch onto an upper end of a core barrel disposed in the lower end of a drill string; a storage area associated with the frame for drill rods and for core barrels, wherein the core barrels each include a latch configured to releasably engage with a lowermost drill rod on a drill string, and wherein each core barrel include a latch configured to engage the latching device at the end of the cable; and at least one clamp associated with the frame and arranged to fix a vertical position of a drill string over a drill hole.