AT!,
Yes, that is correct. The explanation in the post was regarding searching with a towed array. The pattern shown in one of my last posts was not a general search pattern. It is also not indicative of ROV deployment. An ROV is not towed around, it is self powered. The ship must remain relatively stationary, or basically on station, not moving at all, moving perhaps in 5m increments, the DP keeping it as stationary as possible.
The concept is to hold, and let the ROV drive around. One cannot have too much slack in the umbilical, as the current drag on the line would be too difficult for the ROV to overcome, and you dont drag the ROV around.
They may have deployed the towed device that looks for the pinger. It is tough with only one vessel as one cannot triangluate.
Cheers