An unusual visitor to West India Dock is the Laplace which is a hydrographic survey ship of the French Navy and one of their Lapérouse-class survey ships.
The ship was launched in 1988 and went into service in 1989. The ship is 59 m (193 ft 7 in) long and has a beam of 10.9 m (35 ft 9 in). The crew consists of 3 officers,10 non-commissioned officers,18 enlisted personnel and 11 hydrographers.
Earlier this year, after the crash of EgyptAir Flight 804, Laplace was dispatched to search for the black boxes of the aircraft. She departed her base of Porto-Vecchio, in Corsica in May and in June detected a signal from one of the black box recorders.
It is not known how long the ship will be in dock, but a visit from an hydrographic survey ship is quite rare.
Isle of Dogs Life 