A guided tour along a US research vessel as it docked in the East End served as a great way to show Bermuda’s role in marine research, a marine scientist said.

Scientists on board the research vessel Atlantis prepared Alvin, a 65-year-old deep-sea submersible that found the wreckage of the Titanic, for a routine maintenance and testing on Friday morning.

Staff from HSBC Bermuda toured the ship while it was docked at Penno’s Wharf in St George to learn about its work and how the vessel operated.

Craig Carlson, the president of the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences, said public visits to Atlantis and to see Alvin were a great way for locals to learn about the capabilities of ocean research in Bermuda.

He added: “We’re trying to open the window to what we do here at BIOS and the different vessels that come through the Bermuda waters, so local Bermudians understand how important BIOS is to the local community and also for the bigger global ocean science world.”

Alvin, a three-person, deep-submergence vehicle, is used to collect deep ocean data for studies including on climate change and marine life.

The submersible is best known for exploring the wreckage of the HMS Titanic in 1986, which, in 1912 was the largest passenger vessel at the time but sank after striking an iceberg off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada.

Tests will be conducted to ensure Alvin can still safely attempt a 4-mile (6,500-metre) dive. It last visited Bermuda for testing in 2021.

Dr Carlson said Bermuda was well known for being as much of a “big player” in the oceanography world as in the finance and reinsurance sector.

He explained that there was a station about 25 kilometres offshore that has taken water samples from the surface of the ocean to the sea floor since 1954.

Dr Carlson added that many research vessels visited Bermuda because it was a “well-studied system” and a great way to access deep water open ocean.

He said: “That builds an enormous context for us to provide to the global ocean community.

“So, as a player in the global oceanographic and ocean science community, Bermuda plays a very important role.”

RV Atlantis will soon have Bermudian researchers conducting studies on board the ship, Dr Carlson said.

Alvin will be paired with DeepVenture, another submersible, to see if they can be used for joint studies, according to BIOS.

Bruce Strickrott, a submersible pilot and Alvin’s manager, said was the first time the machine had been in the water since September after being taken apart, inspected and rebuilt.

“We do that every five years,” he added. “We like to come to Bermuda to do this kind of work, but the last time we actually did a test out of Bermuda was 2005.”

Mr Strickrott said the crew was to submerge Alvin at different distances from Bermuda’s coasts starting from last week.

The tests, he added, could vary from between 100 and 2,000 metres off Bermuda’s coast.

Mr Strickrott said: “When that’s done, we’re going to come back here on June 24 and hopefully have a party at Tobacco Bay to celebrate.”

He added: “I’ve been here 30 years and I’ve done a number of these sea trials in and out of Bermuda. It’s sort of a homecoming.

“We like it here and we like Tobacco Bay.”

Kate Bule, the head of retail at HSBC, said the bank celebrated June as climate month and used it to donate money and manpower to several environmental groups.

She said: “It’s a big thing for us to make sure that our staff are also very close to the work.

“We give a lot of money into the community, but we also want some of these events to be inward-looking as well.

“While we do a lot of work with BIOS directly, it’s also a great opportunity to invite our staff to joint some of these events, to actually partake in touring some of these vessels and understand what our Bermudians are doing on all these research vessels.”

She said the bank would have guests from the Bermuda Ocean Prosperity Programme to visit later this month to host a lunch-and-learn session.

Ms Bule added: “I think the main message for us is about bringing experts in, having them bring their expertise and sharing that through collaboration.

“I think it’s really important when you look at things like climate change. It isn’t going to be solved by one institution or one person, but each person can contribute.

“So it’s really important we make those connections.”

Kim Rose, HSBC’s community investment manager, said activities included planting mangroves with the Bermuda Zoological Society.

She said members of her team would travel to Cooper’s Island this year to replace invasive plant species with endemic ones.

Ms Rose explained: “HSBC adopted part of Cooper’s Island maybe 20 years ago and we’ve recently re-engaged with that initiative.

“We took a third of our staff out there last November. I think we’ll do the same thing again in October.

“We want to make all of these things multiyear initiatives because at the end of the day, it’s a good thing to do one thing once, but it’s better to continue and watch something grow as well.”