I didn't use any compute, mmm. It needs some clarification, so I'll test again today. I also remember accidently attaching the water shaders, used to make the sea, to the imported object, misinterpreting the top input for shader input, rather than mesh deforming (I was too fast). So I saw this short dialogue, mesh deformed (or something) and normals recalculated.
I wouldn't know what it deformed as it should already be the shape it was, but something may have 'broken' then, perhaps the normals.
Btw. I will test your projection method later, Jordan. Seems like a viable option too.